Materials and Procedure

Materials:
1. 1 glass tank with the following dimensions (46cm by 24.9cm by 20.5cm)
2. 3 Umbrella Trees (Scheffiera arboricola)
3. Cardboard dividers (each approx: 28cm high and 20.5cm long)— each placed at 13 cm (so each plant has an equal amount of room to grow)
4. Soil (Miracle Grow Potting Soil)
5. Soil Acidifier (Espoma Organic- lowers pH)
6. Garden Lime (Espoma Organic- raises pH)
7. Siren Wrap (Glad)
8. Water (pH of 7)
9. 1 pair of gardening gloves 
10.  1 permanent marker (Sharpie)
11. Electronic pH soil tester (Ferry-Morse)

Procedure:
1. Clean tank throughly with soap and water, let air dry until completely dry
2. Wrap cardboard dividers completely in siren wrap, wrap once more to completely seal cardboard
3. Place cardboard dividers 13 cm apart in tank 
4. Take strips of cardboard and run them along all seams where the cardboard meets the tank (to completely seal all gaps, if any)
5. Label each quadrant 1-3 with the permanent marker, as to avoid any confusion (1= Acidic Soil, 2= Neutral Soil, 3= Alkaline Soil)
6. Put on gardening gloves!! DO NOT handle any soil/soil acidifier/garden lime without gloves on prior to
7. Place 3 cups of soil into each made quadrant
8. Using pH soil tester take pH of each quadrant's soil prior to any changes made to pH
9. Place 1 cup of Garden Lime to quadrant 1, place nothing into quadrant 2, and place 1 cup of Soil Acidifier to quadrant 3
10. Mix together soil and added pH changing substances (making sure to clean hands after mixing each quadrant)
11. Place 1 plant into each quadrant (right in the middle of given growing space
12. Take pH of soil using pH soil tester after adding appropriate changes to pH of soil in each said quadrant
13. Water each quadrant with 1 cup of water 
14. Seal up Mesocosm with siren wrap, making sure to tape down all seams.
15. Water daily, check pH levels daily, and observe plant life and sustainability daily. (for this experiment I will be watering, checking, and observing each day at 3 PM)
16. Make sure to note every observation
17. Make sure to seal Mesocosm back up after watering, checking, and observing

Mesocosm Tank (Empty)

Cardboard Dividers (Placed 13 cm apart)

Garden Lime (Raises pH of soil)

Soil Acidifier (Lowers pH of soil)

pH Soil Tester

Mesocosm filled and sealed up

General Information Dealing with RQ, Variables, and Hypothesis

Research Question: How does varying levels of pH of soil affect the life and sustainability of Umbrella Trees (Scheffiera arboricola)?

Independent Variable: pH level of soil 

-Alkaline soil

-Neutral soil

-Acidic soil

Dependent Variable: The life of the Umbrella Tree and its sustainability (ITS HEIGHT)

Hypothesis: If the pH of the soil is higher, then the Umbrella Tree will wither away and eventually die, because acidic soil prevents certain nutrients from being absorbed by the plants. Whereas, the Umbrella Tree will do much better in alkaline and neutral pH levels of their soil because they will be able to absorb all the necessary nutrients. Sustainability and plant life will, however, be at its most optimum level in a soil with neutral pH because that's when the conditions are seemingly just right for the Umbrella Trees to absorb all the nutrients required for survival.