Ecology

1. Discuss types of behavior observed in animals

2. Describe how population sizes are estimated; interpret age structure diagrams and growth curves

3. Understand the concept of community and describe the ecological aspects the influence communities and ecosystems

4. Discuss human impacts on the environment and analyze ecological topics such as:

  • Green energy
  • Oil and Fossil Fuels
  • Climate Change
  • Overpopulation
  • Sustainable Agriculture

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current river

Activities

Introductory Discussion - Listmania

Isopod Behavior Lab - collect and observe isopods, design and conduct experiment, identify forms of taxis

Demography word icon- study human and animal populations, compare types of population growth (J vs S) and use real cemetery data to illustrate a survivorship curve for human populations

Dandelion Population Study - sample areas around the school to estimate size of the dandelion population

Individidual Project, Ecology Article - consider an ecological topic of your choice, analyze a specific article about the topic and share with the class. (Sample: Zebra Mussels)

Biome Mini-Presentation - individuals are assigned a biome, research and present information about your biome to the class, 1-5 minutes.

Tree Identification - gather data within the community about tree species, share tree identification data on bulletin board or other network such as edmodo