Newton team
Quadrat description:
The quadrat is a mini garden beside a classroom moist soil, beside a wall so sheltered from north wind, and lots of fungi will get late afternoon sun bark layer on top.
What we found:
4 millipedes,
4 worms,
2 baby worms from a tin can deep search.
What we plan to do:
Make soil more composty and damp by adding worm juice.
Hypothesis:
Hopefully more worms and bugs will come
Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
This is a great experiment
using worm tea, from your own worm farm I presume. Remember to leave
part of the quadrat as it is, as a control for comparison.
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton quote.
Galileo Group
The area is damp but gets all day sun. There's bark on top damp
soil on bottom succulents
growing.
We found 1 spider,1 millipede,1centipede and 2 caterpillars.
Our plan is to fill it with compost dodging succulents.
Hypothesis:
The rich compost will attract more worms and bugs to feed.
Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
Another good experiment and
could have interesting results when compared to the control section
left alone.
“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.” Galileo Galilei quote.
Marie Curie
Quadrat:
Moist soil with bark, succulent garden, all day sun.
Found 15 worms, 3 millipedes, 3 spiders, 1 caterpillar.
Plan:
Add sandy soil and dig it over into soil there.
Hypothesis:
The succulents will grow bigger.
Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
Yes, this will be an
interesting experiment. You are actually changing two things, though –
adding the sandy soil AND digging it in – perhaps just aerating the
soil with digging?
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child". Marie Curie.
Revised enhancement plan
We have decided to forget about the succulents as they are a small part of the garden. We will add compost to 1/2 the quadrat and leave 1/2 unchanged.
Hypothesis:
More worms will live there and more insects and this will make the plants grow.
Team Ben Franklin
Area: main school gates,
Area description: garden area with dirt and not very moist with lots of stones, leaf litter and lots of little twigs, underneath a large pohutukawa tree.
Enhancement plan:
Dig up and remove 15 centimetres deep soil and fill with rich compost.
Hypothesis:
This will hopefully attract worms and bugs and the worms may make the soil rich and healthy. We may also plant native fern bushes and flax plants later on.
Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
Well done. It will be
interesting to see if you get more species and more of each species
through doing this. Remember to leave a control area for comparisons.
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail". Benjamin Franklin
Lord Rutherford Group
The area is a barky moist soil with succulents and fungi growing.
We found:
3 centipedes, 5 worms and a spider. We dug 1 can deep to find this.
Plan:
We are changing the barky soil in the succulent garden to sandy soil/pumice that we will dig over.
Hypothesis:
We are looking for changes in the succulents growth. We will leave half the area untouched and half with improved sandy soil.
Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
Glad you are leaving a
‘control’ area. As succulents can thrive in poor soil it will be
interesting to see how they respond to the changed soil conditions.
“We haven't got the money, so we've got to think!” Ernest Rutherford quote.
Revised enhancement plan
As you know we were going to change the barky, moist soil to dry sandy soil for the succulent garden. Now we know that the succulents are too small for the enhancement plan because they are rotting and can't grow properly. So we are now going to add worm urine to the soil.
Hypothesis: we're hoping the worm urine will make the soil richer and healthy which will attract bugs like worms to help the plants grow bigger and healthier.
Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
Yes I think that you have
streamlined the experiment - so the enhancement is the worm tea
and the measure of success will be an increased number of species
and increased tally of each species. Well done.