Dirty Decomposers
Landfills are designed to be sanitary and odor-free, but instead of allowing garbage to decompose naturally, they end up preserving it.Copyright City of Albuquerque
Using the associated activity students design and conduct experiments to determine what environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They use chunks of carrots for the materials to be decomposed, and their experiments are carried out in plastic bags filled with soil. Every few days students remove the carrots from the dirt and weigh them. Depending on the experimental conditions, after a few weeks most of the carrots have decomposed completely.
Engineers must understand what causes vegetables to decompose in order to develop methods for transporting and preserving them from the field to the grocery store. Additionally, engineers design systems that incorporate microbes in order to break down waste.
- Students will be able to describe the role of decomposer organisms in nutrient recycling and their importance in maintaining the flow of energy through an ecosystem.
- Students will be able to relate the presence of soil-dwelling organisms to soil quality.
- Students will be able to describe some of the physical conditions that are favorable or unfavorable to microbial decomposers.