Fossweb Independent learning-1 - misssimpson.commisssimpson.com/biological-science/fossweb-ecosystems.pdf · FOSSWEB Independent Learning Activity Booklet ... Grasslands, Desert,

C Simpson [ASC 2011]

FOSSWEB Independent Learning Activity Booklet


FOSSWEB Independent Learning Activity Booklet

Topic: Populations and Ecosystems

The course explores ecosystems as the largest organizational unit of life on Earth, defined by its physical environment and the organisms that live in the physical environment. Students learn that every organism has a role to play in its ecosystem and has structures and behaviors that allow it to survive. Students raise populations of organisms to discover population dynamics and interactions over a range of conditions. They learn that food is the source of energy used by all life forms in all ecosystems to conduct life processes. Reproduction, including limiting factors, heredity and natural selection are explored as ways to understand both the similarity and the variation within and between species.

Go to http://www.fossweb.com/modulesMS/index.html and click on ‘Populations and

Ecosystems’

Next click on ‘Populations and Ecosystems multimedia’

You know you are on the right page when you come to the login page here:

Fill out the information on the spaces provided:

Teacher’s Username: misssimpson

Teacher’s password: (*Please see Miss Conway)

Your status: student

From this page select “Enter the program”.

Select the “Continue” button until you get to this page:

Select “Ecoregions” from the main menu (it’s the yellow buggy in the picture).


On the blank world map below, shade the following regions: Tropical rainforests, Taiga, Deciduous Forest, Grasslands, Desert, Coral Reefs, Freshwater lakes and rivers, Tundra, Wetlands, Temperate Ocean and Tropical ocean.

Legend:

Tropical rainforest Taiga Deciduous Forest Grasslands

Desert Coral Reefs Freshwater Lakes & Rivers Tundra

Wetlands Temperate Ocean Tropical Ocean

Next you need to double-click on ‘Tropical Rainforest’ to learn some more detailed information.

Q1. Tropical rainforests contain up to how many species of animal? ______________

Q2. Rain forests cover what percentage of the Earth’s surface? __________________

Q3. Where are one third of the world’s rain forests found? ______________________

Q4. Many tropical rainforests lie near the equator. How does this affect the length of the days? ____________________________________________________________

Q5. Describe the climate of tropical rainforests _______________________________

Q6. What is the average rainfall in most forests? _____________________________

Q7. Why are rivers in a rainforest so important? _____________________________


Q8. What is the difference between the hottest and coldest months of the year in a tropical rainforest? _____________________________________________________

Q9. What percentage of the rainforest is trees? ______________________________

Q10. What specific layer of trees forms the canopy? __________________________

Q11. What are epiphytes? (Give three examples)_____________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q12. Name five animals that live in the canopy layer of the rainforest ____________

____________________________________________________________________

Q13. Where do the tall trees, or emergent’s exist in relation to the canopy? ________

____________________________________________________________________

Q14. Name five animals that live in the emergent layer of the rainforest __________

____________________________________________________________________

Q15. Where does the understory layer exist in relation to the canopy on the rainforest? ___________________________________________________________

Q16. Name five animals that make the understory their home __________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q17. Why don’t many plants grow on the forest floor? _________________________

Q18. Why can decay be considered a good (or beneficial) thing in a rainforest? _____

____________________________________________________________________

Q19. Name five animals that make the forest floor their home __________________

____________________________________________________________________

Activity 20: On the diagram below, label the different layers of the rainforest.


Q21. Complete this sentence:

About ___________________ of all __________________ come from the rain forest plants.

Q22. How many hectares of rainforest are destroyed every minute somewhere in the world? ______________________________________________________________

Q23. What is one benefit of ecotourism? ____________________________________

Q24. Explain how high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be both a positive thing and a negative thing. _______________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Colour and complete:


Scroll back up and from the left hand side of the screen select “Ecoregion Map”

Double-click on “Deciduous Forest”

Q25. What does deciduous mean? ________________________________________

Q26. What is the average annual temperature in a temperate deciduous forest? ____

Q27. How cold can it get during winter? ____________________________________

Q28. How hot can it be in summer? _______________________________________

Q29. What is the annual rainfall? _________________________________________

Q30. Name three species of tree that grow in this region? ______________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q31. When deciduous tress shed their leaves, they fall to the forest floor. Explain how this helps other animals to survive. ____________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q32. Explain why the colours of the leaves change in autumn. __________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q33. How many hectares of deciduous forest disappear each year? ______________


Double-click on “Grasslands”

Q34. What percentage of the earth surface is covered by grassland? _____________

Q35. Where are most grasslands found? ____________________________________

Q36. Temperate grasslands are known by many different names around the world. Give five examples of alternate names for temperate grasslands. ________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q37. What is a savannah? _______________________________________________

Q38. How hot can the summers be? _______________________________________

Q39. How cold can the winters be? ________________________________________

Q40. How much rain (precipitation) falls each year in this region? ________________

Q41. Describe what the roots of the savannah grasses are like __________________

____________________________________________________________________


Q42. The ground squirrel has developed a unique way of surviving the harsh conditions in the temperate grassland. What is it and describe specifically how this helps the ground squirrel to survive. _______________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q43. How do gophers survive? ___________________________________________

Q44. Why do only a few natural grassland regions remain? _____________________

____________________________________________________________________

Activity 45: Complete the word search below.



Double-click on “Desert”

Q46. How do scientists define a region as a desert? ___________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q47. How much of the earth’s land surface is desert? _________________________

Q48. Can deserts be cold? (Explain your answer). ____________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q49. What is the name of the world’s largest single desert? ____________________

Activity 50. Complete this table:

Ten Largest Deserts in the World Desert Location Type Square

Kilometres Square Miles

Antarctic Antarctica Polar 13,985,000 5,400,000 North Africa 9,065,000

Arabian Gobi China, Mongolia 1,000,000

Patagonian Cold winter Australia 250,000

Kalahari Southern Africa Great Basin Cold winter 190,000 Chihuahuan 453,000

Subtropical 175,000

Activity 51. The diagram below represents a phenomenon called “Rain Shadow”. Read the explanation on the website and then label to diagram to explain how this occurs.


Q52. How high can temperatures get in a hot desert? _________________________

Q53. At night how low can the temperature drop? ____________________________

Q54. Give three examples of hot deserts ___________________________________

Q55. What is the average winter temperature of a cold desert? __________________

Q56. What is the average summer temperature? _____________________________

Q57. Give three examples of cold deserts ___________________________________

Q58. How do sand dunes form? ___________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q59. Complete the following sentence:

Plants grow _________apart in deserts. Their root systems often spread over a

_______ area. This allows them to gather __________ and ___________ without

___________ from other plants.

Q60. Why are there very few mammals that live in the desert? __________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q61. How are grazing livestock a threat to deserts? ___________________________

____________________________________________________________________


Double-click on “Coral Reefs”

Q62. Complete the sentence:

Coral reefs are built from the carbonate-based ________ of a variety of _________

and ________.

Q63. The Indian Ocean holds what percentage of the world’s coastal coral reefs? ____

Q64. What are the three main types of reefs? _______________________________

Q65. What is a barrier reef? Why is it called this? ____________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q66. What is another name for a channel? __________________________________

Q67. What is an atoll? __________________________________________________

Q68. What is the temperature range needed for coral reef communities to develop?

____________________________________________________________________


Q69. Why does the water for a coral reef need to be shallow? ___________________

Q70. Why is the water around coral reefs a blue/green colour? __________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q71. Corals are related to which two organisms? _____________________________

Q72. Explain briefly how coral reefs form ___________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q73. Name six different animals that live in a coral reef _______________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q74. Describe three major threats to coral reef ecosystems ____________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________


Double-click on “Polar Icecap”

Q75. The ice layer on Antarctica has an average thickness of? __________________

Q76. Antarctica contains what percentage of the Earth’s total ice? _______________

Q77. Name three different organisms that can live in this harsh environment _______

____________________________________________________________________

Q78. How are insects able to survive in the soil? _____________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q79. What is the Antarctic Treaty? ________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q80. How many countries signed it and when? _______________________________


Double-click on “Tundra”

Q81. What are the two types of tundra in the world? __________________________

Q82. Where does arctic tundra exist? ______________________________________

Q83. Where is alpine tundra found? _______________________________________

Q84. Why cant trees grow in the tundra? ___________________________________


Q85. What is permafrost? _______________________________________________

Q86. What does the word ‘tundra’ mean? ___________________________________

Q87. How low can temperatures become during the arctic winter? _______________

Q88. What is the average annual temperature? ______________________________

Q89. How much precipitation does the arctic tundra receive each year? ___________

Q90. Why do Naturalists in the alpine tundra call the tundra flowers “belly flowers”?

____________________________________________________________________

Q91. Explain why some plants have dark red leaves __________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q92. Name six animals that make the tundra their home ______________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q93. Why do some animals hibernate during the winter months? ________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q94. How can global warming affect the tundra ecosystem? ____________________

____________________________________________________________________


Double-click on “Wetlands”

Q95.What are wetlands? ________________________________________________

Q96. Give three reasons why wetlands are such an important biome? _____________

____________________________________________________________________

Q97. Provide a brief description of the following:

Swamps: ___________________________________________________

Bogs: ______________________________________________________

Vernal pools: ________________________________________________

Salt marshes: _______________________________________________

Q98. Name six different animals that make this biome their home________________

____________________________________________________________________

Q99. What process allows plants to add oxygen to the water? ___________________


Close out of this window and go back to the main menu page

From here select the cage that says “WalkingStick Predation”. From the smaller menu select “Eat Insects”.

Choose 30 seconds to eat insects

When the time is up, check your results and complete the table below:

Brown Green-brown Green Eaten

Survived

Try the activity again and see if you can improve your results.

Complete the table below with you new results.

Brown Green-brown Green Eaten

Survived

Q1. Explain your results after your second attempt. Did you improve? Why do you think this is so? _______________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________


Close out the window and go back to the main menu. From there click on WalkingStick Predation and select the second option from the smaller menu called “Find Insects in Three Environments”

Choose 30 seconds to eat insects

Select the Woodchips environment.

When your time is up click on “results” and fill out the table below:

Brown Green-Brown Green Initial Eaten Survived Initial Eaten Survived Initial Eaten Survived

Starting population

1

2

3

4

5

Press the ‘continue’ button at the bottom of the screen and then “next generation” to have another go. Keep on filling in your table as you complete each trial.

Q2. Analysis: Did you results improve with each new generation? Why/ Why not? (Explain your answer) __________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Next select the Bamboo environment and fill out the table below:

Brown Green-Brown Green Initial Eaten Survived Initial Eaten Survived Initial Eaten Survived

Starting population

1

2

3

4

5


Q3. Have a look at your results tables. Which environment allowed more Brown insects to survive? _____________________________________________________

Q4. Why do you think this is so? __________________________________________

Q5. Which environment allowed more Green insects to survive? _________________

Q6. Why do you think this is so? __________________________________________

Press the close button to close the window. Go back to the main menu to select “Larkeys”.

From here watch the ‘Larkey Breeding Video’ When the video is finished go back to the main menu and select “Larkeys”.

From here select the second option from the smaller menu titled ‘Offspring Genotype and Phenotype’

Some important Information about genetics!

How an individual looks and what their genetic code is sometimes do not match up. This is the difference between genotype and phenotype. The genotype is the actual genetic make up of an individual. The phenotype is what that individual looks like.

Traits that show up more often are called dominant traits. Traits that show up less often are called recessive traits. Each trait is represented by two genes (capital letters showing the gene is dominant, lower case letters representing recessive). You only need one dominant gene in the pair to make the trait dominant.

In this activity the traits are:

Appendage, Eye, Fur and Tail

For example: Eye Colour

EE (the trait is dominant and the colour is RED)

ee (the trait is recessive and the colour is GREY)

Ee (the trait is dominant but the animal is a genetic ‘hybrid’ or mix, the eye

colour would still be RED)


Click on “Genetics Key” at the bottom of the page.

Q7. Determine what the animal will look like by filling out the tables below:

Fur Pattern Genotype Phenotype

FF Ff ff

Tail Shape Genotype Phenotype

TT Tt tt

The combination of genetic information from each parent is determined by using punnet squares. A punnet square is a diagram that can predict the outcome of a

breeding experiment. For example if we wanted to determine what type of appendages the offspring of two Larkeys could have, we can place this information in

the punnet square to find out.

Father’s genotype: AA (short) Mother’s genotype: Aa (short)

Mother’s genotype here

A a

Father’s genotype here A

A

Appendages Genotype Phenotype

AA Aa aa


In the top left hand square, you place one gene directly above the box (from the mother) and one gene directly to the left of the box (from the father).

AA

In the top right hand square you pace the gene directly above and the gene directly to the left.

AA aA

Continue this process until all the squares are filled.

Now you can look at the possible genotypes of the offspring. If this mother and father Larkey have a baby what is the chance (out of 4) that the baby will be:

AA _________ What is it’s phenotype (what would it look like)? _______________

Aa _________ What is it’s phenotype (what would it look like)? _________________

aa ___________ What is it’s phenotype (what would it look like)? _______________

Now that you understand a bit more about genetics.

Push the “breed ‘em” button and you should have this screen pop up:

This is the mother’s genetic information This is the father’s info


Q8. Complete the following table

Feature Genotype (1 gene from mum and 1

gene from dad)

Phenotype

Appendage

Eye

Fur

Tail

Q9. In the box below, draw a picture of what this baby Larkey looks like.

Q10. Continue to work through the five examples. When you have finished look at your results. How many breeding activities did you get correct? _________________

Congratulations!

You have now finished the online component of Populations and Ecosystems. Please complete the following two activities below.

Activity 1: Use the information you have collected about rainfall from all the different ecosystems and create a graph comparing each system.

Use the grid on the following page to create your graph.



Activity 2: Select an ecosystem that you found interesting or would like to know more about and create a podcast about that ecosystem.

In your podcast include information about:

A) Where it is located, B) Climate, C) The average rainfall it receives each year, D) Select three plants that exist in your ecosystem and describe two adaptations

for each plant that helps it to survive in the ecosystem. E) Also include information about five animals that live in this ecosystem and

explain two (or more) adaptations that each animal has which allows it to survive in this environment.

F) Include a food chain that would exist in this particular ecosystem. You must identify the primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers (optional) and the decomposers.

Some resources to help you:

www.misssimpson.com

Go to the ‘life and living’ page and select “Feeding Relationships” to learn about food chains.

Go to the ‘life and living’ page and select “Adaptations” to learn about animal adaptations.

Other websites that could be helpful:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/foodchain/foodchain.htm

http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_foodchain.html

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=4750

http://www.tburg.k12.ny.us/mcdonald/ANIMAL%20ADAPTATIONS/AAdapt.htm

END OF INDEPENDENT LEARNING ACTIVITY

Documents

Fossweb Independent learning-1 - misssimpson.commisssimpson.com/biological-science/fossweb-ecosystems.pdf · FOSSWEB Independent Learning Activity Booklet ... Grasslands, Desert,