What Makes a Healthy Ecosystem?
We just finished Unit 2 in Biology that focused on many aspects of ecology. During the last couple of weeks the students learned about the flow of energy through an ecosystem, how species interact to survive and how certain factors in the environment limit population growth. Visualizing how species interact through relationships like mutualism, parasitism and predation was especially fun using National Geographic video clips. You will have to ask your student to describe the parasitic relationship between the caterpillar and wasp larvae or how wolves are keystone species in Yellowstone National Park (see link below). Throughout this unit various graphs and data were analyzed, which is a transferable skill that I hope students can use throughout high school and beyond. The students also used their math skills to calculate different aspects of populations, including predicted populations and population density. Next week we are starting a new unit on biodiversity and how human activity impacts the variety and number of species throughout the world. This unit will end in December with student presentations that explore the threats to biodiversity as well as evaluating solutions to decrease humans' impact on biodiversity. HOW WOLVES CHANGE RIVERS
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