Download What Is a Keystone Species? - Pizer Science at PHS

Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Day(s):
Monday – 11/10/14 - B
Tuesday – 11/11/14 – No School
Wednesday – 11/12/14 - A
Topic: Ecology – Carrying Capacity and Limiting Factors
Learning Objectives: SWBAT construct food chains and connect them into food webs.
Standards: MST: 1, 3, 6, ELA: 1, 3 CCSS: RST 9-10.3, 9-10.4, WHST 9-10.1d, 9-10.1e, 9-10.4
NGSS: LS2-1, LS2-8, LS2-6
Academic Vocab.: carrying capacity, limiting factor, producers, consumers, keystone species
Essential Question: What factors affect the size of populations in an ecosystem?
Activators:
Monday: What “things” in your environment make your life easier? Why?
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: How many humans can live on the earth? Why do you estimate this number?
Agenda:
1) Opening: PPT notes on page 3.
2) Work Period: Complete the lab (21) activity on page _______ per instructions.
3) Closing: Squirrel Maze, review activator. Hand in your lab report form signed.
Homework: Packet pages 9-11.
Topic: Ecology – Keystone Species
Learning Objectives: SWBAT explain the graphics representing ecological pyramids.
Standards: MST: 1, 3, 6, ELA: 1, 3 CCSS: RST 9-10.3, 9-10.4, WHST 9-10.1d, 9-10.1e, 9-10.4
NGSS: LS2-6, LS2-8
Academic Vocab.: carrying capacity, limiting factor, producers, consumers, keystone species
Day(s):
Thursday – 11/13/14 - B
Essential Question: What are keystone species and how do they affect their environments?
Activators:
Thursday: What organism in your environment affects all the other species that live there?
Agenda:
1) Opening: Keystone Species reading on page
2) Work Period: Keystone Species matching on page
3) Closing: Review Matching activity. Review activator.
Homework: Packet pages 9-11.
Day: Friday – 11/14/14 - A
Activator: Benchmark
Topic: Ecology - Literacy
Learning Objectives: SWBAT complete the benchmark and read/comment on 2 articles.
Standards: MST; 4, 6 ELA; 1,3 CCSS; RST 9-10.4, WHST 9-10.1d, 9-10.1e, 9-10.2e, 9-10.9
Academic Vocab.: carrying capacity, limiting factor, producers, consumers, keystone species
Agenda:
1) Opening: Benchmark: Write a sentence for each of the vocabulary terms that demonstrates your knowledge of the term.
2) Work Period: Read 2 articles from a ScienceWorld and record the appropriate information on your Double Entry Journal pages.
3) Closing: Share an idea from one of your articles. Hand in your weekly packet.
Bell Schedule:
Period 1 - 8:15 – 9:02
Period 2 – 9:06 – 10:04
Period 3 – 10:08 – 10:55
Period 4 – 10:59 – 11:46
Period 5 – 11:50 – 12:37
Period 6 – 12:41 – 1:28
Period 7 – 1:32 – 2:19
Period 8 – 2:23 – 3:10
Weekly Assignments:
Title
Page # of Questions Points per Total Possible Total Achieved
PPT notes
3
some/most/all
3/5/10
10
____________
Lab 21: Carrying Capacity
5
per rubric
50___________________
Keystone Species reading
8
11
3
33___________________
Keystone Species Matching_____________10____9______________ 2__________18____________________
Homework
11
12
2
24 __________________
Double Entry Journals
15
2
10
20
____________
Activators:
17
3
10
30
__
_____
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS
MST (Math, Science, and Technology):
Standard 1: Analysis, Inquiry, and Design (Students will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as
appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions)
Standard 2: Information Systems (Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies)
Standard 4: Science (Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical
setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science)
Standard 6: Interconnectedness (Students will understand the relationships and common themes that connect mathematics,
science, and technology and apply the themes to these and other areas of learning)
Standard 7: Interdisciplinary Problem Solving (Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and
technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions)
ELA (English Language Arts)
Standard 1: Information and Understanding, Standard 3: Critical Analysis and Evaluation, Standard 4: Social Interaction
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects [RST]
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.3 Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking
measurements, or performing technical tasks, attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as
they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9–10 texts and topics.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.7 Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a
table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.9 Compare and contrast findings presented in a text to those from other sources (including their own
experiments), noting when the findings support or contradict previous explanations or accounts.
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects [WHST]
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1d Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and
conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1e Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from or supports the argument presented.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific
procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2a Introduce a topic and organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections
and distinctions; include formatting, graphics, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2c Use varied transitions and sentence structures to link the major sections of the text, create
cohesion, and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2d Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic
and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and context as well as to the expertise of likely readers.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2e Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and
conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.2f Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or
explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
Structure and Function LS1-1:DNA to proteins, LS1-2: Organization of interacting systems, LS1-3: Investigation of feedback
mechanisms and homeostasis.
Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems LS1-5: Photosynthesis, LS1-6: Formation of Molecules, LS1-7: Respiration,
LS2-3: Cycling of Materials, LS2-4: Mathematical representation of energy flow, LS2-5: Respiration and Photosynthesis cycling
Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems LS2-1: Mathematical carrying capacities, LS2-2: Biodiversity scales, LS2-6: Stable
and Unstable ecosystems, LS2-7: Reduction of Human Impact, LS2-8: Species behavior and survival, L4-6: Simulate and evaluate
interventions for human impact.
Inheritance and Variation of Traits LS1-4: Cell reproduction, LS3-1: DNA and chromosomes, LS3-2: Inheritable genetic variations,
LS3-3: Variation and distribution of expressed traits.
Natural Selection and Evolution LS4-1: Common Ancestry, LS4-2: Evidence for Evolution, LS4-3: Advantageous adaptations
increase, LS4-4: Natural Selection, LS4-5: Environmental influence on evolution of species.
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
PPT:
1. Carrying Capacity = The number of ____________________ of one
____________________ that an environment can support ____________________.
Why does population increase?
2. Population Growth
= An __________________ in the number of individuals in a __________________.
a) ___________________ resources and reproduction lead to population growth (G)
(G = B – D)
b) When births __________________ deaths you see population _______________.
c) Exponential growth means that as a ____________________ gets
____________________, it also grows at a ____________________ rate.
4. Growth Limitations
• _____________________________________________________
• _____________________________________________________
• _____________________________________________________
• _____________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________
• ____________________________________ may come into effect.
5. Deaths begin to exceed births and the population falls ________carrying capacity.
6. Two types of limiting factors:
_____________________________ and __________________________________
*_________________________ describes the number of individuals in a given area.
a) Density - Dependent
1) Density-dependent factors include _______________, competition,
_________________, parasites, and ________________.
2) Disease, for example, can spread more quickly in a population with members that
live ____________________________________.
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
B) Density – Independent
1) Density-independent factors can affect all populations, regardless of their density.
2) Most density-independent factors are _________ factors, such as temperature,
storms, floods, drought, and ____________________________________________.
7. Organism Interactions
A) Population sizes are controlled by various _______________________ among
organisms that share a __________________________.
B) Predation and __________________ are two interactions that control populations.
A) Predation
= Populations of predators and their prey experience ________________ or
changes in their ____________________ over periods of time.
B) Competition
1) Is Density - Dependent
2) When only a few individuals compete for resources, __________________ arises.
3) When a population increases to the point at which ________________________
__________________________________________, the population size decreases.
8. Crowding
A) As populations increase in size in environments that cannot support ___________
numbers, individual animals can exhibit a variety of _________________ symptoms.
B) These include _________________, decrease in parental care, decreased
________________, and decreased _____________________________________.
C) They become __________________________________ for growth and keep
populations ____________________ carrying capacity.
Questions:
1. What are the independent and dependent variables?
2. What is the population trend?
3. Why did this happen? Is this density-dependent or independent?
4. What type of growth is this?
5. When does growth increase? What might have happened to cause this?
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Lab 21: How Many Squirrels Can an Oak Forest Support?(60 min.)
Background:
Gray squirrels living in oak forests often use acorns as their major, or even sole, source of food. Oak forests are quite
common in the eastern United States. Sometimes they are natural. Other times they have been planted by humans in
parks, school campuses, or cemeteries. In this activity we are going to create a model of an oak forest. By determining
the size and species of oak trees and calculating the energy present in their average annual production of acorns, we
will determine the theoretical carrying capacity of the area for squirrels. In other words, we will discover how many
squirrels each model oak forest can support.
Materials
Large piece of paper
Colored circles of varying diameters
Important Information
The piece of paper that you will use as a work surface represents an oak forest that is 3 acres
The colored circles represent oak trees of a particular species. Your group will only be using one color of circles and,
therefore, one species of oak tree. The code for the color is as follows:
o
o
o
o
o
gray = Chestnut Oak
pink = Red Oak
green = White Oak
purple = Black Oak
yellow = Scarlet Oak
The various sizes of circles represent the size of that particular tree.
Procedure:
1. As a group decide on the topography of your piece of land.

Will it have hills and valleys?
Should there be a stream?
Is your area a natural forest or a human-made area like a park or school campus?
2. Once you have decided on the physical features of the land, place your oak trees.
Will they be scattered out or clustered in one place?
Will there be both large and small trees?
If so, where will they grow?
Remember that you should not place too many trees on your land, since oaks need space to grow and
water and nutrients from the soil.
3. Now that you have created your single-species oak forest you need to determine how many squirrels can live there
using the calculation guidelines below.
a. Record the species of tree in your forest on the top of Table 2.
b. Record the number of trees of each diameter in your data table.
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
c. Consult Table 1 to determine the average annual acorn production of each tree. Transfer this information to your
data table 2.
d. Determine the total Kg of acorns produced for each tree size.________________________
e. Determine the total Kg of acorns produced for your forest.___________________________
f. Convert the calculated total acorn yield in Kg to kilocalories._____________________________
i. One kilogram of acorns produces 4,500 kcal ___________________________________________
g. Researchers determined that a typical squirrel requires 137 kcal each day.
How many kcal does a squirrel consume each year? ___________________________________________
h. Use the number of kilocalories produced annually by your forest (Step f) and the amount of kcal consumed by a
squirrel each year (Step g) to determine how many gray squirrels your forest could support in a year. ______________
i. Report your group data to the class data table.
Table 3: Class Data
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Analysis Questions
1. Define carrying capacity.
2. Which table achieved the greatest carrying capacity?
3. What factor(s) affected the outcome?
4. Why was it necessary to convert kilograms to kilocalories before making the calculations?
5. It would be fair to predict that the carrying capacity is actually less than the teams calculated. Explain why.
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
What Is a Keystone Species?
A keystone species is a plant or animal that plays a unique and (1)crucial role in the way
an ecosystem functions. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be
dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. A small number of keystone species
can have a huge impact on the environment.
A keystone species is often a predator. A few predators can control the distribution and
population of large numbers of prey species. A single mountain lion can roam a
Canadian forest area of hundreds of miles. The deer, rabbits, and bird species in the
ecosystem are at least partly controlled by the presence of the mountain lion. Their
feeding behavior, or where they choose to make their nests and burrows, are largely a
reaction to the mountain lion's activity. (2)Scavenger species, such as vultures, are also
controlled by the activity of the mountain lion because lions leave behind carcasses for
them to feed on.
A keystone species' disappearance would start a (3)domino effect. For example, the
population of deer or rabbits could explode without the presence of a predator. The
ecosystem cannot support an unlimited number of animals, and the deer soon compete
with each other for food and water resources. Their population usually declines without
a predator such as a mountain lion.
Without the keystone species, new plants or animals could also
come into the habitat and push out the (4)native species. Some
species of hummingbirds are keystone species in the Sonoran
Desert of North America. Hummingbirds pollinate native cactus. In
areas of the Sonoran Desert with few hummingbirds,
(5)invasive species such as buffelgrass have taken over the
ecosystem.
The theory that the balance of ecosystems can rely on one keystone species was first
established in 1969 by American zoology professor Robert T. Paine. Paine's research
showed that removing one species, the Pisaster ochraceus, or the sea star, had a huge
effect on the surrounding ecosystem. The sea stars are a major predator for mussels,
so when the sea stars were gone, mussels took over the area and crowded out other
species. In the end, the area had less (6) biodiversity than it had before the sea stars
were removed.
The sea otter is another example of a keystone species in the Pacific Northwest. These
mammals feed on sea urchins, controlling their population. If the otters didn't eat the
urchins, the urchins would (7) consume the habitat's kelp. Kelp is a type of giant
seaweed and a major source of food and shelter for the ecosystem. Some species of
crabs, snails, and geese depend on kelp for food. Many types of fish use the huge kelp
forests to hide from predators. Without sea otters to control the urchin population, the
entire ecosystem would collapse.
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Herbivores can also be keystone species. In African savannas, elephants are a
keystone species. Elephants eat small trees that grow on the savanna, they can even
knock the trees over to get to their leaves. This feeding behavior keeps the savanna a
grassland and not a forest. With elephants to control the tree population, grasses
(8) thrive and sustain grazing animals such as antelopes, wildebeests, and zebras.
Smaller animals such as mice and shrews are able to burrow in the warm, dry soil of a
savanna. Predators such as lions and hyenas depend on the savanna for prey.
Elephants are the keystone species that maintain the entire savanna ecosystem.
1. The passage above describes the interactions of several ecosystems, what is the
overall theme of the entire article?
a) to compare the food chains of each ecosystem
b) to convince the reader to protect the environment
c) to explain what keystone species are important in each ecosystem
2. UNDERLINE the sentence that serves as the topic sentence or thesis for the article.
3. Choose either the kelp forest of the Pacific Northwest, the Canadian Forest, or the
African Savanna, then using the information provided in the article, sketch a food chain
(or web) for that ecosystem.
4. Define each of the underlined words:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Double-Entry Journal:
As you read the text, select phrases that you find meaningful or interesting. Write each phrase in the column below,
then write your reaction for each quote in the right column (for example: a comment, a question, a connection, or
analysis).
Title of Article: _________________________________________________________________
Author: ________________________________________________ VOL: ______ NO: ______
Page
From the text
My Thoughts
Academic Vocabulary: (list and define vocabulary from the text)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Double-Entry Journal:
As you read the text, select phrases that you find meaningful or interesting. Write each phrase in the column below,
then write your reaction for each quote in the right column (for example: a comment, a question, a connection, or
analysis).
Title of Article: _________________________________________________________________
Author: ________________________________________________ VOL: ______ NO: ______
Page
From the text
My Thoughts
Academic Vocabulary: (list and define vocabulary from the text)
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Name: _________________________________________ Living Environment (Pizer-231) 11/10 – 11/14, 2014 (W11)
Name:
Thursday: 11/13/14
What organism in your environment affects all the other species that live there?
Name:
Wednesday: 11/12/14
How many humans can live on the earth? Why do you estimate this number?
Name:
Tuesday: 11/11/14
No school.
Name:
What “things” in your environment make your life easier? Why?
Monday: 11/10/14
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