1. -1Antarctic Ecosystem Research Project The aim of this research project is to find out about the Antarctic and develop your understanding of ecological relationships.Links http://www.botos.com/marine/antarctic01.html#intro http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/weather/index.shtml www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/antarctica %20environment/weather.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_antarctica/index.php http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel/environment/ What is an Ecosystem? Where is the Antarctic ecosystem located? Find out any interesting facts about the Antarctic. Underline the key words you dont understand and create a glossarybefore you start. Research 1. Find out what the conditions are like and describe them. I.e. climate 2. You need to identify the plants and animals found here. 3. Then you must then determine whether they are producers, herbivore,carnivores, scavengers or omnivores. (Create a table) 4. What are the plants competing for in their habitat? Also what are the

2. animals competing for? 5. You must research pyramids of number and produce one for a food chain from this ecosystem. 6. Then you must use a different food chain to create a pyramid of biomass (find out what is meant by the term biomass). Explain why there are a fewer number of organisms at the top of the food chain. 7. Next you must construct a food web for the plants and animals found there. You must also explain what would happen if an organism in the food chain became extinct. 8. Is there any pollution there? Find out what is meant by bioaccumulation and explain how dangerous chemicals can be passed along the food chain. 9. How else may humans have an impact on this ecosystem? You must explain in detail. (I.e. global warming, hunting etc) 10.How could you estimate the population of a certain species? 3. 11.Select an organism to research. Find out an estimation of the population over the past few years. Plot a population graph to show the changes over time. 12.Suggest reasons for the change in population over time. I.e reasons why the population of a species may rapidly increase. 13. Now try and find the population of a predator of that organisms and plot it on the same graph. 14. Discuss and explain your findings for the predator- prey population graph. 4. Fact File Kingdom: ________________ Phylum: __________________ Class: ____________________ Order: ____________________ Family: ___________________ Genus: ____________________ Species: ___________________ Description: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Feeding relationship: Producer Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore Prey/ food ? ________________________________________________________ Any known predators? __________________________________________________________________ Ideal habitat conditions:- __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ What are the adaptations that allow they to survive in these conditions? __________________________________________________________________ 5. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ How have they evolved? (Earliest known fossil remains) __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Interesting facts __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________