Whats In an ecosystem? Shalyn Phillips Chiddi Umachi Marqell Austin Khadijah Shannon September 29, 2009 E-Hour

Purpose The purpose of this project is -To survey an area of land and determine the land’s physical features and the types of organisms that live there. -Create a visual display and identify the possible relationships between organisms. -Present findings through oral and power point presentations.

ecosystem All of the organisms living in an area together with their physical environment.

ecology A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment.

Botony- the study of plants This is the area we chose to study. It`s located in front of the main entrance.

Close up of the center of our area. It`s full of different kinds of plant life including flowers and weeds.

Can you see it?

A cricket in it`s natural habitat.

Pollution in our environment Geochemistry- a branch of geology, is the study of the chemistry of materials such as rocks, soil, and water.

Soil Soil is the thin layer on the surface of the Earth on which the living beings of the earth survive since it is the layer of materials in which plants have their roots. Soil is made up of many things like weathered rock particles and decayed plant and animal matter. It takes a long time for soil formation and more than thousand years for the formation of a thin layer of soil. Since soil is made up of such diverse materials like broken down rock particles and organic material, it can be classified into various types, though based on the size of the particles it contains. Depending on the size of the particles in the soil, it can be classified into these following types: Sandy soil Silty soil Clay soil Loamy Soil Peaty Soil Chalky Soil Sandy Soil- This type has the biggest particles and the size of the particles does determine the degree of aeration and drainage that the soil allows. It is granular and consists of rock and mineral particles that are very small. Therefore the texture is gritty and sandy soil is formed by the disintegration and weathering of rocks such as limestone, granite, quartz and shale Clay Soil-Clay is a kind of material that occurs naturally and consists of very fine grained material with very less air spaces, that is the reason it is difficult to work with since the drainage in this soil is low, most of the time there is a chance of water logging and harm to the roots of the plant. Peaty Soil- This kind of soil is basically formed by the accumulation of dead and decayed organic matter, it naturally contains much more organic matter than most of the soils. It is generally found in marshy areas. Chalky Soil-Unlike Peaty soil, Chalky soil is very alkaline in nature and consists of a large number of stones. The fertility of this kind of soil depends on the depth of the soil that is on the bed of chalk. Loamy Soil- This soil consists of sand, silt and clay to some extent. It is considered to be the perfect soil. The texture is gritty and retains water very easily, yet the drainage is well. There are various kinds of loamy soil ranging from fertile to very muddy and thick sod. The type of soil that seems to be presnt in our area is Silty Soil. Silty soil- is considered to be one of the most fertile of soils. It can occur in nature as soil or as suspended sediment in water column of a water body on the surface of the earth. It is composed of minerals like Quartz and fine organic particles.

The End