Lesson 11

How does planting oil palm affect other populations?

Lesson Objectives...

Develop a system model for a palm farm to explain why both snake (predator) and rat (prey) populations are increasing at the same time.
Develop a system model to explain how populations in a complex rainforest ecosystem interact to keep populations stable, compared to interactions in an agricultural system where some of the same populations are increasing

Lesson 11 - Science Notebook - Ecosystem Dynamics Unit

7.5 Lesson 11 - Slides

Slide Presentation for Lesson 11...

This is the slide presentation used by your teachers when navigating through Lesson 11.

7.5 Lesson 11 - Reference - Oil Palm Farm Plants and Animals

7.5 Lesson 11 - Reference - Rainforest Plants and Animals

When there are many resources, like in the palm farm, both snakes (predators) and rats (prey) do well.
Palm farms have benefitted rats and snakes while harming orangutans and tigers.
When there is competition between populations for the same resource, it keeps numbers from increasing too much.
The tropical rainforest is a lot more complex than the palm farm, with a lot more plants and animals interacting with each other.
Populations interact for more than resources (like shelter and safety).
If one population like orangutans were to go extinct, it could cause changes to other populations because everything is connected.

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