Bring Science Alive! Resources in Living Systems ISN

RESOURCES IN ECOSYSTEMS

N O T E B O O K

Resources in Living Systems OBSERVING PHENOMENA

Phenomenon: Poison dart frogs kept in captivity lose their toxicity over time so they are no longer poisonous.

1. What questions do you have about this phenomenon?

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Resources in Living Systems

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N O T E B O O K I N V E S T I G AT I O N 1

1. What does a zoo exhibit need to keep alligators healthy?

2. What do you think could be wrong here?

3. Which type of resource does the table focus on?

Food Type

Density (individuals/m2)

Location

Adult Food Preference Ranking

Baby Food Preference Ranking

Large Fish

1

In Pond

2

Can’t catch

Small Fish

0.01

In Pond

6

1

Small Mammals

3

On Land

3

Can’t catch

Frogs

0.25

On Land

5

2

Prepared Raw Meat

Fed 2x daily

On Land

1

Won’t eat

Large Insects

0.4

On Land and Water

4

3

4. What is different about the adult and baby food preferences?

5. Does the table give any clues about what is wrong with the babies?

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This graph shows data from previous alligator research.

Size of Prey and Attack Success 100 90 80

% Attacks Successful

70 60 Adult

50

Baby

40 30 20 10 0

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Size of Fish (cm)

6. What question is answered by the data from this graph?

7. What do the x-axis and the y-axis represent?

8. What do the two lines represent?

9. What patterns do you see in the shape of the graphed lines?

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N O T E B O O K

10. What do those patterns mean in terms of the size of the fish and the successful attacks of baby and adult alligators?

11. How do the resource needs of adults and babies differ?

12. Why were the baby alligators not thriving?

13. What can you do to fix the problem?

14. Every living thing has different resource needs. What happens in the wild where there is no zoo staff to solve resource problems?

15. How do you think resource availability impacts living things in nature?

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N O T E B O O K 1 - Living Things Need Resources

1. What is a resource?

2. Name three nonliving resources from your local ecosystem.

3. What is an example of a living resource?

4. In the image here, find and label two individuals of the same species. Point out two different species, as well.

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N O T E B O O K I N V E S T I G AT I O N 2

1. Suppose you open up a package that arrived in the mail and a small group of insects fly out.

They find their way to a door and disappear outside. Do you think they will survive? Explain.

2. What causes a population to be more or less likely to survive in an ecosystem?

3. Which case study are you focusing on? What resource varies in your case study?

4. How does the resource vary geographically? Is this permanent or temporary? Explain.

5. Why do the animals need this resource?

6. What impact does resource scarcity or abundance have on the populations?

7. How do the populations in your case study differ?

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8. Using the information you’ve learned from your own case study, write out a general statement that predicts how populations might react to changes in resource availability in any ecosystem.

9. After listening to all the case studies, write out two pieces of evidence from presentations you heard that show how populations react to changes in resource availability.

10. Consider the new information you gained from other groups and re-write your general statement about how populations react to differences in resource availability to be more broadly applicable.

11. Construct an explanation of the relationship between a local population and the resources it needs.

12. Fill in the Cause and Effect chart demonstrating how access to resources affects individuals and populations.

Cause

Effect The individual grows less and cannot reproduce

A population cannot find very much of a needed resource An individual has a decrease in competition when a competitor is killed The population size increases as everyone gets enough resources to reproduce © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

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N O T E B O O K 2 - Competition for Resources Affects Populations

1. How is a population different than a species?

2. What conditions can cause a population to grow?

3. What conditions can cause a population to decrease?

4. Draw a scene showing an example of an interaction between living things that can make resources more scarce for each population. What is this interaction called?

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N O T E B O O K I N V E S T I G AT I O N 3

1. How do you think the alligator population will change with the competition from invasive snakes?

Classroom Game Round 1 2. After talking to the other students at your Biome for Round 1, do you think you will compete with them for resources?

3. What relative population size would you predict with abundant resources? With scarce resources?

4. How do resources impact species ranges?

5. How do resources impact population sizes?

Classroom Game Round 2 6. When Round 2 species are added, how could this impact the population sizes you predicted in Round 1? Answer for both conditions: abundant and scarce resources.

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N O T E B O O K

7. How does competition for resources impact population sizes?

8. How do you think competition for resources impacts ecosystems?

9. If all the populations competing for a resource are healthy and strong, what could you predict about their resource strategies?

10. Brainstorm ways that the species could reduce competition for resources. Make a list here.

11. Use your experience in the game to write four general predictions about patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems in your notebook.

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N O T E B O O K 3 - Competition for Resources Affects Ecosystems

1. Can competition occur within a species? Explain.

2. Can competition occur between species? Explain.

3. Describe how wild horses and yaks eat grass. How does this impact the competition between them?

4. What is an ecosystem?

5. Label any part of the image below that is not part of the ecosystem. Label a nonliving part of the ecosystem. Label a living part of the ecosystem.

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N O T E B O O K 4 - Biomes are Shaped by Limited Resources

1. What determines which species lives where?

2. What is a biome?

3. What are the conditions that determine which plants can live in a terrestrial biome?

4. What are the limited resources that determine what living things are found in an aquatic biome?

5. On the map shown here, label where you think higher and lower temperatures would occur.

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N O T E B O O K 5 - Organization of Earth’s Biosphere

1. What is the biosphere?

2. What levels of organization of living things fall within the biosphere?

3. Label the levels of organization shown in each image.

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N O T E B O O K I N V E S T I G AT I O N 4

1. Do you think the whale shark exhibit models an ecosystem? Explain.

2. Which tank are you assigned to?

3. You will use the chart below to measure the population size for each living thing in your tank daily.

Time

Number of Species

Population Size (Elodea)

Population Size (Duckweed)

Population Size (Snails)

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

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4. For each living thing in your tank, write out the resources it needs • Elodea:

• Snails:

• Duckweed:

5. How do you think each organism meets its resource needs in these tanks?

6. Measure these properties for your assigned tank daily, and track them here.

Timepoint

Temperature

Water Visibility

Dissolved Oxygen

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

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N O T E B O O K MAKING SENSE OF PHENOMENA

Phenomenon: Poison dart frogs kept in captivity lose their toxicity over time so they are no longer poisonous.

1. Use what you have learned to explain this phenomenon.

Be sure to address these points in your explanation: • Where do organisms get their resources?

• How do resources help animals survive?

• How do animals in captivity get their resources?

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