Effects of Road-Salt Solution on the Bottle Ecosystem
Thursday, May 16, 2013

Purpose:
The purpose of our investigation was to find the effects that road-salt solution had on our bottle ecosystem; on the aquatic and the terrestrial ecosystems. We are trying to find out whether or not the road-salt will have a negative or beneficial effect on these two environments.

Hypothesis:
If I add road-salt solution to the soil in the bottle ecosystem, then this will have a negative effect, not only on the terrestrial ecosystem but the aquatic ecosystem too. If I add five millimeters of road salt each day, this is what I think will happen:
The Wisconsin Fast Plants will not be able to grow, and will die very quickly
The soil in the terrestrial ecosystem will become very dry
All the aquatic organisms will die

Materials:
2-litre pop bottle
Soil
Seeds (Wisconsin Fast Plants)
Pond Water
Aquatic organisms
Environmental chamber (fluorescent lights)
Salt solutions

Procedure:
1. I cut a 2-litre pop bottle in half, using scissors.
2. I wrote my name on both portions of the pop bottle with a sharpie.
3. I cut a hole in the cap of the bottle and placed a string through the hole to act like a conductor for water.
4. I then put 250 mL of soil in the upper section of the bottle and saturated it with water until water dripped down the string.
5. I then placed pond water with soil, plants, algae, and snails. I kept the water level low enough so the mouth from