The Contents of This Packet Will Educate Youon Your Surroundings Through Activities and Notes

The contents of this packet will educate youon your surroundings through activities and notes.

This packet is your responsibility and must be kept in your three-ring binder at all times. Additional copies are available on my school web page.

Student Signature

Parent Signature

September- October 2005

Mrs. Horn

HUMANS AND NATURE

Answer the questions based on the picture from the previous page.

In what way do we need plants?

Streams?

Wildlife?

Sun?

Rain?

In what ways do our needs impact all of these other things?

Ecology: ______

I.Ecological Organization

A. Population:

B. Community:

C. Ecosystem

A fish tank can be used to demonstrate all three of these terms. Think of what an occupied fish tank might contain and then give an example of a population, a community, and an ecosystem.

______

D. Biosphere:

II. Components of an Ecosystem

A. Abiotic Factors:

1. Examples:

2. Each of the above abiotic factors can also act as a limiting factor. A Limiting Factor is…

3. Choose two abiotic factors and give an example as to how they may act as a limiting factor.

* ______

______

* ______

______

B. Biotic Factors:

C. Journaling Homework Assignment

Describe a place that you have been to in which you were surrounded by nature. You may have been close to nature on a family trip, camping with the girl/boy scouts, at the beach over the summer, fishing off of the peer or hiking through the trails in the Adirondack Mountains.

Wherever you were, think back to when you were there and describe what was around you.
What can you remember about your observations of the area? What did the plant and animal life look like?
Finally how did this area compare to where you live in Greece?

This assignment must be completed in bulleted form using complete sentences.

III. Aquatic Exotics

A. PowerPoint Presentation

B. Purple Loosestrife BDA

C. Exotics in Excess Lab

Purple Loosestrife BDA

I. Description based on prior knowledge

Describe a waterside scene as though you were describing it to a child. Your scene may take place near a lake or river. What do you see, hear, smell, etc.? (Write your answer in this space.)

II. Unfamiliar Words

Word / What can you conclude is the meaning of word based on how it is used in the sentence? (Use a dictionary if you can’t figure it out.)
Perennial
Invasive
Waterfowl
Ornamental
Dormancy

III. Summary

Create an original summary (What was the reading about?) of the reading in at least 50 words. Include at least two facts from the reading in your summary. You may use the space below for your work.

______

Teacher Approval

Cane Toads

PART I: Complete this section before you watch the video.

List three things that you know about exotic species.

PART II. Complete this section while watching the video.

What is produced from cane?

Why didn’t farmers like the cane grub?

How was the grub suggested to be controlled?

Where did the cane toad come from?

How does the male attract the female?

Based on what was discussed about how the male cane toad fertilizes the eggs, do you think this is internal or external fertilization?

What is on unique thing about the cane toad tadpole?

Give one reason why the toad didn’t eat the beetle or grub?

What does homophilic mean?

PART III. Complete this section after you have watched the video.

In your journal in at least 50 words, explain how the cane toad is similar to a different from purple loosestrife.

IV. Nutritional Relationships:

A. What is a nutritional relationship?

Examples:

1. Autotrophs :

2. Heterotrophs :

3. Herbivores:

4. Carnivores:

5. Predators:

6. Scavenger:

7. Complete the chart :

Definition / Examples

Producers

Consumers
Decomposers

B. What is a symbiotic relationship?

Examples:

1. Commensalism:

2. Mutualism:

3. Parasitism:

C. “Who Am I” Activity

Who were you? Describe yourself in more than 10 words using the vocabulary from above and on page 8. Your description must be in one or more complete sentences.

V. Energy Flow in an Ecosystem

A. Food Chain:

B. Food Web:

C. Pyramid of Energy

D. Pyramid of Biomass

E. Activity: Pathways of Energy and Matter

Trace the provided template onto a piece of paper and cut it out.

Use your book on pages 54-55, to draw one type of pyramid on each side of your cutout. Include an energy pyramid, biomass pyramid, and a pyramid of numbers.

Complete the “Problem Solving Lab” 2-2 page 52, on the fourth side of your pyramid.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences as a Journal Entry:

1. How can the transfer of matter and energy through and ecosystem be modeled?

2. Describe in your own words what each pyramid represents.

3. Page 59. #2

4. Page 64, #7, #9, and #18

F. “Weird Web” Activity

Describe the activity

Explain two things that you learned from the Weird Web

VI.Material Cycles in an Ecosystem

A. The Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen Cycle

Based on the diagram, explain how oxygen and carbon dioxide circulate through the cycle.

B. The Water Cycle

Identify each part of the water cycle by its letter and explain the process.

A. ______

B. ______

C. ______

D. ______

C. The Nitrogen Cycle

D. Cycle Summary

What do these three cycles tell you about the abiotic and biotic factors of an ecosystem?

Cycles are necessary for the survival of an ecosystem. Explain.

VII.Ecosystem Development

A. Succession:

Succession begins with ______, which are the first living things to populate an area.

In the boxes below, draw illustrations showing how pioneer organisms modify their environment to make it suitable for other organisms.

Explain why a coniferous forest could not grow without the grasses and shrubs being present first

B. Climax Community:

Based on plant succession, could there be animal succession? ______

In the boxes below, list some animals that might be present at each stage of succession.

First Next Climax

C. What man-made or natural factors would cause a climax community to be altered?

D. If a climax community is affected by one of the previous examples, then secondary succession would occur.

Secondary succession is:

E. Ecological Succession Project

Ecological Succession Project

1. Journal Entry #____ (Homework check)

a. Limiting factor

b. Climax community

c. Deciduous

d. Succession

e. Biome

2. Create a timeline of a terrestrial ecosystem using information from your packet and the text on page 69-70. Draw the ecosystem at 0-1 years, 2-10 years, 10-50 years, 50-100 years, and 100-200 years old. Include plant and animal species. Label the pioneer organisms and the climax community. (10 points)

3. Answer the following questions on the back of your timeline:

a. Explain how succession results in an increase in diversity of organisms. (2 points)

b. How does succession result in an increase in the complexity of food webs? (2 points)

c. Explain how the growth of one population can bring about the disappearance of another population during succession. (2 points)

d. Describe the difference between primary succession and secondary succession. (2 points)

e. How might annual fires affect the succession of a deciduous forest? (2 points)

VIII. Competition

A. Competition is when organisms fight for the same:

Is there competition among members of the same species? ______

B. Habitat:

C. Niche:

D. “Bat and Moth” Activity

Explain the activity in at least three sentences.

Ecosystem Structure and Function

A. Requirements of an Ecosystem

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

Biomes

A. What is a Biome?

B. Description of each biome

Biome / Location / Temp. / Precipitation / Plants / Animals
Rain Forest
Deciduous Forest
Grassland
Taiga
Desert
Tundra
Biome / Location / Temp. / Precipitation / Plants / Animals
Marine
Freshwater

C. Biome and Population Project

Biodiversity

A. Definitions:

Bio – Diversity –

B. Alphabet of Biodiversity

Create a list of abiotic factors for every letter of the alphabet. Include in the list an explanation of how that factor is used by other organisms in nature. Use a blank sheet of colored paper and be creative in designing the format of your list.

Example: A – apples are used for food.

C. “Biodiversity – How it stops disease from spreading” Activity

Biome and Populations Project

1. Use poster board to display one of the following ecosystems:

J. Horn Ecology

Deciduous forest

Ocean

Grassland

Freshwater Pond

Tropical Rainforest

Coniferous Forest/Taiga

Desert

Wetland/Swamp

Other

J. Horn Ecology

Cut and paste from magazines anddraw at least 5 abiotic factors and at least 5 biotic organisms that are appropriate for the ecosystem that you have chosen. Include both plant and animal species. (5 points)

2. Choose organisms for your poster that will show the relationships of predation, competition and one symbiotic relationship (choose from parasitism, commensalisms, or mutualism). The relationships must be labeled in order to earn the points (5 points)

3. Based on your poster, answer the following questions in complete sentences on a separate sheet of loose leaf paper and staple it to the poster: (10 points)

Describe two limiting factors from your poster. Why are they limiting factors?

List four plant and four animal populations.

Identify one example of inter-species competition.

Explain why predation can be beneficial for the prey species. Be specific. Use at least one example from your poster.

Discuss how the interdependence of organisms and the diversity of species help to stabilize an ecosystem. Be thorough and complete. Use examples from your poster.

Biodiversity –

How it stops disease from spreading

When a habitat is very diverse with a variety of different species, it is much healthier and more stable. One of the reasons for this is that disease does not spread as easily in a diverse community. If one species gets a disease, others of its kind are far enough away that disease is often stopped at the one or two individuals.

Answer the following questions after you have done the activity.

What does biodiversity mean?

Why didn’t all of the different trees get the disease?

Why didn’t the disease spread as fast among the Douglas firs as it did in the first simulation?

In which forest would you need to use more chemicals to control disease: the Douglas fir forest or the more diversified, old growth forest? Why?

Summarize what this simulation symbolized.

Which forest would have more diversity of wildlife? Why?

a. If you could cut down the variety in a piece of forest you owned and replanted with one type of tree, what will happen to much of the wildlife that was adapted to that forest?

b. Will this fate happen to all the wildlife? Explain.

Many species can only live/reproduce in one type of forest. The spotted owl is an example – it can only live and successfully reproduce in old growth forests. If these old growth forests are cut down, it’s unlikely this owl will survive. Environmentalists call it an “indicator species”. What does this mean? Why by concerned about one species?

Growing one plant is called monoculture. Give one example of where we grow only one plant in an area in New York?

Why would you need to use more insecticides in monoculture? Is this good or bad?

If you wanted to help wildlife, what would you do with regards to the landscaping of your own home?

Ecology Review

Part I. The Difference Between…

decomposer/scavenger

food web/food chain

autotrophy/heterotroph

consumer/producer

producer/autotroph

niche/habitat

community/population

carnivore/herbivore

abiotic/biotic

host/prey

predator/prey

Part II. Short answer questions

Why is biodiversity important?

What makes a forest stable? What could make it unstable?

Give an example of something that is cyclic.

Explain how energy flows through an ecosystem.

Give evidence to support the statement: Carbon dioxide and oxygen are opposites.

List ways in which the carrying capacity of a population could be limited in its natural environment

Identify abiotic factors that effect and limit the growth of organisms.

Label the relationships that correspond with the following symbols:

+, -+, 0+,+

J. Horn Ecology