How do humans impact their environment, and how do we minimize it?
Our mission was to select an ecosystem, and analyze it for how humans were impacting it. From this, we were to create a plan to solve the issues we encountered. In addition, we were also instructed to actually take action on the subject, and do something that would make a difference.
Our Project - Dare to be a Force of Nature
In order to combat the gradual march of urban sprawl on the environment, our plan is to condense urban and suburban areas into more dense areas. This would enable less people to live in large areas, increasing the amount of room that would be available for nature reclamation. We explored this idea in Japan: specifically the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
Ecosystems and Their Components
Hierarchy of the Biosphere
The organization of the life on Earth is separated into several related sections. This enables each factor to be analyzed. At the smallest level of organization, there is the organism. This is a single living unit. Several similar organisms in proximity that interact are referred to as a population. The interactions of multiple populations forms a community. Communities, when combined with their abiotic factors, form an ecosystem . Ecosystems that have similar characteristics are grouped into biomes. All the biomes form the biosphere
Symbiosis
- Symbiosis describes the interactions of organisms living in close proximity. There are several types of symbiosis that result in positive, negative, or neutral effects for the involved organisms.
- Competition 2 individuals needing the same resource. (-,-)
- Parasitism/ Consumption : one organisms feeds on or uses another (+,-)
- Commensalism: one organism benefits and the other doesn't have an effect, such as barnacles on whales (+,0)
- Mutualism: Both benefit, such as pollination (+,+)
Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
Photosynthesis is the method in which chloroplasts in plant cells exchange carbon dioxide and water result in glucose and oxygen after being affected by light. Cellular respiration happens in all cells, and is the inverse of photosynthesis. However, cellular respiration also results in 38 units of ATP.
Energy Flow
Energy produces convert energy either from the sun (photosynthesis) or from chemicals in the environment (chemosynthesis) . These are referred to as Autotrophs, and are the primary producers in an ecosystem. From there, energy moves up the trophic levels. These represent the general levels of organisms and the niches (or jobs) in the ecosystem. First level consumers give their energy through consumption to second level consumers, and the process continues. At the top of the process is the apex predator.
Only 10% of the energy moves on to the next trophic level.
Only 10% of the energy moves on to the next trophic level.
Ecosystems
Ecosystems are combined with abiotic factors. These are all the non-living factors of the area. These can include everything from the weather and climate to rocks. The biotics factors are anything that is living or that was living. These inlclude the flora (plants), and fauna (animals), of the ecosystem
Reflection
This project allowed us to explore many options, in each deciding on ways to improve our environment. This meant that members of our group had a wide range of concerns in the world, each with its own unique opportunities and challenges. This also created some amount of conflict within the group as we debated upon the best course of action. In general, the combative nature of several members was detrimental to our success. Another issue was the frequency of which members were absent. It was common to have half the group gone, either not at school or distracted and with another group. Our eventual final project was accomplished in spite of some of the members, and not because of it.
There were other factors to consider, however. We were able to use our knowledge with Google Slides to create a more generalized presentation, that enabled us to be more effective speakers. We used more graphic organizers and other techniques, which we believed was especially helpful. Another positive factor was the effective timeline that we established at the beginning of the project. We followed this timeline, and was able to finish the project nearly a week early. This demonstrates some of our peaks during the project.
There were other factors to consider, however. We were able to use our knowledge with Google Slides to create a more generalized presentation, that enabled us to be more effective speakers. We used more graphic organizers and other techniques, which we believed was especially helpful. Another positive factor was the effective timeline that we established at the beginning of the project. We followed this timeline, and was able to finish the project nearly a week early. This demonstrates some of our peaks during the project.