GMW555's+River+Ecosystem+Page

= = = GMW555's River Ecosystem Wiki =

**Introduction**
Hi I am “GMW555” one of 25 Amigos School students who went on a field trip to the Charles River in [|Cambridge], Massachusetts. Our 6th grade class has been studying ecosystems in and around the Boston area. We went to Thompson Island in the harbor, the local reservoir and its neighboring ponds and the local [|Charles River]. I have chosen the Charles River to tell you about. I will also be doing a web and pyramid if you’re still interested after you read this wiki.

**Abiotic**


We walked to the Charles River, which is only three blocks away from our school. When we got closer to the river we started to see the how the effects of the urbanization around the river where effecting the area. You could see the trash and manmade objects around th e bank of the river. Then also there where the natural abiotic, the water in and around the river. We used a World Water Monitoring Day kit. The water’s temperature was 15º Celsius (59º Fahrenheit); its dissolved oxygen was 2 ppm. The pH was 8, which is 1 point more basic than neutral at 7. The turbidly was 40 jtu which is less then half cloudy at 50 jtu. Along with the water there was the soil we were standing on which kept us were we where. The sand at the rivers edge which sheltered little bugs. There were also the pebbles down bye the bank in the sand. Then of course there was the air around us that kept us breathing and the sunlight that give us warmth and light. The air was 15.556º Celsius (60º Fahrenheit). ==== ** Producers/Start of Biotic Life ** ====

The Charles River has tons of living organisms. It has grass next to the riverbank to help keep the soil together. With out this producer the insects would have nowhere to hide and the soil would be very gravely and unstable for trees with out its roots. The oak tree is a home to about one hundred living things. Without this tree the food chain would be incomplete. The phytoplankton gives primary consumers their food. Without these microscopic creatures there would be no ecosystem. The b ear burs are a plant that has a special way of distributing their seeds. They stick them selves to you like Velcro actually //exactly// like Velcro. The man who invented Velcro actually has to give credit to this plant because all he had to do was look at how the plant stuck to you under a microscope. It is like a ball of what we call Velcro but was originally a plant.

**Primary Consumers**
Then come the primary consumers that are vegetarians. The geese help extremely to grass with fertilization because when they eat the grass they then poop out very good “fertilizer” (once it gets decomposed). The caterpillars are also a primary consumer, the monarch butterflies caterpillar eats the milkweed to help it not over populate. There is also the sparrow who will make its home in the branches of the oak tree and eats the seeds and grass and helps keep everything in sync in the ecosystem.

[[image:colleting_data_on_a_bench.JPG width="320" height="240" align="right" caption="Students Siting on a Bench Recording Information"]] ** Secondary Consumers **
The secondary consumers are omnivores; they eat both plants and animals. One of these organisms is zooplankton; like phytoplankton it is microscopic, but zooplankton are tiny little consumers that are both primary and secondary. They eat each other as well as phytoplankton and then of course, can //get// eaten too. The squirrel is also a omnivore, it eats acorns and little bugs. The squirrels make their nets out of twigs and grass, which helps limit the amount of dead matter the decomposers need to decompose. Then there is also the crow who circles in the sky, and eats the bugs in its path and eats the seeds from the flowers and bushes.

** Tertiary Consumers **
Then there are the tertiary consumers who are carnivores; they only eat meat. Among them are fish, cormorant and spider. Although a spider may be tinny and seem harmless (which it is to us) it only eats other bugs by trapping them in its web. There are also fish who are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. The eat producers and other fish and then also get eaten. There is also the cormorant who is the king of the river ecosystem. He spreads his wings wide and lands in the river, snagging a fish and bringing it back up with him.

[[image:two_studnets_collecting_data.JPG width="320" height="240" align="left" caption="Two Students Putting a Decomposer in a Bucket of Water to Keep it Alive"]] ** Decomposers **
Then finally there are the decomposers who make everything back in to soil or energy. The earthworm eats passageways in the earth Levin behind even more fertile soil, which is better for plants to grow in. The bacteria also help break down stuff. It is very important in the process of decomposing. The centipedes also help with the process.

**Conclusion**
The Charles River is laboratory outside. You can bring your classroom and learning skills out with you. Did you know that the sewer used to dump into the Charles River? Well, that’s pretty discussing, and people who cared about the environment. One day a guy stepped in some poop on the riverbank and went up to the mayor’s office and put his shoe up on his desk. Now it does not just dump in to the river it goes through a treatment plant first before being deposited into a body of water. That’s an improvement, but there are still some other problems, like when you accidentally let go a plastic bag or balloon and it flies away, you may be killing a animal. If a fish mistakes plastic for a piece of seaweed and eats it will probably chock and die. Even if we did not mean to do this it is still happening. We saw a fish that was unfortunate and a plastic bag. This made me think. The fish are not as smart as us so we should be the ones responsible for this fish not itself because it couldn’t tell it was a bag. This river used to be nice and swimmable but now its contaminated, hopefully in the next ten years we can swim in it again. The Charles River has so much to explore we didn’t even get close to seeing half of it. There are bugs and fish and even zooplankton who are waiting for you to come and find them. It doesn’t have to be the Charles River, it could be a tiny stream that you help, just remember there is life everywhere and maybe on day you could help one of these animals. Back To 6A