For this project, we were put into groups and we had to pick a species and analyze how humans were impacting it. After researching, we had to come up with a plan on what we could do to help them. To take action on our subject, our group decided to make an Instagram account spreading awareness for the Southern Sea Otter.
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.
Reflection
For this project I felt like are group did a really good job at communicating and deciding how are work would be spread out and who did what. We created a group chat where we would talk about what we would do for the project and what we where confused about. I also felt like we did a good at managing are time, we got all of are work done pretty quickly and done on time. One thing I felt like we could have done a better job at was improving are work when we finished it. We finished with some time to spar and we kinda sat around for a little instead of making are already pretty good project even better. I also feel like we kinda "burned out" and really had trouble staying on task and doing the work that we where suppose to be doing on the last few days we had the project