Globalization

Biology 20 Unit A – Energy and Matter Exchange in the Biosphere

Project: Building a Self-Sustaining Aquatic Ecosystem

Question: How can you design a model aquatic ecosystem (a biosphere) that can survive as a self-regulating system in a completely sealed container?

Section A – to be completed as part of a group

Part 1: Proposal
Before you can build your ecosystem, you must first create a detailed proposal outlining your intended design. This should include:
A list of factors that you think will influence the success or failure of your ecosystem. How will you attempt to control each of these factors? Which ones are out of your control?
A list of required materials
A detailed description of how each of the materials will be used, and why you have selected specific materials and/or organisms
A labeled sketch of your aquatic ecosystem

Your proposal should indicate that you have done sufficient research to support your design. A minimum of three references are required, and must be cited correctly.

Date Due:

Part 2: Building your Ecosystem

According to your design specifications, construct your aquatic ecosystem and choose your ecosystem’s location within the school (your teacher will inform you of available locations – choose wisely)

Date Due:

Part 3: Journal Entries and Observations
Throughout this project from the initial planning day to completion, your group should complete a journal entry in Moodle each time that you meet. The entries should record your topics of discussion, actions, and future plans.

Once your ecosystem is self-sustaining, you will need to make observations of your ecosystem daily for two weeks, and twice weekly thereafter. Observations should include data such as include, species counts, ecosystem temperature and appearance and any changes that are occurring in your ecosystem. These observations should be recorded in an organized manner (a table) within your journal.

Section B – to be completed individually

Part 4: Analysis

Using a method of your choosing (poster, Prezi, written paper, another method discussed with your instructor), show your understanding of each of the following:
1. a) What trophic levels are represented in your ecosystem? What roles (producers etc) are present?

b) If this were a natural ecosystem, what other types of organisms might you expect to see? What trophic levels might they represent? Show your understanding with 3-4 possible food chains or a food web.

2. How is energy is transferred within your ecosystem?

3. Represent your ecosystem with a pyramid of numbers, of energy, or of biomass. What were your reasons for choosing the pyramid that you did?

4. What biogeochemical cycles are represented in your ecosystem? Represent them visually.

5. What factors affected the productivity of your ecosystem? Without opening the bottle, how could you make your ecosystem more productive? Would this be a good thing for the self-sustainability of your ecosystem? Why or why not?

6. How successful was your biosphere overall? What changes would you make to your biosphere if you were to have the chance to perform this experiment again?

Assessment:

Your work on this project will be evaluated by the rubrics below:

Section A (group work) rubric:

Section B (individual work) rubric: