Calabasas : Program Puts Life Into Ecosystem Study

How much acid rain does it take to kill a radish?

What is the best fertilizer to use to grow a prize-winning carrot?

Why do some fish seem to thrive in polluted waters?

Those are just a few of the questions that seventh- and eighth-graders at the private Viewpoint School in Calabasas will try to answer in a new science program at the school. They are currently constructing their laboratory--two geodesic domes that will contain a fish pond and a greenhouse.

Jay Buckley, chairman of the school’s science department, said the goal is to help students understand the components of a living ecosystem and teach them how to preserve a balance in nature.

“It’s something that will help the environment,” said Rebecca Tetley, an eighth-grader in the program.

Students will be taught to grow food in a way that stresses the recycling of byproducts that would normally be wasted, Buckley said. For example, he said, fish wastes will be pumped from the bottom of the pond into the greenhouse to be used as plant fertilizer. Tomatoes, he said, will be grown hydroponically--without soil--in the pond water, which is rich with nutrients.

In experiments in which some of the plants and fish will be exposed to pollutants, students will learn how pollution affects the environment, Buckley said. Eventually, much of the food and fish will be harvested and eaten.

But eighth-grader Sara Chappell, a self-described animal lover, says she won’t be eating any of the fish, thank you.

“I just want to watch them grow,” she said.