INtroduction
Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms and their environment. Ecology is used to understand and explain the relationships between humans, animals, and the environment and how we as humans affect it. For this project we were tasked with identifying a ecological problem related to a species or ecosystem and create an action plan to help. We were tasked to produce a presentation (Prezi,PowerPoint or Google Slides), paper , or video that presents an action plan that will allow your species to thrive in its current environment and what steps you have done to make change based on your action plan. The action plan must be justified by explaining how humans are impacting your species/population. My group for this project was Luke, Max, Vanessa, and I and we chose to do our project on the Great Barrier reef ecosystem.
Terms
Ecology-The study of the interactions between living things and their environment.
Individual-A single living organism Population-A group of homogeneous individual (species) that live in the same habitat (area). Community-Populations of different species interacting with each other Competition-When individuals use the same resources resulting in lower fitness for both. Consumption-When one organism eats or absorbs nutrients from another, increasing the consumer’s fitness but decreasing the victim’s fitness. Mutualism-When two species interact in a way that confers fitness benefits to both. Commensalism-When one species benefits but the other species is unaffected. Ecosystem-How the communities interact with their environment. Biome-Group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities Biosphere-Where all of life exists in the world (11 Km below Earths surface to 8 Km above the surface) Autotroph- An organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide. Photosythesis-The process by which organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Chemosythesis-The synthesis of organic compounds by organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight. |
Heterotroph-An organism deriving its nutritional requirements from other organic substances.
Herbivore-An organism that feeds on plants. Carnivore-an organism that feeds on flesh. Omnivore-an organism that eats both plant and animals. Detritivores-an organism which feeds on dead organic material. Decomposers-An organism that decomposes organic material. Carrying Capacity-The number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation. Biomass-The total mass of organisms in a given area or volume. Biodiversity-The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. Population Density-The number of people living in each unit of an area. Geographic Distribution-The natural arrangement and apportionment of the various forms of animals and plants in the different regions and localities of the earth. Population Growth-The increase in the number of individuals in a population. Limiting Factor-Any factor that prevents a population from increasing. Density-Dependant Factor- A limiting factor due to the density of said population. Ex: Competition, Resources, Disease. Density Independant Factor- A limiting factor NOT due to the density of said population. Ex: Weather, Natural Disasters. |
Concepts
PhotoSythesisPhotosynthesis is the process used by plants to create the glucose they need for energy. Photosynthesis requires light, carbon dioxide, and water to occur, and it uses these to create glucose which it needs for food, and oxygen as a byproduct of the reaction. It has two reactions, the light dependent reaction (which requires light to work) and the light independent reaction (which does not).
Equation: 6CO2 + 6H2O + Light Energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2 |
Cellular RespirationCellular respiration is the process that animal cells (specifically mitochondria) use to create ATP or energy that the animal needs to survive. It requires oxygen and glucose, and produces ATP, carbon dioxide, and water. It has three main steps, glycolysis, the krebs cycle, and the electron transpot chain.
Equation: C6H12O6+6O2→6CO2 + 6H2O+ATP |
Nitrogen CycleThe nitrogen cycle is a cycle through which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into nitrogen usable for plants and animals then returned to the atmosphere.
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Carbon CycleThe carbon cycle is a cycle through which carbon travels throughout the biosphere. It goes from atmospheric carbon to carbon in plants, then carbon in animals, and finally is decomposed back into the atmosphere. Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration are both crucial to this cycle.
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Water CycleThe water cycle is the cycle in which water travels throughout the biosphere. Its main steps are, evaporation, condensation, perspiration, infiltration, and runoff.
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Trophic LevelsThe trophic levels are the levels each organism is on the transfer of energy. The first level is producers, then primary consumers, then secondary consumers, then tertiary consumers.
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Flow of EnergyIn an ecosystem energy flows from each trophic level due to consumption. At each movement only 10% of the energy of the previous organism is transferred, the rest is lost as heat. This causes the flow of energy of an ecosystem to function as a pyramid with producers ate the bottom, containing 100% of the energy produced, and tertiary consumers at the to containing only 0.1% of that energy.
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Food WebFood webs are diagrams that show the complex relationships and routes of energy of an ecosystem. Usually arrows are used to signify the direction of energy.
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Our Solution
Our group decided to create a website to spread awareness of the benefits, threats, and ways to help the Great Barrier Reef. On our website we decided to list the benefits of the Great Barrier Reef to help encourage people to care. Then we also listed the species and ways energy moves through the reef to help reinforce the ecology aspect of the project. Finally we listed ways people can help.
Reflection
This project was overall quite enjoyable, with the ability to focus on almost any ecosystem and with the multitude of possible creations it allowed for a lot of creative exercise. In the end we chose the great barrier reef because we wanted to focus on coral due to its fragility and importance, and we chose to produce a website due to several of our group members having prior experience with website building.
Two pits for this project were procrastination and an sense of uncaring felt throughout almost all the group. Both of these aspects I feel can be attributed to the projects timing as the same week as AP testing. As it was our entire groups first time with AP tests we were nervous and spent most work time studying for them rather than on this project. After the testing was done most of our group was either exhausted or, personally, felt a little disconnected as the AP were the big thing and once they were done many things at school felt irreverent or insignificant. This will be improved on other projects because the testing is over, and in the future I will make sure to improve on my priorities and not lose focus due to other events.
Two peaks for this project were efficiency and cohesion. As this project was procrastinated and during testing week we didn't spend much time on it but when we did our efficiency was outstanding. We all collaborated on the website and planned during our working what would come next leading, to what I feel like, was a quality product in a small amount of time. Our cohesion was also perfect, our group never fought or disagreed we simply worked together, this also showed during the presentation that we decided to not script and rather do on the fly as we felt we worked well enough together that we knew exactly what to do. All in all this project was a success and I felt it was one of the most uneventful projects of this year.
Two pits for this project were procrastination and an sense of uncaring felt throughout almost all the group. Both of these aspects I feel can be attributed to the projects timing as the same week as AP testing. As it was our entire groups first time with AP tests we were nervous and spent most work time studying for them rather than on this project. After the testing was done most of our group was either exhausted or, personally, felt a little disconnected as the AP were the big thing and once they were done many things at school felt irreverent or insignificant. This will be improved on other projects because the testing is over, and in the future I will make sure to improve on my priorities and not lose focus due to other events.
Two peaks for this project were efficiency and cohesion. As this project was procrastinated and during testing week we didn't spend much time on it but when we did our efficiency was outstanding. We all collaborated on the website and planned during our working what would come next leading, to what I feel like, was a quality product in a small amount of time. Our cohesion was also perfect, our group never fought or disagreed we simply worked together, this also showed during the presentation that we decided to not script and rather do on the fly as we felt we worked well enough together that we knew exactly what to do. All in all this project was a success and I felt it was one of the most uneventful projects of this year.