1. Opening Activity: Jan. 11, 2018
Turn in your decomposer packet – Due today!
Have ecology initial ideas ready to stamp.
Each group of 2 students will need a computer today, grab a computer and log in. q
Compare your initial ideas with your partner:
Identify one idea you have in common.
Identify one idea that is different from each other.
Identify one question you have about ecosystems?
I can… Explain what happens to biomass in a living ecosystem.
Homework:
Fungi CVR Due 1/12

2. What is a population?
Group of organisms of the same species living in the same region at the same time
What populations can you identify in the picture of the meadow below?
2. Discuss the concepts of population and biomass.
Use slide 3 to discuss the populations that will be the focus of the investigation using the online Meadow Simulation.
Use slide 4 to introduce or review the meaning of the term biomass. In this lesson we will not distinguish between dry and wet mass. In the simulation biomass refers to the total mass of each population (grasses, rabbits, and foxes).

3. Lab #11 Sunny Meadow Simulation
QUESTION: How much rabbit and fox biomass do you think the meadow can support? You will use an online simulation to investigate changes in biomass of populations of grasses, rabbits and foxes in a meadow ecosystem over a 100-year period.

4. Lab #11 Sunny Meadow Simulation
The Simulation…..
Go to our class website to log into the Sunny Meadow’s simulation.
Play around with the simulation to get a feel for how it works.
Next, we will test our predictions.

5. Using the Meadow Simulation
Click the arrow to run the simulation.
1. Introduce the activity.
Open 2.2 Meadow Simulation PPT. Use slides 2 – 4 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.
Change initial biomass of each population by typing in box or moving sliders. The maximum initial biomass for each population is 1000.

6. An animation of the changes in the grass, rabbit, and fox populations appears on the camera screen.
As the simulation runs, a graph of the biomass of each population over time is drawn.
The biomass of each population is represented in two different ways in this box.
1. Introduce the activity.
Open 2.2 Meadow Simulation PPT. Use slides 2 – 4 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.

7. Directions
With a partner complete trials 1 & 2 (questions 1 – 5) on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet
Be ready to explain your results and your answers to the class
Do not go on until we have discussed our results as a class
2. Students complete trials 1 & 2 on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet.
Give each student a copy of the 2.2 Meadow Simulation Worksheet. Students should work in pairs at a computer. Use slide 5 to give the following directions:
With a partner complete trials 1 & 2 (questions 1 – 5) on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet.
Be ready to explain your results and your answers to the class.
Do not go on until we have discussed our results as a class.

8. Trial 1 Results: What happened when we started with populations of equal biomass?
Discuss the results of trial 1 as a class.
Use Slide 6 and 7 to discuss the results of trial 1.
Use slide 6 to show the results of trial 1 (initial biomass = 500 for foxes, rabbits, and grasses). Ask students: What happened when we started with populations of equal biomass? Listen for students responses to recognize that the fox population quickly declined, the rabbit population initially declined but then returned to initial levels, and the grass population increased and then leveled off (the line graph captures this information, but students also saw it happening on real time through the “camera” image of the organisms).
Ask students: What are the relationships between the four different representations (line graph, biomass diagram, table, picture)? Make sure that they realize that all four representations are different ways to represent the amount of biomass in each of the three populations. The “camera” shows the populations in “real-time,” the line graph shows the biomass of each population at each time point, and the biomass diagram and table show the biomass of each population at selected time points. Help students connect the more concrete representation of the organisms through the camera viewer with the more abstract representations (especially the line graph and the biomass diagram).
Note to teachers: you may know the biomass diagram as the “biomass pyramid.” In the next activity students will identify this pattern, so try to refrain from calling it a pyramid at this point. Subsequent lessons will help students to develop an explanation for the biomass pyramid.

9. Trial 1 Results: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram?
Initial Biomass Diagram Final Biomass Diagram
Use slide 7 to show the initial and final biomass diagrams. Ask students: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for them to explain that rabbits eat grasses and foxes eat rabbits. Probe their ideas by asking When a rabbit eats 10 pounds of grass do all 10 pounds end up as rabbit biomass? Where does the rest go? Listen to see if students remember that some of the mass of food that rabbits eat is lost as carbon dioxide and water through the process of cellular respiration. A full explanation of the biomass diagram will be the focus of lesson 3.

10. Trial 2 Results: What happened when we started with the greatest biomass in the carnivore population, less in the herbivores, and the least biomass in the producer population?
Discuss the results of trial 2 as a class.
Use slides 8 and 9 to discuss the results of trial 2.
Use Slide 8 to show the results of trial 2 (initial biomass = 1000 for foxes, 500 for rabbits, and 100 for grasses). Ask students: What happened when we started with the greatest biomass in the carnivore population, less in the herbivores, and the least biomass in the producer population? Listen for students’ responses to recognize that the foxes quickly ate all of the rabbits, so both populations died out leaving only grasses.

11. Trial 2 Results: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram?
Initial Biomass Diagram Final Biomass Diagram
Use slide 9 to ask, How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for students to explain that only grasses remained and there were no herbivores, so the grass population increased.

12. Your Challenge:
Use the simulation to determine the maximum biomass that the meadow can support.
Choose initial conditions, run simulation, and record the final biomass of each population
Run at least 4 trials (question 7)
Write down the data and draw the biomass diagram for the trial that resulted in the highest fox biomass (question 8)
Students use simulation to determine the maximum fox biomass the meadow can support.
Use slide 10 to explain the challenge and how they should record their data on the worksheet. Students will use this data to complete the Evidence-Based Arguments Tool in Activity 2.3.

13. Lab #11 Sunny Meadow Simulation
Clean – up!
Log out of computers and return to cart.
Write down your ideas:
How does the biomass of a population change over time?

14. Opening Activity: Jan. 11, 2018
Turn in your decomposer packet – Due today!
Have ecology initial ideas ready to stamp.
Each group of 2 students will need a computer today, grab a computer and log in. q
Compare your initial ideas with your partner:
Identify one idea you have in common.
Identify one idea that is different from each other.
Identify one question you have about ecosystems?
I can… Explain what happens to biomass in a living ecosystem.
Homework:
Fungi CVR Due 1/12

15. Lab #11 Sunny Meadow Simulation
QUESTION: How much rabbit and fox biomass do you think the meadow can support? You will use an online simulation to investigate changes in biomass of populations of grasses, rabbits and foxes in a meadow ecosystem over a 100-year period.

16. Lab #11 Sunny Meadow Simulation
The Simulation…..
Go to our class website to log into the Sunny Meadow’s simulation.
Play around with the simulation to get a feel for how it works.
Next, we will test our predictions.

17. Using the Meadow Simulation
Click the arrow to run the simulation.
1. Introduce the activity.
Open 2.2 Meadow Simulation PPT. Use slides 2 – 4 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.
Change initial biomass of each population by typing in box or moving sliders. The maximum initial biomass for each population is 1000.

18. An animation of the changes in the grass, rabbit, and fox populations appears on the camera screen.
As the simulation runs, a graph of the biomass of each population over time is drawn.
The biomass of each population is represented in two different ways in this box.
1. Introduce the activity.
Open 2.2 Meadow Simulation PPT. Use slides 2 – 4 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.

19. Directions
With a partner complete trials 1 & 2 (questions 1 – 5) on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet
Be ready to explain your results and your answers to the class
Do not go on until we have discussed our results as a class
2. Students complete trials 1 & 2 on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet.
Give each student a copy of the 2.2 Meadow Simulation Worksheet. Students should work in pairs at a computer. Use slide 5 to give the following directions:
With a partner complete trials 1 & 2 (questions 1 – 5) on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet.
Be ready to explain your results and your answers to the class.
Do not go on until we have discussed our results as a class.

20. Trial 1 Results: What happened when we started with populations of equal biomass?
Discuss the results of trial 1 as a class.
Use Slide 6 and 7 to discuss the results of trial 1.
Use slide 6 to show the results of trial 1 (initial biomass = 500 for foxes, rabbits, and grasses). Ask students: What happened when we started with populations of equal biomass? Listen for students responses to recognize that the fox population quickly declined, the rabbit population initially declined but then returned to initial levels, and the grass population increased and then leveled off (the line graph captures this information, but students also saw it happening on real time through the “camera” image of the organisms).
Ask students: What are the relationships between the four different representations (line graph, biomass diagram, table, picture)? Make sure that they realize that all four representations are different ways to represent the amount of biomass in each of the three populations. The “camera” shows the populations in “real-time,” the line graph shows the biomass of each population at each time point, and the biomass diagram and table show the biomass of each population at selected time points. Help students connect the more concrete representation of the organisms through the camera viewer with the more abstract representations (especially the line graph and the biomass diagram).
Note to teachers: you may know the biomass diagram as the “biomass pyramid.” In the next activity students will identify this pattern, so try to refrain from calling it a pyramid at this point. Subsequent lessons will help students to develop an explanation for the biomass pyramid.

21. Trial 1 Results: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram?
Initial Biomass Diagram Final Biomass Diagram
Use slide 7 to show the initial and final biomass diagrams. Ask students: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for them to explain that rabbits eat grasses and foxes eat rabbits. Probe their ideas by asking When a rabbit eats 10 pounds of grass do all 10 pounds end up as rabbit biomass? Where does the rest go? Listen to see if students remember that some of the mass of food that rabbits eat is lost as carbon dioxide and water through the process of cellular respiration. A full explanation of the biomass diagram will be the focus of lesson 3.

22. Trial 2 Results: What happened when we started with the greatest biomass in the carnivore population, less in the herbivores, and the least biomass in the producer population?
Discuss the results of trial 2 as a class.
Use slides 8 and 9 to discuss the results of trial 2.
Use Slide 8 to show the results of trial 2 (initial biomass = 1000 for foxes, 500 for rabbits, and 100 for grasses). Ask students: What happened when we started with the greatest biomass in the carnivore population, less in the herbivores, and the least biomass in the producer population? Listen for students’ responses to recognize that the foxes quickly ate all of the rabbits, so both populations died out leaving only grasses.

23. Trial 2 Results: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram?
Initial Biomass Diagram Final Biomass Diagram
Use slide 9 to ask, How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for students to explain that only grasses remained and there were no herbivores, so the grass population increased.

24. Your Challenge:
Use the simulation to determine the maximum biomass that the meadow can support.
Choose initial conditions, run simulation, and record the final biomass of each population
Run at least 4 trials (question 7)
Write down the data and draw the biomass diagram for the trial that resulted in the highest fox biomass (question 8)
Students use simulation to determine the maximum fox biomass the meadow can support.
Use slide 10 to explain the challenge and how they should record their data on the worksheet. Students will use this data to complete the Evidence-Based Arguments Tool in Activity 2.3.

25. Lab #11 Sunny Meadow Simulation
Clean – up!
Log out of computers and return to cart.
Write down your ideas:
How does the biomass of a population change over time?

26. Opening Activity: Jan 12, 2018 Have your Fungi CVR ready to stamp.
Be sure your Lab #11 Simulation WS is taped in.
Pick up an “Evidence-Based Argument Tool” and tape in
Review your findings from yesterday, what was the maximum biomass of the populations that you observed at the end of the 100-year simulation (any trial)?
Foxes
Rabbits
Grasses
I can… Explain what happens to biomass in a living ecosystem.
Homework:
Check Source for any missing assignments, turn in!
Carbon Read & Questions

27. Meadow Simulation Class Results: What initial biomass settings lead to the highest fox biomass?
Initial settings
100 years later
Foxes biomass
Rabbits biomass
Grass biomass
Initial settings
100 years later
Foxes biomass
Rabbits biomass
Grass biomass
Discuss the initial settings that resulted in the highest fox biomass at the end of the simulation.
Use slide 4 to record the data (initial and final biomass of grasses, rabbits, and foxes) from at least 3 groups. Students should recognize that many different initial settings lead to the same outcome. Ask students to share their ideas about how different initial settings could lead to the same outcome.
Initial settings
100 years later
Foxes biomass
Rabbits biomass
Grass biomass

28. Discussion Questions
Why did the greatest grass biomass occur when the foxes and rabbits died off?
In any trials did you get foxes completely die out? How do we explain this?
If grasses, rabbits, and foxes all survived for 100 years, the final biomass of each population at the end of the simulation was always the same. How do we explain this?
Use slide 5 to ask In any trials did you get foxes completely die out? How do we explain this?
Make sure that students recognize that if the rabbits do not have enough food (grasses) that they die off, which in turn removes the food source for the foxes, which causes them to die off.
Ask If grasses, rabbits, and foxes all survived for 100 years, the final biomass of each population at the end of the simulation was always the same. How do we explain this? Help students to recognize that foxes eat rabbits and rabbits eat grasses. If all three populations are going to survive then the biomass of grasses must be greater than the rabbits, and the biomass of the rabbits must be greater than the foxes.

29. Complete the Evidence-Based Arguments Tool
Students complete the Evidence-Based Arguments Tool.
Display slide 6. Pass out one copy of 2.3 Evidence-Based Arguments Tool for Ecosystems to each student. Review the Tool directions. Instruct students to use their data from the 2.2 Meadow Simulation worksheet as well as what they learned from today’s class discussion to complete the tool
Give students about 5-10 minutes to complete the process tool.

30. Conclusion #1
The biomass diagram that represents the maximum fox and rabbit biomass in the meadow resembles a pyramid. How do we explain this?
Use slides 7 and 8 to review the two main conclusions that students should have on their Evidence-Based Arguments Tool.
The biomass diagram that represents the maximum biomass of all three populations resembles a pyramid (this diagram is also called the biomass pyramid). Ask students to share their ideas about why so much grass biomass is necessary to support so few foxes. They will learn more about this in the next lesson.

31. Conclusion #2
Only three final biomass diagrams are possible in the meadow ecosystem. How do we explain this?
There are three possible final biomass diagrams that could occur in the meadow ecosystem (the biomass pyramid with all three populations, rabbits and grasses only, and grasses only). Students will not have observed rabbits and grasses only in the simulation and may need help thinking about how this could occur (if the rabbit population dipped so low that the foxes died out, but there were still a few rabbits left to reproduce and repopulate the meadow).

32. What is a population?
Group of organisms of the same species living in the same region at the same time
2. Discuss the concepts of population and biomass.
Use slide 3 to discuss the populations that will be the focus of the investigation using the online Meadow Simulation.
Use slide 4 to introduce or review the meaning of the term biomass. In this lesson we will not distinguish between dry and wet mass. In the simulation biomass refers to the total mass of each population (grasses, rabbits, and foxes).

33. Biomass Patterns in Ecosystems
So far we have identified an important pattern in the biomass of different populations in an ecosystem: Producers > herbivores > carnivores We also found that there is a specific biomass of each population that the meadow can support. This is called the carrying capacity. What determines the carrying capacity for each population?
Conclude the discussion of the meadow ecosystem and connect it to future lessons.
Use slide 9 to summarize the key idea that the biomass of producers > biomass of herbivores > biomass of carnivores. Introduce the term carrying capacity and ask What determines the carrying capacity for each population? Make sure that students recognize that resource availability (in this case, the food source) determines the carrying capacity for each population in an ecosystem.

34. Unanswered question
What are the processes that cause the biomass pyramid?
This will be the focus of the next lesson.
Use slide 10 to emphasize that the biomass pyramid is an important pattern in ecosystems, but that we have not yet explained what causes this pattern. That will be the focus of lesson 3.