Unit 7: Changing Environments

Earth’s surface is covered in connected ecosystems, which interact with and depend on one another for survival. An ecosystem can be as large as an ocean or as small as a pond. Regardless of its size, all the parts of an ecosystem work together to make a balanced system. In this lesson, students model how the introduction of an invasive species affects the flow of energy through the entire food web.

Once students model how energy flows through ecosystems, they focus on the source of this energy: the sun. Plants harness that energy through photosynthesis, and therefore play a critical role in all food webs. Students conduct an experiment to investigate how a disturbance such as an oil spill affects the ability of plants to photosynthesize.

After experimenting with how an ecosystem food web can be harmed, students become engineers, designing solutions that can help protect fragile systems. They focus on one kind of solution—an artificial reef—that can offer ecosystem services for coastal ecosystems.