SC.MS.2.7.a: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to…

Ecosystems and Biomes: Who Depends on Whom Grades 6–8 · partly supports this outcome

Real wolf and moose counts from Isle Royale, a sixteen-card sort of competitors, predators, parasites and partners, six real climate graphs to match to their biomes, and a sea wall against a salt marsh. Four print-and-go lessons on populations, interactions, biomes and the services ecosystems give us.

• What happens to a population when food runs out? 50–60 min

  Teams graph twelve years of real wolf and moose counts from Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior, then rotate through evidence stations to explain why the moose boomed to about 2,400 and crashed to about 500. They finish by predicting what happens to any population when its food runs short.

• How can we protect an ecosystem's services? 55–60 min

  Teams weigh the real, still-debated evidence from Yellowstone's wolves to see how one change spreads through an ecosystem. Then they act as a town's planning team and score three ways to protect a flooding coast, a sea wall, a restored salt marsh and a mix of both, for protection, cost and the services nature gives for free.

Printable practice for SC.MS.2.7.a

• Ecosystems and Biomes: Who Depends on Whom workbook included with the unit

  2 English-support pages, 2 practice pages, 2 readings, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

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