ACTIVITY 1 - Required [Value: 10 points]

Before beginning any other activities, this activity must be completed first. It will introduce you to basic concepts needed to understand some of the other activities.

Write down and answer the following questions:

1. Explain what is meant by a biome.
2. Name the 6 major land biomes.
3. Distinguish between biotic and abiotic factors in the environment and give 3 examples of each.
4. Distinguish between a food chain and a food web.
5. Distinguish between interspecific and intraspecific competition.
6. Explain what is meant by symbiosis and define and give an example of each of the following symbiotic relationships: parasitism, commensalism, mutualism.
7. Explain what is meant by an energy pyramid.

INTERNET:

Environmental Biology-Ecosystems

ACTIVITY 2 - BIOMES Required- 

You must complete EITHER Part A OR Part B of this activity.

PART A. BIOME Scavenger Hunt [Value: 15 points]

Using any resources available, answer the following questions about biomes.

1. Which biome has the most rainfall and is the warmest?
2. Which biome is the coldest and driest?
3. Which biome has annual rainfall in excess of 2000 mm?
4. Which biome has little rainfall and is hot?
5. What is another name for land biomes?
6. Name 2 biomes that are treeless.
7. Which biome has 2 seasons only?
8. Which biome is the largest terrestrial biome?
9. Name 3 biomes that contain forests.
10. How much rain does a desert biome receive?
11. Which biome covers one-fifth of the Earth's surface?
12. What is the largest desert biome?
13. How much rain does a tropical rain forest receive?
14. Which biome receives less than 50 cm of rain per year?
15. Which biome has the greatest diversity of species?

PART B. BIOME Investigation. [Value: 20 points]

In this assignment, you will investigate a single land biome. Pick any one you wish. Using any resources available, do the following.

1. Describe your biome.
2. Summarize its major biotic and abiotic factors.
3. Make a chart of the average monthly precipitation for one full year.
4. Make a chart of the average monthly temperature for one full year.
5. Make a graph plotting the temperature and precipitation on the same graph. Be sure to label fully.
6. Determine the major organisms that live in your biome. Include at least 2-3 examples of animals, green plants, fungi, bacteria. Be sure to include their names.
7. Draw a food web using all the organisms mentioned above.
8. Construct a pyramid of energy for the biome, using the names of the organisms you researched.
9. Name 2 organisms in your biome that illustrate mutualism.
10. Name 2 organisms in your biome that illustrate commensalism.
11. Name 2 organisms in your biome that illustrate parasitism.
12. Give an example of interspecific competition.

USEFUL INTERNET REFERENCES:

1. The World's Biomes
2. Tour of Biomes
3. Habitats and Biomes
4. Biomes
5. Types of Biomes

ACTIVITY 3 - - POPULATIONS [Value: 10 points]

Using your textbook, or any other references, answer the following questions.

1. Define the following terms: population, population growth, biotic potential, limiting factors.
2. Explain what is meant by carrying capacity.
3. Distinguish between density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors and give an example of each.
4. Growth curves illustrate how a population is growing in size. State the difference between an S-curve and a J-curve and explain why they are different.
5. The data below represent the growth of a population of yeast over a period of 18 hours. Using graph paper, and proper labeling, draw a growth curve to show the growth of this population. On the X-axis, show the age of the population (in hours) and on the Y-axis, show the number of yeast cells.

ACTIVITY 4 - [Value: 10 points]

Make a collection of at least 10 newspaper articles and/or magazine articles. These articles should be about the ways humans interact with the environment and possible consequences of these interactions. Some examples of topics are woodlot cutting, sustainability, pesticide use, deforestation, etc. For each article, write a paragraph summarizing the article. This must be written in your own words. Also, you must include the source of the article and the date of publication. Articles must be recent - no more than one year old.

ACTIVITY 5 - [Value: 5 points]

You have just won $25 million dollars from a lottery! However, there is a catch! You must spend 80% of it on ways to help improve the environment. Decide what environmental issues are of importance to you. Make a chart or pie graph which shows what environmental issue you are supporting, whether the problem is local or global, and how much money you would spend on each issue. Below the chart or graph, explain WHY you made the choices you did.

ACTIVITY 6 -  [Value: 5 points]

Show your creative side! Write a poem about any aspect of ecology or the environment. Your poem should be one of the following types: [a] CINQUAIN - a poem consisting of 5 lines consisting respectively of two, four, six, eight, and two syllables;

[b] HAIKU - a poem consisting of a total of seventeen syllables divided into 3 lines of five, seven, and five syllables respectively;

[c] QUATRAIN - a stanza of four lines. If you choose quatrain, your poem must have 2 stanzas.

ACTIVITY 7 -  [Value: 5 points]

Show you care! Design a bumper sticker that supports the environment. Your bumper sticker MUST MEET the following criteria: - 40 cm by 20 cm - made of bristol board or cardboard - colorful and visually appealing and eye-catching - neat and easy to read.

ACTIVITY 8 -  [Value: 5 points]

Write 5 newspaper headlines of things you would like to see happen to the environment by the year 2050. Choose any one of these headlines and write the feature article that would accompany the headline. The article should be at least 100 words long.

ACTIVITY 9 -  [Value: 5 points] 

Construct a crossword puzzle using the crossword generator program from www.discoveryschool.com.  Your puzzle must contain at least 15 clues, including the following: biome, abiotic, symbiosis, natality, mortality, biotic, intraspecific, mutualism, ecosystem, population. The other clues can be any you wish. You must submit a clean copy of the puzzle (one that can be copied) as well as one with the answers supplied.

ACTIVITY 10 - [Value:10 points] 

Construct a thought web on EITHER biomes or food chains . Your  web should have at least 15 terms. All terms must be connected properly and their relationship should be evident.

ACTIVITY 11 -  [Value: 5 points]

Obtain a map of North America or Canada. Color or highlight or label in some way an area on the map where each of the six land biomes is found.

ACTIVITY 12 -  [Value: 10 points]

Explore one of the 10 biomes listed in Chapter 4.  List 20 organisms, with their scientific name, that would be found in the biome.  Include a picture of what the organism looks like.

ACTIVITY 14 -   [Value: 5 points]

1. Go to the web site called Tour of Biomes.
2. Scroll to bottom of page. Click on Biome Summary.
3. Scroll to bottom of that page and click on Middle Latitude Food Chain. This is the Deciduous Forest.
4. Using clip art, create a food web of organisms found there.  Use a producer and at least 3 consumers.  Label each stage.

ACTIVITY 15 -   [Value: 10 points]

Go to the web site called Food Chains.

Do this on-line activity about food chains.  Go over the Spring Creek Watershed, What's the balance of Nature, and complete the 3 On-line activities:  Create Food Chains, Id Food chains, and Solve the link in the food chain.

ACTIVITY 16 -  [Value: 10 points]

Go to the Mader Biology Human Populations Concerns page.  Complete the questions at the end of the article.

ACTIVITY 17 -  [Value: 10 points]

Using any references available, find 5 careers that are related to the study of ecology and/or the environment. Give a brief description of each one.

ACTIVITY 18 -  [Value: 5 points] 

Go to the site called ENERGY AND FOOD CHAINS. Do the activity described. NOTE: This activity involves mathematical problem-solving.

ACTIVITY 19 -  [Value: 5 points]

Lisa, her brother Tom, and their parents spend the summer months at their summer home on a very small remote island off the Atlantic coast. They are the only human inhabitants of this island. However, several other organisms live there. Lisa's father is an ecologist with the provincial government and in the summer he grows a vegetable garden. They also take with them to the island their pet dog, and 2 pet cats.

Throughout the summer, other species visit their home. A family of ground squirrels live in a burrow near a pine tree in the back yard. A family of deer often visit in the early morning hours. A pair of chickadees regularly visited their background feeder, but two sparrows quickly took over the feeder.

Answer the following questions about the known inhabitants of this little island.

1. What is the habitat of Lisa and her family?
2. What is the habitat of the ground squirrels?
3. What is the most likely habitat of the birds?
4. What is the "niche" of Lisa's father?
5. What biological phenomenon occurred between the chickadees and the sparrows?
6. Name the residents that are: predators, herbivores, omnivores, autotrophs.
7. The dogs and cats spend a lot of time scratching themselves. What other residents might exist on this island that were not mentioned in the story? What is their way of life? What are their habitats?