Ecology/Environmental crisis
Monthly project ideas:
May's monthly project is on environmental crisis, concerns and issues
IDEAS:
floating garbage patch
landfills
plastic bottles
cell phones/computer disposal - electronic trash
oil spills
climate change
ozone destruction - greenhouse gases
receding glaciers - polar icecap melting
air pollution
water pollution
over population
resource depletion
species extinction
rainforest destruction - habitat destruction
filling in of wetlands
clear cutting
urban sprawl
insecticides, herbicides
acid rain
Japan clean up
nuclear waste
where does city trash go?
overfishing, overhunting, overgrazing
sound pollution
Vocab:
(additional vocab words are on handout)
biosphere
ecology
ecosystem
habitat
niche
community
population
biotic, abiotic
consumer
producer
decomposer
herbivore, carnivore, omnivore
food chain, food web
competition, predation
symbiosis
parasitism, commensalism, mutualism
succession
ecologist
carrying capacity
heterotroph, autotrophs
Concepts:
Two conditions that are set by physical environment that organism have to adapt to
six basic needs all organisms
define ecosystem and how biotic and abiotic play a role in it
niche of decomposers
what are competition and predation and how have organisms adapted for each
what are the three symbiotic relationships and examples of each
what role does technology play in an ecosystem
difference between, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore
what do the words resilient and resistant mean in ecology
what is the nutrient cycle
describe three examples of how we mismanage the planet
Notes:
ecology - study of the relationship of living things to their environment
ecosystem - physically distinct, self-supportive area of interacting organisms and their surroundings
biosphere is persistent but renewable
zone of life on earth
takes energy from the sun, using particles from crust, air and water to make living matter
plants grow, animals eat them and each other, everything dies, decomposers close out cycle putting nutrients back into soil
herbivores are plant eaters
carnivores are meat eaters
omnivores eats both
checks and balance system - more food, more life more predators, and visa versa
ex. deer and coyote population
sun is driving force of biosphere
wind and ocean currents move materials around earth
organisms persist because have adapted to conditions set by physical environment (temperature and rainfall)
and conditions set by each other (competition and predation)
competition - to organisms fighting for same need
predation - one organism hunting another
producers (autotrophs) can produce own food - plants
consumers (heterotrophs) cannot and need to eat other
six basic needs all organisms
c,h,o,n,p,s
food chains - flow of energy through ecosystem - nutrients get recycled
food web - interconnecting chains
mismanagement of population
manipulation of habitats - filling wetlands, clear cutting, urban sprawl, over farming
pollution
overpopulation - too many people - running out of resources, space, food, clean water
carrying capacity - how much life an area can support
resistant - new leaves killed by late frost but tree survives
resilient - recovery from forest fire
technology
fire, hunting, genetic engineering
ecologist - a person who studies ecology
biotic - living parts to ecosystem
abiotic - non-living -- rocks, soil air water
community - group of organisms that coexist in ecosysytem
population - group of many individuals of single species
habitat - surroundings in which an organism lives
niche - role an organism plays in ecosystem (food, living space)
panda - very narrow(one food source, small mating period
rats - very large (live anywhere, eat anything)
symbiotic - permanent relationship between species
mutualism - both benefit ( sharks and cleaning fish)
commensalism - one benefit other unaffected (microscopic organisms living on our skin - hair)
parasitic - one benefits other harmed (ticks, mosquitos)
cycles
water, carbon-oxygen, nutrient