Student Section: Food Web Unit

FOODWEB ACTIVITY

Introduction

To this point you have observed, described and examined some of the relationships between organisms that are found in your local ecology. You also know that photosynthesis is the foundational process that generates energy for living things - but what organism accomplishes that in the marine environment? What eats what? How are these organisms organized in relationship to each other? In this activity, you will arrange the organisms that you came up with in yesterday’s food webs.

Objectives

1. To identify the autotrophs and heterotrophs within marine habitats.

2. To identify those organisms as producers, consumers or decomposers.

3. To arrange those organisms into appropriate trophic levels and food webs.

Materials

1. White boards Colored pencils
2. Markers 11"x14" paper

3. Sock erasers Scissors

4. Glue sticks

Procedure

1. In your regular lab group, recall the organisms from yesterday and put those lists on the white board. Feel free to add to those lists if you like.

2. For each organism, write next to it what you think it eats.

3. Begin to organize the organisms into a web of relationships by connecting what eats what with arrows.

4. Share the preliminary webs you have devised on your white board with the rest of the class during large group discussion. As a class, begin to identify the roles each organism plays in the webs using the teacher as the term facilitator.

5. Back in your small group, revise your webs and label the roles of the organisms and their trophic levels. Transfer . your work to paper. Illustrate the organisms with colored pencils.

6. Present your group’s final product to the class.

7. You will be evaluated according to the concept map evaluation standards. Refer to it frequently to make sure that you are meeting the activity standards.

Concept Map Evaluation Standards

Content ,Neatness and Accuracy

COMPLETELY FULFILLS THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS:	MOSTLY FULFILLS THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS AND:	SOMEWHAT FULFILLS THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS AND:	RARELY FULFILLS THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS AND:	NEVER FULFILLS THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS AND:
All terms are relevant	Lacks depth	Has info, but almost nothing new	Does not know topic	No relative information
Shows a sense of pride	Some messiness, but readable	Slightly difficult to read/use	Messy	Can’t be followed at all
No more than two errors	Three to four errors	Five to six errors	Seven to eight errors	More than eight errors
All required topics addressed		Junior high level	Elementary information	No organization
Categories are easily found		Not all required topics addressed	Little detail	Unreadable
Handout has pertinent information		Hierarchy attempted, but poorly	No sense of hierarchy
Required topics evident		Little cross-linking	Required topics not addressed
Well organized
Linking is traceable
Used cross-links

Score 0 through 5 for each category.

Score 0 through 5 for participation (from teacher observations)

Add total (out of a possible 20)

Multiply score times 2 for final grade (out of a possible 40)

PRIMARY PRODUCER ACTIVITY

Introduction

By now you have certainly come to realize the importance of photosynthesis and of the role of the primary producer in any ecological system. However, the way the marine environment accomplishes this is completely different from how it is done on land. What factors in the ocean might affect the rate of primary production in the ocean? In this activity, you will devise an experiment that will answer that question.

Objectives

To list several factors that affect the rate of primary production in the ocean.

To describe how those factors affect the rate of primary production.

To use the scientific method to explain a phenomenon of nature.

Materials

1. Anacharis or other water plant

2. Various sized containers

3. CO₂ indicators such as limewater or methylene blue

4. Lamps, thermometers, tubing, sodium bicarbonate - the possibilities are endless!

Procedure

Days One and Two

1. Have a class discussion talking about what factors might affect the rate of photosynthesis in the ocean, listing all the possibilities on the board.

2. In your regular lab groups, pick one of the possible factors and formulate a hypothesis and a set of predictions that could explain how that factor affects primary production.

3. Write a procedure that will either confirm or contradict your hypothesis. Have it approved by the teacher before the end of the second day. Bring in any necessary materials that the teacher does not supply for the next time the class meets.

Day Three

Set up the experiments and allow them to sit over the weekend.

Days Four and Five

The following week, gather your data and organize it to give in a short presentation to the class. As a large group, discuss the results of all the small groups. This will give you feedback before you write your lab reports. You will be graded according to the lab report evaluation standards - refer to them frequently to make sure that you are meeting the expectations.

Day Six

Follow up with a teacher-led discussion/lecture covering anything not addressed by the labs.

Lab Reports Evaluation Standards

During this course, you are expected to keep an up-to-date lab notebook that reports and summarizes your findings for each lab session. You must provide a 9 ½" x 6" spiral. The purpose of this book is to help you organize and to keep track of all results and conclusions as we work. Writing down scientific observations helps to make you think and analyze about what you are working on. Your notebook will be turned in and graded after each lab session.

Reporting Rules

1) Each lab must be started on a new, clean page. Write on one side of the paper only.

2) When making observations, write down exactly what YOU see. Use adjectives to make accurate and useful descriptions. You may discuss observations among your lab partners before you write them down.

3) BE NEAT! Organize your information into sections. (See reporting format below). Don't get chemicals or water on your book. Use legible handwriting. DON'T scribble sketches--go for detail.

4) Use third person only. (NO me, we, you, I, us…)

5) Use the following format to formally report your hypothesis, procedure, data and conclusions.

Reporting Format

1) Title each new lab.

2) Each lab is divided into the following sections. Label each section as you go and write in paragraph style" the information required for each part.

A) PURPOSE

What is the lab all about? What are the goals of the lab and why are they important? What will it help you to understand? What are you to be looking for? What is the hypothesis? What predictions did you make from that hypothesis?

B) PROCEDURE

Summarize the experimental procedure you used, being specific to amounts used and to what types of observations were made. (If someone wanted to repeat your work, could they do it exactly as you did?)

C) DATA

Organize data into labeled tables and graphs. Neatly make any required sketches, making sure to label when required. (Colored pencils are highly recommended). Written observations belong here also.

D) CONCLUSIONS

Do your results confirm or contradict your hypothesis? Why or why not? How could you redo the experiment to make it better or reword the hypothesis? Also answer any required questions that the teacher has assigned.

3. Try to go above and beyond what is required above in order to get an "A+" grade. Don't try to just get away with the bare minimum. (Don’t try to add a bunch of nonsense filler just to get your lab to be longer. "Baloney" does not impress me—conciseness does). You will be assigned subjective "quality points" by the teacher for this.

Grading

Organization (5 points total)

title (1 pt.)
organized into required sections (1 pt.)
use of third person only (up to 3 pts)

Purpose (10 points total)

gave an idea of what lab is about (2 pts.)
addressed goals of lab (2 pts.)
said why goals were important (2 pts.)
gave hypothesis (2 pts.)
gave predictions (2 pts.)

Procedure (5 points total)

gave specific step-by-step instructions (2 pts.)
gave amounts used (2 pts.)
told what to observe and/or measure (1 pt.)

Data (10 points total)

data organized into labeled table (3 pts.)
data plotted correctly on to labeled graph (3 pts.)
detailed observations made, including sketches (3 pts.)
correct units are used (1 pt.)

Conclusion (15 points total)

addressed hypothesis (up to 5 pts.)
gave alternate hypothesis/proposal to lab (up to 5 pts.)
answered teacher questions (up to 5 pts.)

Quality Points (up to 5 points extra credit)

went above and beyond the call of duty
tables and graphs unusually done (typed, colored, etc.)
extra diagrams, sketches

The grade is out of a possible 45 points.