Classroom Aquaponics: Exploring Nitrogen Cycling in a Closed System
This web resource provides background on the nitrogen cycle and aquaponics, an explanation of the activity, and tips for tailoring the experiment. Nutrient cycling is a fundamental concept in biology. However, many students have trouble visualizing how individual nutrients (e.g.,nitrogen) cycle through complex natural ecosystems. To address this issue, this unit outlines an inquiry-based approach to investigating nutrient cycling in a simplified desktop ecosystem involving aquaria and hydroponically grown plants. Although nitrogen is a particularly important component of the biosphere because it is required in large amounts as an essential component of proteins, nucleic acids and other cellular constituents, students often bring little prior knowledge of nitrogen cycle to biology classes. This inquiry based lab allows students to set up a closed environment to study nitrogen in environments.
