Download in-class activity 3 – responses to climate change

IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 3 – RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE
2 POINTS for turning in IPCC report outlining Climate Change
3 POINTS for summary of lecture handout regarding ecological responses to climate
change
2 POINTS max for good topic sentence
Responses to climate change are evident at all levels of biological and ecological
levels of organization.
or 1 POINT for average topic sentence
Responses to climate change are evident from the molecular, physiological,
and organism levels.
or 0 POINTS for weak topic sentence
There are many types of responses to climate change.
Then 1 POINT if used information in handout in remainder of paragraph
Total = 5 POINTS
Write a paragraph summarizing the main concepts in the handout “Ecological Responses
to Climate Change. Don’t talk about climate change per se. Don’t dwell on specific
examples; focus on concepts.
Topic Sentence: Responses to climate change (particularly temperature increases) are
evident at all levels of biological and ecological levels of organization.
Development of that topic sentence:
An increase in temperature affects enzymatic rates and thus has effects at the molecular,
physiological, and whole organism level.
An individual may migrate or acclimate to survival and reproduce in the current location.
The population may evolve as individuals with a genetic makeup for survival and
reproduction in the increased temperatures begin to be more frequent; without the proper
genetic makeup, the population may go locally extinct.
Species interactions may be interrupted if both species do not response to temperature
increases in the same way, and, as a result, the community may change in its species
composition and/or relative abundance of species.
Ultimately, ecosystem processes of flow of energy and cycling of matter are affected by
an increase in temperature