Subject: Biology
Grade Level: 10th Grade
Unit Title: Unit 5- Interrelationships in the Biosphere / Timeframe Needed for Completion:
2-3 weeks on a 90 min per day block schedule
Grading Period: 2nd Nine Weeks
Big Idea/Theme: Ecology
Understandings: This unit is focused on the relationships organisms have in a living system. In particular, this unit is concentrates on the various interactions organisms experience and the significance of these relationships. Students will learn about ecological relationships as well as how internal and external factors play a role in health and disease. Specifically, students will gain an understanding of:
  • symbiotic relationships (mutualism, competition, parasitism, predator/prey)
  • the importance of biotic/abiotic factors in ecosystems
  • how limiting factors influence carrying capacity
  • how to interpret population graphs
  • the effects of population size, density and resource use on the environment
  • how humans impact ecosystems
  • factors that influence climate
  • the interactive role of internal and external factors in health and disease

Essential Questions:
  1. Why do we, as a coastal community in Northeastern North Carolina, care what happens in the Gulf Coast?
  2. Do you think Americans could exist if all of the oil in the Earth was used up? Why or Why not?
  3. Why should we care if our grandparents used DDT on their crops?
/ Curriculum Goals/Objectives (to be assessed at the end of the unit/quarter)
Bio.2.1 Analyze the interdependence of living organisms within their environments.
Bio.2.1.3 Explain various ways organisms interact with each other (including predation, competition, parasitism, mutualism)and with their environments resulting in stability within ecosystems.
Bio.2.1.4 Explain why ecosystems can be relatively stable over hundreds or thousands of years, even though populationsmay fluctuate (emphasizing availability of food, availability of shelter, number of predators and disease).
Bio.2.2 Understand the impact of human activities on the environment (one generation affects the next).
Bio.2.2.1 Infer how human activities (including population growth, pollution, global warming, burning of fossil fuels, habitatdestruction and introduction of nonnative species) may impact the environment.
Bio.2.2.2 Explain how the use, protection and conservation of natural resources by humans impact the environment from onegeneration to the next.
Evolution & Genetics
Bio.3.2 Understand how the environment, and/or the interaction of alleles, influences the expression of genetic traits.
Bio.3.2.3 Explain how the environment can influence the expression of genetic traits.
Bio.3.4 Explain the theory of evolution by natural selection as a mechanism for how species change over time.
Bio.3.4.3 Explain how various disease agents (bacteria, viruses, chemicals) can influence natural selection
Essential Skills/Vocabulary:
  • Differentiate between Levels of Organization in the Environment
  • Analyze Food Chains and Biological Magnification
  • Identifying the Link Between People and the Environment
  • Formulate the relationship among community interactions.
  • Analyze and understand population graphs
  • Identify the link between people and the environment
  • Summarize sustainable practices related to fossil fuels
  • Develop a health pamphlet based on a environmental ‘risk’
/ Assessment Tasks:
  1. Levels of Organization in the Environment
  2. What are some ways organisms interact with each other? Develop a Far Side Cartoon showing the interaction of organisms. (later we will build on this to show what type of symbiotic relationship it is without any prior knowledge of the definition of symbiosis)
  3. Students should draw their own estuary, accompanying food web and write up an explanation.
(Students could make up animals and plants with explanations)
  1. Brochure Scavenger Hunt
  2. Quiz based on Scavenger hunt
  3. Disease Transmission Activity
  4. Who Gives a Hoot Activity
  5. Population Graphs learning Guide
  6. Community Interactions PPT and learning guide (state resources NCDPI)
  7. Web Quest – The Immune System
  8. Gist Immune system and case studies
  9. Food Chains and Biological Magnification Activity
  10. Case studies for the immune system activity
  11. Identifying the link between people and the environment
  12. Class scape Unit 5 Test
  13. Writing: The Lorax by Dr. Suess

Materials Suggestions:
You will need internet access for several of these activities.
You will need a large bag of M&M’s and a colorful designed table cloth and plastic forks for Who Gives a Hoot (The kids love this activity)
Levels of Organization in the Environment- the students consider the characteristics of different levels of organization and how they are connected. It is an engagement activity to begin the unit. The teacher should have pictures of different examples that represent each level of organization.
Identifying the link between People and the environment

Disease Transmission Activity- you will need enough test tubes and dropper pipettes for each student and a small amount of NaOH.