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Does Soil Breathe: A Respiration Activity

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Description: Though we cannot see respiration, we can observe the result. This simple activity can be used to demonstrate the relative amount of microorganism activity in the soil. Water and a food source are added to the soil, and a balloon is placed on the bottle to collect the carbon dioxide released as the organisms decompose the food source.
Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12
Keywords: respiration, decomposition, carbon dioxide
Lesson Area: Soil Biology, Soil Chemistry
Resource Type: Activity, Lab Experiment, Reading

Next Generation Science Standards

Grade	Discipline	Core Idea
6-8	ESS2.E: Biogeology	[Content found in LS4.A and LS4.D]
9-12	ESS2.E: Biogeology	The biosphere and Earth's other systems have many interconnections that cause a continual co-evolution of Earth's surface and life on it.
6-8	ESS3.C: Human impacts on Earth systems	Human activities have altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging it, although changes to environments can have different impacts for different living things. Activities and technologies can be engineered to reduce people's impacts on Earth.
9-12	ESS3.C: Human impacts on Earth systems	Sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources, including the development of technologies.
6-8	LS2.B: Cycles of matter and energy transfer in ecosystems	The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. Food webs model how matter and energy are transferred among producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem.
9-12	LS2.B: Cycles of matter and energy transfer in ecosystems	Photosynthesis and cellular respiration provide most of the energy for life processes. Only a fraction of matter consumed at the lower level of a food web is transferred up, resulting in fewer organisms at higher levels. At each link in an ecosystem elements are combined in different ways and matter and energy are conserved. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are key components of the global carbon cycle.
6-8	LS2.C: Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience	N/A
9-12	LS2.C: Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience	If a biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, including one induced by human activity, the ecosystem may return to its more or less original state or become a very different ecosystem, depending on the complex set of interactions within the ecosystem.