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EcologySB4. Students will assess the dependence of all organisms on one another and the flow of energy and matter within their ecosystems.

a. Investigate the relationships among organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes.

b. Explain the flow of matter and energy through ecosystems by Arranging components of a food chain according to

energy flow. Comparing the quantity of energy in the steps of an

energy pyramid. Explaining the need for cycling of major nutrients

(C, O, H, N, P).

c. Relate environmental conditions to successional changes in ecosystems.

d. Assess and explain human activities that influence and modify the environment such as global warming, population growth, pesticide use, and water and power consumption.

e. Relate plant adaptations, including tropisms, to the ability to survive stressful environmental conditions.

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f. Relate animal adaptations, including behaviors, to the ability to survive stressful environmental conditions.

INSERT – ECOSYSTEM COLLUM - BOTTLE BIOMES

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Land Biome Research

Go to the website www.mgbnet.net OR www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/Biome Climat

eAmount of Precipitatio

n

Location

Plant Life: Adaptatio

ns and Examples

Animal Life:

Adaptions and

Examples

Tundra

Taiga (coniferous forest

Deciduous forest

Grasslands

Desert

Tropical Rainfores

t

Chaparral

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INSERT – Magic school bus – Take a dive for biotic relationships

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Oh Deer -

1- What were the limiting factors represented in the lab? Circle all that apply:

deer water food shelter

2- What do resources do animals need to survive? ______________________

_______________________________________________________________________

3- As the population of deer increased the number of resources (increaseddecreased)

4- Are wildlife populations static, or do they tend to fluctuate, as part of an overall “balance of nature?” Circle answer. Static Fluctuate

5- Is nature ever really in “balance” or are ecological systems involved in a process of constant change? Circle answer.

Balance Constant change

6- Write a several sentences explaining the concepts this lab is demonstrating.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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7-Depict on the graph below a line that represents what happens to a deer population if all the water in their habitat dries up.

8-What 4 factors can change a population’s size? _______________________________________________________________________

9- Define carrying capacity. _______________________________________________________________________

10 - On ten acres of native forest there are eight white-tailed deer, seven coyotes, 45 armadillos, and 231 loblolly pine trees. Which population has the highest density?

a. white-tailed deer c. armadillosb. coyotes d. loblolly pine trees

11- Young adult male chimpanzees look for mates outside their own population. The males then take the females back to their group. Which of the following occurs in females’ original population?a. emigration c. mortalityb. immigration d. natality ( birth rate)

12- To assess a population’s growth rate, an ecologist must know how many individuals are born, how many died, and how many move away in a given period of time. What else must an ecologist know?a. how many individuals find matesb. how many individuals move in from somewhere elsec. how many individuals carry communicable diseasesd. how many individuals are young or old

13- A population’s emigration in one month totaled three individuals. During the same period, immigration was 17 individuals. Natality (birth rate) was 12, and mortality was 26 due to a parasite infection. What was the net effect on the population size?a. –14 c. +12b. 0 d. +26

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How Many Penguins Does It Take?Studying carrying capacity and limiting factors

BackgroundHave you ever wondered why animal population numbers just don’t explode and keep going? Populations change over time. Deaths, births, immigrations, and emigrations all affect how many individuals are left in a population. Other factors--such as food, water, shelter, space, disease--dictate population numbers. These are called limiting factors. They are limiting because they affect whether or not the population will increase or decrease. Carrying capacity is the number of organisms an ecosystem can hold long-term. For example, let’s say that you have 100 acres of woods behind your house. That 100 acres can only hold a certain number of squirrels. There are only a certain number of nuts to go around. Once those nuts are gone, the squirrels must either find another home, or they will die of starvation. So, over time, you’ll find that the squirrel population stays at an average number that the woods can support--no more, no less. And that is carrying capacity. Every population will increase in number until its ecosystem can no longer hold or support them. Then individuals die (or move from the area). Therefore, the ecosystem dictates how many individuals can live in it.

MaterialsThis activity sheet 1 baggie (your penguin stomach) with your name clearly marked on it

Procedure1. You are a penguin. The baggie you hold is your stomach. Label it with your name. 2. Lay your baggie down at the start line. When the teacher says, “Go!”, run and pick up

one card at a time and bring back to your baggie. Repeat until all cards are gone. 3. Add up the numbers on your cards. Make sure you notice the difference between the 1

and .10 cards. Data:Total food gathered: ___________________A penguin eats about 6.6 lbs. of food per day. Did you live or die? ________ Number of class penguins who lived:_______________Number of class penguins who died:_______________

Discussions Questions1. What determined whether the penguins lived or died?

2. What is the term for this factor?

3. What is the carrying capacity of this ‘coastline”?

4. Was there any evidence of sickness or injury preventing the penguins from getting enough food? What might eventually happen to them?

5. Would the parent penguin keep the gathered food for himself, or would he give it to the baby penguin? Why?

6. Look at the following graph. What does A represent?

7. What is happening at B?

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8. Would A be exactly the same all of the time, or is it more of an average?

9. What is carrying capacity?

10. What are limiting factors? Give some examples.

11. Explain why populations cannot continue to grow ad infinitum.

12. Explain why populations fluctuate overtime.

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Nutrient Cycle Webquest

The Carbon Cycle

Recall that the four major macromolecules are built on carbon skeletons. Where does this carbon come from? Is carbon “created” daily? Actually- it is NOT. All the carbon atoms that are in your body are simply recycled carbon atoms from the beginning of earth’s history! That means that the carbon atoms that are in your body right now have been in some other organism’s body in the past. Just think, a carbon atom in your eyeball could have been in a dinosaur’s poop!

The carbon cycle is the pathway that carbon follows as it moves in and out of living organisms. Go to the following websites to learn how carbon is recycled through the biosphere:

http://library.thinkquest.org/11226/why.htm1. Carbon from the atmosphere:

a. Which organisms are responsible for absorbing carbon from the atmosphere? b. What form (what compound) is the carbon in?c. What is the name of this process?d. What is made as a result of this process?

2. How do animals get the carbon?

3. How do animals return carbon to the atmosphere? (There are two ways mentioned)

4. Sketch the carbon cycle, indicating the key steps of:

a. Photosynthesis (from atmosphere to plant sugars)b. Consumption (eating) (from plant to animal to animal)c. Respiration (example: returning carbon to atmosphere by “breathing out”)d. Decomposition (returning carbon to soil by rotting into the ground)

5. Go to: http://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/images/carboncycle_sm.jpg Examine the picture. How might we (humans) be altering the carbon cycle?

The Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is an essential part of proteins and DNA. Like carbon, nitrogen must be recycled continuously. Go to the following websites to learn how this happens:http://www.cst.cmich.edu/centers/mwrc/nitrogen.htm

1. Where is most nitrogen in the biosphere located?

2. This nitrogen is not in a useable form. Plants and animals cannot simply absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere. Therefore, it must be _____________________ , which means ________________________________.

3. There are two ways that nitrogen can be removed from the atmosphere: a)b)

4. What happens to nitrogen inside of a plant?

5. How does the nitrogen get to carnivores?

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6. What happens to the nitrogen when organisms die?

7. What is the name of the process which returns nitrogen to the atmosphere?

8. Go to the following site and sketch the steps involved in the nitrogen cycle: http://ridge.icu.ac.jp/gen-ed/ecosystem-jpgs/nitrogen-cycle.jpg

Step 1 – nitrogen-fixation – (nitrogen in atmosphere converted to ammonia by lightning or nitrogen-fixing bacteria)Step 2 – nitrification (ammonia converted to nitrates by nitrifying bacteria)Step 3 – assimilation (plants absorb nitrates, incorporate into proteins. Nitrogen in now in the food chain)Step 4 – ammonification (dead plants/animals converted to ammonia by ammonifying bacteria)Step 5 – denitrification (some nitrates are returned to atmosphere by denitrifying bacteria)

9. What type of organism do you notice is essential in nearly every stop of the nitrogen cycle?

The Water Cycle http://education.jlab.org/reading/water_cycle.html

1. The ______________ evaporates _____________ from lakes and oceans. As the air rises, it cools. The water vapor condenses into tiny droplets of _______________. The droplets crowd together and form a __________. Wind blows the ______________ towards the land. The tiny droplets join together and fall as precipitation to the ____________. The water soaks into the ground and collects in ___________. The ___________ that never ends has started again!

2. Sketch the diagram, and label each numbered arrow.

Phosphorus Cycle Go to: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/chagedor/biol_4684/Cycles/Pcycle.html and answer these questions based on the “soil based view” of the phosphorus cycle.

1. How does phosphorus initially enter the cycle? 2. What do plants do with it?

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3. How do herbivores get it? 4. How do carnivores get it?5. How do herbivores and carnivores return phosphorus to the cycle?

Primary and Secondary Succession ( Spring Only)

Procedure1. Mark off a square plot of land in an area indicated by your teacher.2. Remove every bit of green material from this area. Every blade of grass

must be removed!3. Record your observations of this area over the next several weeks.4. In a second area, observe the rock your teacher has set out. Observe

your observations of this area over the next several weeks.

ObservationsDate of Observation

Cleared area (soil based) Rock

Analysis

5. State in one sentence the purpose of this lab.

6. Define succession.

7. What is primary succession?

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8. What is secondary succession?

9. Which is faster? Human Impact on Biodiversity

In this lab we will be investigating the effects of certain pollutants on an ecosystem. A pollutant is any agent which harms the air, water, or soil of an ecosystem.

Global Warming – Thermal Pollution

Our earth is kept warm by certain gases in the atmosphere (carbon dioxide, for example). These gases keep heat from escaping back into space. This trapping of energy is referred to as the greenhouse effect – and it is a GOOD thing – it keeps the planet warm enough to support life. The greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

The BAD part comes when certain human activities add the levels of these naturally occurring greenhouse gases – burning fossil fuels, for example. Global warming refers to the theory that the greenhouse gases are rising at an alarming rate, trapping MORE energy – thereby making the earth warmer.

Chemical Pollutants

Pesticides and herbicides are chemicals that kill pests and unwanted plants. The problem is that these chemicals often do not go away for a LONG time. That means they accumulate in the ground water.

Each member of an ecosystem is connected to some degree to every other organism in that ecosystem. Consider the diagram of the food web – destroying or reducing any part of this web will impact every other member. Therefore, a pesticide that destroys the producers in ecosystem may end up wiping out the fox

population.

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A second problem with the accumulation of chemicals is called biomagnification. In this case the concentration of pollutant is multiplied as it passes up the food chain. The top level consumers end up with the highest concentration of pollutant.

We as intelligent human beings have a responsibility to preserve the biodiversity of this planet. We must be careful that our activities do not negatively impact the biosphere. Uncontrolled activity and development can negatively impact the biosphere in two significant ways:

(1) resource depletion (fossil fuels, food, habitat destruction) and(2) pollution

Acid Rain

1. Obtain three Petri dishes and 100 corn seeds.

2. Place 50 seeds in each dish as follows:

a. Petri dish #1: pH 7 (paper towels well moistened with distilled water)b. Petri dish #2: pH 3 (paper towels well moistened with vinegar)

3. In 2 or 3 days, observe each dish. Fill out the data table with your observations.4. Determine the percent germinated with this formula: (# seedlings ÷ total

number seeds) X 100

The Effect of pH on Seedling GerminationpH Number of Seeds Placed in

DishNumber of Seedlings

% Germinated

pH = 7

pH = 3

Greenhouse Effect

1. Obtain 2 2-liter soda bottles. Cut the top off of each bottle and put in recycle bin.

2. Fill the bottom of each bottle with equal amounts of soil – about 10 centimeters. 3. Cover the top of one bottle with plastic wrap, and secure with a rubber band.

Leave the other bottle uncovered. 4. Cut a hole in each bottle half way to the top. Place a thermometer in each

bottle. Place a small circle of paper to shield the bulb of the thermometer from direct light.

5. Place the bottles in the sun (or under a lamp on a cool day). 6. Take a temperature measurement at each time indicated on the date table.7. Create a line graph for your data. Be sure to label each axis, title your graph,

and make a key.

Open Bottle Closed BottleInitial Temp2 minutes

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Acid rain is another sort of chemical pollutant. In this case, nitrogen and sulfur emissions (from human activity) enter the atmosphere. These emissions collect with water vapor and come down as acid rain. Since living organisms are very sensitive to pH, this can seriously harm the organisms in an ecosystem affected by acid rain.

4 minutes6 minutes8 minutes

10 minutes12 minutes14 minutes

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INSERT BIOMAGNIFICATION LAB FROM DONNA - NE

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