Population Interactions

*Enduring understanding 4. A: Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties

-Essential Knowledge 4.A.6: Interactions among living systems and with their environment result in the movement of matter and energy.

• a. Energy flows, but matter is recycled.
• b. Changes in regional and global climates and in atmospheric composition influence patterns of primary productivity.
• c. Organisms within food webs and food chains interact.
• d. Food webs and food chains are dependent on primary productivity.
• e. Models allow the prediction of the impact of change in biotic and abiotic factors. Evidence of student learning is a demonstrated understanding of each of the following:
  • 1. Competition for resources and other factors limits growth and can be described by the logistic model.
  • 2. Competition for resources, territoriality, health, predation, accumulation of wastes and other factors contribute to density-dependent population regulation.
• f. Human activities impact ecosystems on local, regional and global scales. Evidence of student learning is a demonstrated understanding of each of the following:
  • 1. As human populations have increased in numbers, their impact on habitats for other species have been magnified.
  • 2. In turn, this has often reduced the population size of the affected species and resulted in habitat destruction and, in some cases, the extinction of species.
• g. Many adaptations of organisms are related to obtaining and using energy and matter in a particular environment
  • *Learning Objective LO 4.14: The student is able to apply mathematical routines to quantities that describe interactions among living systems & their environment, which result in the movement of matter and energy.
  • *Learning Objective LO 4.15: The student is able to use visual representations to analyze situations or solve problems quantitatively to illustrate how interactions among living systems and with their environment result in the movement of matter and energy.
  • *Learning objective LO 4.16: The student is able to predict the effects of a change of matter or energy availability on communities.

*Enduring understanding 4.B: Competition & cooperation are important aspects of biological systems

-Essential Knowledge 4.B.3: Interactions between and within populations influence patterns of species distributions & abundance.

a. Interactions between populations affect the distribution and abundance of populations. Evidence of student learning is a demonstrated understanding of each of the following:

• 1. Competition, parasitism, predation, mutualism and commensalism can affect population dynamics.
• 2. Relationships among interacting populations can be characterized by positive and negative effects, and can be modeled mathematically (predator/prey, epidemiological models, invasive species).
• 3. Many complex symbiotic relationships exist in an ecosystem, and feedback control systems play a role in the functioning of these ecosystems.

b. A population of organisms has properties that are different from those of the individuals that make up the population. The cooperation and competition between individuals contributes to these different properties.

c. Species-specific and environmental catastrophes, geological events, and the sudden influx/depletion of abiotic resources or increased human activities affect species distribution and abundance.

• *Learning Objective LO 4.19: The student is able to use date analysis to refine observations and measurements regarding the effect of population interactions on patterns of species distribution and abundance.