Learning Objectives

After completing this lab, the students will be able to:

• Define Ecology, population, community, and ecosystem.
• Differentiate between producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, parasite, decomposer, and detritivore.
• assign organisms to their trophic level and construct a food web.

Lab Readings

Read the following materials before you begin the experiment.

1. Population, Community Ecology and Ecosystem (Boundless Biology at Lumen Learning) 

1. Population and Community Ecology  

• Population Demography 
• Environmental Limits to Population Growth 

• Life History Patterns 
• Human Population Growth 
• Community Ecology 
• Innate Animal Behavior 
• Learned Animal Behavior 

2. Ecosystems 

• Ecology of Ecosystems 
• Energy Flow through Ecosystems 
• Biogeochemical Cycles 

Videos

Watch the following video before you start the lab activity.

1. View below or on YouTube Ecosystems (Bozeman science).
   https://youtu.be/Ot_KmOTYfRA

Lab Activity

let’s view Virtual Biology Labs below (conducted by Department of Biological sciences, East Tennessee State University)

• Model 1 Barnacle competition simulation http://virtualbiologylab.org/ModelsHTML5/BarnacleCompetition/BarnacleCompetitionModel.html 

• Model 2 Microcosm simulation 
  http://virtualbiologylab.org/NetWebHTML_FilesJan2016/MicrocosmModel.htmlhttp://virtualbiologylab.org/pdf/MicrocosmDirections.pdf

• Predator – Prey  Population Oscillation Lab using 100 mini M&M (by Bridget Henshaw, Avoca Central School)
   https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/3/1009/files/2015/05/Predator-Prey-Population-Oscillation-Lab-Bridget-Henshaw.pdf

Quiz

View these Energy Pyramids link, and answer these question below:

1. Explain why pyramid is the best shape to represent how energy flows through an ecosystem.
2. Explain why producers are at the base of the pyramid.