Christina Croak; Megan Parish; Julie Peerenboom

ABSTRACT
Goose feces in parks and recreational areas are a common problem while composting is a beneficial use for biodegradable food. We decided that since Vilas Park has a large goose population, perhaps there would be a beneficial way to reduce the amount of feces. We conducted our experiment to find out if worms would be attracted to goose feces and if that would help the composting process. We split worms and compost into 3 composting bins. Every third week we added a set amount of food to each of the three bins. We also added 200 mL of coffee grounds in one bin, a second bin received 100 mL coffee grounds with 100 mL of dried goose feces, and a third bin received 200 mL of dried goose feces. Our results showed higher temperatures in the compost bins that had goose feces as compared with the bin that did not. However, we found that visually and through weight, the bin with dried goose feces as well as coffee grounds had the most compost. Through this we can speculate that it is most effective to combine goose feces and coffee grounds.

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INTRODUCTION
“ONE Canada goose defecates 28 times a day!” That amounts to 1-2 pounds from each goose! Who wants to walk through a park and have to watch your step because of the great amount of goose feces? What if there was something we could do with the feces that was both beneficial and also got it off the grounds in the parks? Composting benefits soil as well as creating compost tea (the water that drains from the compost bins after filtering through the soil) which both help greatly in the quality of plant production because of the high amount of nutrients in the compost and the tea. Doing something productive with the feces would also improve the water quality because runoff from precipitation carries feces (possibly disease infested) into Lake Wingra . We decided to research this very idea. Adding goose feces to compost will help decompose the compost faster because the worms are attracted to the feces. Creating compost is proven to be most effective. It is estimated that composting would cost $50 per ton, and few facilities actually make money from compost sales . In our research we measured the temperature of each bin weekly to analyze the amount of energy that was being produced in the compost. Also, in the end we analyzed the amounts of compost in each container.

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MATERIALS AND METHODS
We began with compost that had been in a container with about 2-3 handfuls of red worms of the Eisenia Fetida species for about 2 months. We split this amount into 350 gram increments into each of three plastic containers of a 22½" diameter x 28½"H. We also found sticks in the compost and later found out they were unable to decompose. Therefore we weighed them and subtracted this amount from the initial weight of 350 grams leaving 265 grams in bin one, 315 in bin two, and 220 in bin three. Every third week we added 1 banana peel and 200 ml of apple pieces to each of the three containers. We also added 200 ml of coffee grounds to one container, 100 ml coffee grounds and 100 ml dried goose feces to the second, and 200 ml of dried goose feces to the third. Each week we took the temperature of the containers to see how much heat was produced through the energy the worms emit and added one liter of water. The more heat that is produced the more composting activity is going on. In the end we took out the top layer of compost and weighed how much was left not decomposed. We compared this data as well as the average temperature in each bucket over the period of seven weeks.

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RESULTS

Temperatures in Celsius

Average temperature for bucket one was 18.14*C. Average temperature for bucket two was 19.2*C. Average temperature for bucket three was 20.09*C.

When we removed the top layer of the compost bin, it was apparent in comparing the three containers that there was a difference between the amounts of compost.
 

We counted the worms we could see when we first took the covers off. Then we stimulated the top layer with shovels and took an estimate of the number of worms in the top layer.


 

We took out the sticks from each bin when we measured the final amount because they add a lot of weight, but the worms will not break them down. We then also subtracted this amount from the weight of the initial compost.

After taking out the sticks, we measured the amount of substance that was not decomposed.

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DISCUSSION
In comparing the temperatures it is apparent that the bucket with the goose feces has the most activity because it had the highest average temperature. Visually as well as the final weight suggests that bin 2 had the most compost in its second layer and least amount of particles that are not decomposed. This would suggest that the combination of goose feces and coffee grounds is the most effective. Some possible sources of error would be the starting temperature of the buckets is unavailable. Another possible error would be the sticks that were in the compost. The sticks added a lot of weight, but are unable to be decomposed by the worms. However, we tried to avoid error by weighing the sticks and subtracting it from the initial weight. Since there appears to be no other research done on this topic, there would need to be follow-up studies to prove our hypothesis correct.

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REFERENCES
http://wildgoosechasers.com/gooseinfo.php

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/arep/2arep963.html

http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/urban_wildlife_our_wild_neighbors/urban_canada_geese/canada_geese_and_public_health.html

http://talltimbers.1.tripod.com/Benefits.htm


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