Ecosystem Investigation
Group Submission
Please
submit the following in a group report:
- Your completed recording sheet
– Please rewrite a clean version, do not submit the sheet that was used
outdoors
- A sheet of completed
calculations for all the estimated populations in the ecosystem
- Three drawn and labeled biotic
elements that your group observed in the ecosystem
- Please include the answers to
the following questions in complete sentences:
a.
Why was it important to throw a pencil to select
the location of our quadrats?
b.
Aside from grass, the white clover was the most
common plant. What features does the white clover have to make it grow so well?
Do some research to find out!
c.
Compare your individual counts in your quadrats
to the average of all 5 quadrats. How do they compare? Were the populations
spread evenly?
d.
Did you observe any unusual features in one
quadrat that were not found anywhere else on the site such as an ant hill?
e.
How is the sampling of animal populations more
difficult than that of plant populations?
f.
Identify at least 5 different interactions in
the lawn ecosystem you observed; these could be biotic-biotic, abiotic-abiotic,
or biotic - abiotic
g.
Did you observe any scavengers, detritivores, or
decomposers in the ecosystem? If you did, which ones? How do these organisms
keep the ecosystem healthy?
h.
Explain what would happen in your lawn ecosystem
if only the scavengers, detritivores and decomposers were removed from the site.
The
group submission is due: _____________________________________________
Independent Submission
Instructions:
a) Each
student must work on the following questions independently
b) The
submitted work must be neatly written or typed
c) All
answers must be written in detailed sentences where possible
1.
As we investigated our ecosystem, we saw very
few animals. Explain why the animals were not seen.
2.
Research what type of animals would be part of
our lawn ecosystem and consider the animals you regularly see in your
neighbourhood. Make a list of animals that could potentially be members of our
lawn ecosystem.
3.
Research what some of the animals in our local
ecosystem eat.
4.
Create at least 3 food chains that could exist
in this ecosystem. Remember that all food chains begin with a producer. The
food chains should include at least 3 organisms. You are not required to draw
the organisms, simply write the name of the organism.
5.
Explain in a paragraph what would happen of one
part of the food chain was removed.
The
independent submission is due on:
___________________
