Challenge  What is carrying capacity? Key Vocabulary: Carrying capacity Fluctuation Population

What factors might affect the amount of room available for a species in an ecosystem? Read the Introduction on page E-70.

Carrying Capacity is the maximum population of a species that can be supported by its environment. Read pages Answer the Stopping to Think Questions with your group and record your answers in your notebooks. When you are finished, work with your group to answer Analysis # 2-3 in your notebooks.

A. What is happening to the quantity of plankton at point A? There must be enough plankton to feed the growing population of zebra mussels. If the plankton population was insufficient, the mussel population could not be able to grow. B. What is happening to the quantity of plankton at point B? A lack of sufficient food could be the factor preventing the mussel population from increasing beyond that level

A. What is the carrying capacity of ZM in Lake Ness? How did you determine this? The carrying capacity is approximately 2000 organisms per square meter. This is obtained by sketching an imaginary line from the plateau of the curve, parallel to the x-axis, until it intersects with the y-axes B. List some factors that might affect this carrying capacity. Oxygen availability Nutrient and food availability Competition for resources Predation Sunlight Other environmental factors

A. CC of ZM between years 13-25? About 1000 mussels per square meter B. 3 NON-Living factors with an explanation. Human pollution, change in temperature, pH, wind or precipitation C. 3 Living factors with an explanation. Decline in food, introduction of a ZM predator, increase in a population of competing species or new competing apecies D. Do you think the ZM population will return to what it was between years 5-10? Explain!

Is this a good experiment to test the hypothesis that the factory was affecting the zebra mussel population? Why or why not? This experiment does not resolve the question of whether the factory is responsible for the change in the carrying capacity of the ZM. It does provide information about whether the factory has affected the quality of the water in a way that will directly affect the growth of the mussels.

You can’t determine carrying capacity with this graph because the graph doesn’t provide information about the total population of Nile perch in the lake. Instead it provides information about the number of Nile perch caught. One could assume that the population was continuing to increase. However, it is difficult to know if the increase in the number of Nile Perch caught is due to better fishing techniques or to an increase in the population. Additional information would be necessary to determine the reason or combination of reasons.

Complete Analysis Q 1 : Answer all three parts. (a, b, c) Use numbers of owls and years. Explain your thinking for parts b and c.