Explore and Practice

Ecology Assignment#016

(Copy and paste links into internet explorer. Links will not work in google)

In this assignment you are going to be building diagrams of food chains and webs, analyzing the energy intake as it moves through tropic levels, and looking at ecosystem population dynamics.

PartA. Ecosystems and Food Webs

I. FOOD CHAINS

(1) Go to Chain Reaction: Build a Food Chain and click START button to answer the questions below:

1. A person is called a _____________________________________ because they eat meat & vegetables.

2. Food gives people and animals __________________________________.

3. ________________________ are animals that only eat meat.

4. ________________________ are animals that only eat plants.

(2) Choose the Forest Food Chain. Drag and drop the images until your food chain is correct. Then answer the questions:

1. What is the correct order for your food chain?

2. What 5 things happen if you take the frog out of the food chain?

1

2

3

4

5

II. FOOD WEBS

(1) Go to http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html

and choose one of the three food webs. Put the food web together!

Consumers – are living things that need producers to be their food (animals and people)

Producers – living things which take the non-living matter from the environment (plants)

Decomposers – living things which feed off of dead plants and animals (bacteria, fungi)

(2) Using the information in the table above answer the following questions about your food chain:

We chose ____________________food chain.

Name a consumer in your food web _______________________________

Name a producer in your food web ___________________________

Name a decomposer in your food web ______________________________

III. NUTRIENT CYCLING

A. Carbon Cycle

Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/co2_cycle.html, read about the carbon cycle and fill in the blanks below:

Plants pull carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere to make food, through a process called ____________________.

Through food chains animals get ____________ from the plants and other animals they eat.

When plants and animals die their bodies ____________, and carbon goes back into the ground.

Some carbon is buried deep in the ground and forms ________________________.

When humans burn fossil fuels, ________________ is released back into the atmosphere.

When humans and animals exhale, they release carbon back into the air by a process called ______________________________.

B. Nitrogen Cycle

Go to the website http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/nitrogen_cycle.html&edu=mid and read about the nitrogen cycle and answer the questions below:

1. What are 2 ways nitrogen becomes useable to plants, humans and animals:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. How do herbivores obtain the nitrogen they need?

_________________________________________________________

3. How is nitrogen returned to the atmosphere?

_________________________________________________________

4. What are two ways humans impact the nitrogen cycle:

1.________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________

IV. POPULATION

Go to http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_population.html read about population and answer the following questions:

1. What is population ________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Two things that increase a population

a. ______________________________________________

b. ______________________________________________

3. Two things that decrease a population:

a. _____________________________________________

b. _____________________________________________

Part B: Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems

Choose and read about one of many impacts that humans have on ecosystems from the list below:

Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems

Deforestation

Human Soil Erosion

Extinction of Species

Fires

Pollution

Greenhouse Effect

List two facts you learned about the impact you chose:

1. _______________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________

Part C: Biomes Around the World

(1) Go to http://mbgnet.mobot.org/ and answer the following questions.

(2) What are the 6 Biomes of the World? ___________, _____________,

___________, ______________, ___________, ___________

(3) What are the 3 Freshwater Ecosystems and the 3 Marine Ecosystems?

a. Freshwater =

b. Marine =

(4) Click on one of the six biomes. Choose one topic from the left column.

Write 3 sentences describing the information in this topic. Do not copy word for word!

1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Extra time? Try: What’s My Carbon Footprint? (how much carbon YOU use) - http://calc.zerofootprint.net/