Biology, relationships in an ecosystem: the interdependence of…
Biology, relationships in an ecosystem: the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops; the importance of plant reproduction through insect pollination in human food security; how organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment, including the accumulation of toxic materials. (Toxic materials are not covered.)
The National curriculum in England: science programmes of study, Key Stages 1–3 outcome for Years 7–9 says: “Biology, relationships in an ecosystem: the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops; the importance of plant reproduction through insect pollination in human food security; how organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment, including the accumulation of toxic materials. (Toxic materials are not covered.)” This Fieldbook unit teaches it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson.
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.
- Are living things competitors, predators or partners? 50–60 min
Teams sort sixteen real pairs of living things, from coral reefs, savannas, forests and deserts, into competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism and commensalism, then stand in the room as a human chart to find the pattern. They explain why the same five kinds of interaction turn up in every ecosystem on Earth.
- 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.
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