evidence
For this project we had to choose an ecosystem and find a solution to an ecological risk that ecosystem was facing. We chose the Great Barrier Reef and its Crown-of-Thorns starfish problem. Over-collecting of the Giant Triton, a sea snail in the reef, has resulted in a growth of the population of its main prey, the Crown-of-Thorns starfish. The Crown-of-Thorns starfish eats off the top layer off of live corals. This is fine in normal starfish densities. But when starfish densities rise too much, large portions of the reef can be decimated. Our solution to this problem was to raise awareness about the overfishing of the giant triton and the effect that has on the Great Barrier Reef.
Content
- trophic levels- Categories that group animals based on where they get their energy from. Producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, top consumer, and decomposer. The producers are autotrophs and the consumers are heterotrophs.
- ecological succession- the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time.
- abiotic factors- abiotic factors are non living things in an ecosystem.
- biotic factors- biotic factors are living things in an ecosystem.
- 10% rule- This states that only 10% of an organism's energy is given to the organism that eats it. This continues up the food chain.
- nitrogen cycle- the series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.
- water cycle-the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
- carbon cycle-the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, chiefly involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.
- climate zones-are divisions of the Earth's climates into general climate zones according to average temperatures and average rainfall. The three major climate zones on the Earth are the polar, temperate, and tropical zones.
- climate-The general atmospheric conditions in a certain region in an extended period of time.
- weather-The atmospheric condition in a certain place at a specific time.
- independent/dependent-A density dependent factor occurs only when the population reaches a certain level.
- human impact- human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes changes to biophysical environments and ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans, including global warming, environmental degradation.
- photosynthesis-the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.
- biosphere- The biosphere is the Earth in its entirety. The lithosphere is the ground. The hydrosphere is the water. The atmosphere is the air.
- biomes- a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g., forest or tundra.
- relationships- The interaction among organisms within or between overlapping niches can be characterized into five types of relationships: competition, predation, commensalism, mutualism and parasitism.
- niche- a position or role taken by a kind of organism within its community. Such a position may be occupied by different organisms in different localities.
- population- a community of animals, plants, or humans among whose members interbreeding occurs.
- carrying capacity- the number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation.
- autotroph- an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.
- heterotroph-an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances.
- cellular respiration- A process where cells take in carbon, water, and oxygen and turning it into water carbon dioxide and usable energy called ATP. Both animals and plant respirate.
reflection
I learned a lot during this project and I enjoyed it a lot. I think that i did some things well and other things not so well. One thing that I did well was cooperate with my group. We always came up with ideas together and split up the work well. We also came up with a very unique project, which no other group thought of, and we did a good job commenting our code and making it easy to understand. There were also some things that we didn't do so good though, one was getting everything done on time, we barely got everything done. Next time I will make sure that this won't happen. Also, we didn't prepare enough for our presentation. I will make sure my presentation is well prepared. Lastly, I want to improve on my leadership skills, I want to drive the discussion more and give more ideas.