Living Organisms and Cycles 2/19/17
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Summary: The energy pyramid shows how energy moves from one living organism to another. Each time you move up the pyramid only 10 percent of energy transfers. For example, grass makes its own food and has 100% of its energy. A rabbit hops along a munches on the grass. The rabbit has 10% of the grasses energy. A hungry fox comes and eats the rabbit. The fox then has 1% of the grasses energy. Producers are living organisms that make their own food, such as plants. On the other hand consumers are living organism that consume other living organisms to survive. Humans lie atop the energy pyramid with plants at the bottom. Plant are the foundation of the pyramid because they do not need to consume other living organisms. As you may notice, the pyramid gets a smaller area at each level as you go higher. This is because there needs to be a larger amount of plants and less predators. Everything above plants needs it to survive and so on until the top. Nothing really eats humans which is why there are less compared to plants and why the are perched at the top of this pyramid. The energy pyramid is great way to learn how energy travels from one organism to the next.
S&EP-Using Mathematics: Not necessarily math, but deciding what numbers to use and estimating a proportion really came in handy this week. We started to learn about the ecosystems and interdependence of organisms by playing a simple yet effective game. In this game you select a number of grasses, rabbits, and foxes (they make an energy pyramid). You had to decide the ratio of grass to rabbits to foxes. I learned that grass needs to be the most prevalent because everything above it on the pyramid, or the rabbits and foxes, require it to survive. Even though the foxes don't directly consume the grass, they eat rabbits who eat the grass. The foxes need to be the least prevalent because if there are too many they will eat all the rabbits. Then, they will have no food and die off themselves. The rabbits are somewhere in the middle because they eat grass, but are consumed by foxes. This was a very fun game and I learned how to balance the numbers in a food chain.
XCC-Systems & Cycles: The nitrogen cycle is a lot more complex than you probably thought. Most of the nitrogen on the planet is stored in the atmosphere, just like carbon. Fun fact, nitrogen can't be used directly by plants and animals. Bacteria must convert the gas into nitrates and after the organism it was in dies and decomposed bacteria converts it back into nitrogen. The nitrogen cycle includes the atmosphere, rain fall, surface water, ground water, fertilizer, soil, live plants, dead organism, animal waste, live animals and the ocean. We played a game in which we traveled through this system as a molecule of nitrogen.. I started in the atmosphere and was rained on the surface of the water. Then, I traveled through streams until I reached the ocean. Bacteria performed fixation and I became a nitrate used by a plant. The plant I was in dies and I decomposed to become part of the soil. Bacteria converted me back to nitrogen in which i was released to the atmosphere. I was rained out yet again , but this time i fell upon the soil. I was fixated by bacteria and used by a plant. The plant was eaten by an animal and that is how it ended. One molecule traveled and did that much. This system works in such a way that it functions smoothly and organisms who need nitrate do get it.
Multiplier: This week I was a mutant, to be more specific a learner because I tried to learn as much as I could on our new unit.
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S&EP-Using Mathematics: Not necessarily math, but deciding what numbers to use and estimating a proportion really came in handy this week. We started to learn about the ecosystems and interdependence of organisms by playing a simple yet effective game. In this game you select a number of grasses, rabbits, and foxes (they make an energy pyramid). You had to decide the ratio of grass to rabbits to foxes. I learned that grass needs to be the most prevalent because everything above it on the pyramid, or the rabbits and foxes, require it to survive. Even though the foxes don't directly consume the grass, they eat rabbits who eat the grass. The foxes need to be the least prevalent because if there are too many they will eat all the rabbits. Then, they will have no food and die off themselves. The rabbits are somewhere in the middle because they eat grass, but are consumed by foxes. This was a very fun game and I learned how to balance the numbers in a food chain.
XCC-Systems & Cycles: The nitrogen cycle is a lot more complex than you probably thought. Most of the nitrogen on the planet is stored in the atmosphere, just like carbon. Fun fact, nitrogen can't be used directly by plants and animals. Bacteria must convert the gas into nitrates and after the organism it was in dies and decomposed bacteria converts it back into nitrogen. The nitrogen cycle includes the atmosphere, rain fall, surface water, ground water, fertilizer, soil, live plants, dead organism, animal waste, live animals and the ocean. We played a game in which we traveled through this system as a molecule of nitrogen.. I started in the atmosphere and was rained on the surface of the water. Then, I traveled through streams until I reached the ocean. Bacteria performed fixation and I became a nitrate used by a plant. The plant I was in dies and I decomposed to become part of the soil. Bacteria converted me back to nitrogen in which i was released to the atmosphere. I was rained out yet again , but this time i fell upon the soil. I was fixated by bacteria and used by a plant. The plant was eaten by an animal and that is how it ended. One molecule traveled and did that much. This system works in such a way that it functions smoothly and organisms who need nitrate do get it.
Multiplier: This week I was a mutant, to be more specific a learner because I tried to learn as much as I could on our new unit.
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