Chapter 15: Ecology

 

Overview

This project is intended for Secondary 1 Science students to study about ecology in various ecosystems by using information available on the Internet to create a wiki page containing the following:

• Information on the ecosystem's habitat by examining physical factors such as light, temperature, water, air, pH, mineral salts and salinity
• Classification of living organisms in the ecosystem into three main types: Producers, consumers and decomposers
• Construct a food web connecting at least 8 living organisms from all three categories.
• Identify and give at least one example of interrelationship among various organisms in a community such as 
• predator-prey relationship
• parasitism
• mutualism

 

Objectives

At the end of this project students will be able to:

• Explain the importance of physical factors to the life of organisms living in different habitats.
• Explain the terms habitat, population, community, producers, consumers and decomposers.
• Identify a habitat and some organisms associated with it.
• Show an understanding of the interrelationship among the various organisms in a community.
• Construct a food web in a specific habitat.

 

Teams

Students will be working in groups of 4 - 5. Below are the groupings, as well as links to their group pages.

• 1E1_2012 Group 1 - African Savannah
• 1E1_2012 Group 2 -  Tropical Rainforest 
• 1E1_2012 Group 3 - Desert
• 1E1_2012 Group 4 - Seashore 
• 1E1_2012 Group 5 - Mangrove Swamps
• 1E1_2012 Group 6 - African Savannah
• 1E1_2012 Group 7 -  Tropical Rainforest 
• 1E1_2012 Group 8 - Desert

 

 

Useful Links

You should click on these links to start off your project but do not limit your information only from these webpages.

• Blue Planet Biomes (http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm)
• Note: contains information for most terrestial (land) ecosystems
• The Sea (http://www.seasky.org/index.html)
• Note: contains information about coral reef and deep sea creatures
• Lessons on the Lake (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1998/of98-805/lessons/chpt7/index.htm#animals)
• Note: contains information about lake ecosystem.

 

Reflection

Choose any two ecosystems that you have interest in and read the information that your friends have put up on their wiki page.

 

After reading the two wiki pages, write your reflection using the template provided below.

 

Click on the link to download the Reflection Worksheet for this activity. ( Ecology Wiki Reflection.doc )

 

Print a copy of your reflection and submit to your Science teacher by Term 2 Week 1.

 

Timeline

• Project Briefing: Term 1 Week 9
• Orientation of wiki page
• Preliminary research on allocated ecosystem

 

• Group Project: March Holidays
•  In depth research on allocated ecosystem
• Working on wiki page as a team
• Complete wiki page by 16 March 2012, Friday 

 

• Peer Review: Term 2 Week 1
•  Reading 2 group wiki pages
• Completing Ecology Wiki Reflection worksheet 

 

Africa !

OVERVIEW                                                                                                                                            African savanna or savannah is a grassland ecosystem, it is located in Africa. It is the largest savanna in the world. is characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced, and also characterized by seasonal water availability with majority of rainfall to one season.

PHYSICAL ENVIROMENT

1. Light

Being equipped with small and widely spaced trees cause a canopy that is not closed. This allows sufficient sunlight to support the layer of the plants and herbs that die down in the end of the growing season.

2. Water

In Africa the monsoon rains begin in May. An average of 15 to 25 inches of rain falls during this time. It will get hot and very humid during the rainy season. This lead to the cause of the hot humid air rises off the ground and collides with cooler air above and turns into rain. It will then make afternoons on the summer savanna the rains pour down for hours

3. Temperature

 Savannas have warm temperature year round. There are actually two very different seasons in a savanna which is a very long dry season which occurs in winter, and a very wet season when it is summer. In the dry season only an average of about 4 inches of rain falls. Between December and February no rain will fall at all. Eventhough , it is actually a little cooler during this dry season and it is still around 70° F.

4. Air

This is the quality for savannas

Carbon  monoxide – 9.7 (breathable)

Ozone  - 8 (breathable)

P.M 10 – 5.6 (breathable)

P.M 2.5 – 5 (breathable)

Sulfer dioxide – 3.9 (breathable)

Nitrogen dioxide – 6.1 (breathable)

OVERAL – 6.3 (BREATHEABLE)