Sustaining Ecosystems – delivery guide

Teacher Resource ‒ Answers to Learner Resource 2

Make your own Biosphere‒ A garden in a bottle!

Activities

Read the link below about a biosphere watered once in 53 years! Then answer the questions below;

Questions

  1. What components make up your biosphere?

Abiotic: soil, rocks, wood, water, sand, pebbles, charcoal,

Biotic: plants and insects

  1. How are each of the components linked (interdependent)?

Suggested answers;

Soil → plants – soil provides essential nutrients for plants to ‘fix’ to grow

Plants → insects – plants (producers) provide food for insects (consumers)

Insects → plants – insects ‘respire’ and provide CO2 for plants to photosynthesis

Water→ plants – water essential in process of photosynthesis

  1. Explain why your biosphere is a ‘closed’ system.

Closed as nothing new is entering the system (jar) or leaving.

ALTHOUGH sunlight is entering the biosphere externally.

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Sustaining Ecosystems

What systems are operating within your biosphere? (think about nutrients, energy and water)

Nutrient Cycle – Soil provides nutrients for plants → plants die and decompose→ dead organic matter decomposed by bacteria / worms → provides nutrients to soil

Water Cycle – Water either evaporated by heat or absorbed by plants → rises, cools and condenses or is transpired through leaves → drips back into soil→ plants reuse for photosynthesis

Energy Flows – Producers (plants) photosynthesise → Insects eat plants (energy loss respiration) →Insects die and decompose → worms / bacteria feed on waste→ nutrients recycled so plants can use again

  1. Predict what would happen to the biosphere if you removed or changed one of the components?

Example Answer:

  • Removing the plants – this would result in the loss of primary producers
  • The insects would have no food source and would die. This would reduce CO2
  • There would be a lack of nutrients in the soil as there would be no dead plant material being decomposed and returned to the soil
  1. How can the garden in a bottle help us to understand how ecosystems are linked?

On a small scale we can understand how all the components are interlinked in some way and apply this to larger scale ecosystems.

  1. What other types of biosphere could you create and how would you do this?

Ideas could include; using different types of sealed containers, creating a water based biosphere (pond), introducing different varieties of plants / adding a heat source to create more ‘tropical’ conditions etc.

Students will be able to invent lots of other ideas.

Version 11© OCR 2016

Sustaining Ecosystems