The unit is designed to be completed in six or more sessions. The comprehensive curriculum materials contain information for teachers, including activity tips and an overview of the many varied reasons that plant life flourishes in one plot but not another. Students speculate on why plants are more abundant in some areas of the site than others. They list factors that might account for the differences, such as temperature, humidity, light, soil, rainfall, wind, and human or animal activity, and figure out how they can collect more data on these factors. They discuss why it might be important to take a count of all the individual plants in each plot and develop a plan for conducting the field study. A reading selection describes how scientists count plants and gives students tips for conducting their own survey. Students then count plants and record their data. Several optional activities are provided.

Before they are grouped together, I will display the WebQuest on the projector screen and discuss the roles and responsibilities of the scientists, explain the rubric and expectations, and answer any question students may have. Some members may have to play more than one scientist or the members may work together to complete a scientist’s responsibilities. Each team will be randomly assigned an ecosystem and follow the process and tasks outlined in the WebQuest.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Discuss the predator-prey cycleGive examples of defenses against predation and herbivoryDescribe the competitive exclusion principleGive examples of symbiotic relationships between speciesDescribe community structure and succession

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the basic types of ecosystems on EarthExplain the methods that ecologists use to study ecosystem structure and dynamicsIdentify the different methods of ecosystem modelingDifferentiate between food chains and food webs and recognize the importance of each

To be completed daily in order to track progress of students while supplementing them with lessons about ecological footprints

Ecology: Population Growth is a Canadian adaptation of Connecting Concepts: Interactive Lessons in Biology by Robert Jeanne and Jan Cheetham (University of Wisconsin). It includes interactive lessons on exponential growth focusing on the zebra mussel population, logistic growth using fish as an example, and elephant population growth. / Croissance des populations est une adaptation canadienne de Connecting Concepts: Interactive Lessons in Biology de Robert Jeanne et Jan Cheetham (University of Wisconsin). Ces leçons interactives portent sur la croissance exponentielle à l’aide d’une population de moules zébrées, la croissance logistique selon l’exemple des poissons et la croissance d’une population d’éléphants.

The Kids Do Ecology website provides an introduction to ecology for younger students. Topics include the scientific method, world biomes, marine mammals, endangered species, and careers in ecology. The Teachers' page provides links to resources for integrating ecology into the classroom, and the Classroom Projects page provides summaries of recent and past projects completed by students. The Data and Science page provides information on how to design an experiment, collect data, analyze it, and present results. There is also a frequently-asked-questions feature and a page of links to other ecological websites.

Introduction to Ecology is an open course remix of the OpenStax Biology open textbook. The remix includes a modular revision of parts of the text with supplemental questions added.

Students analyze data on temperature and precipitation collected from 26 different Long Term Ecological Research sites and compare them with annual net primary productivity. The students then form an ecological rule to explain their results.

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How big is your ecological footprint? This case will assist students in quantifying this construct and allow them to reflect on life styles and alternative approaches that can help them reduce their ecological impacts.

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By the end of this section, you will be able to:Define biogeographyList and describe abiotic factors that affect the global distribution of plant and animal speciesCompare the impact of abiotic forces on aquatic and terrestrial environmentsSummarize the affect of abiotic factors on net primary productivity

In this class we will critically review both classical works and recent literature on ecological theory. Emphasis will be on providing a theoretical and phenomenological foundation for the study of computational models. We will meet twice weekly for roundtable discussions.

Students in a Population and Community Ecology class participate in coastal marine research focused on understanding factors determining population sizes and community interactions, particularly in the context of species that appear to be shifting their ranges with climate change. Students participate in all aspects of the research from making observations and collecting data in the field to defining questions, stating hypothesis, designing and completing statistical analysis, and interpreting and presenting results. The outcomes are a research proposal, research paper, and poster presentation. All are intended to be at a level appropriate for use as a writing sample or presentation at undergraduate conferences. Results are incorporated into the ongoing research project led by the course instructor and graduate student teaching assistant.

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This lesson is about the flow of energy in ecosystems. The setting is Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA, where students will learn about the first Thanksgiving meal in America, celebrated in 1621 by early American settlers and Wampanoag Indians. By examining this meal and comparing it to a modern day Thanksgiving celebration, students will be able to explore the way in which food energy moves and is transformed in an ecosystem. The learning goals focus on the movement of energy from one feeding level to the next within a food web, the way in which energy changes form, and the inefficiency of energy transfer, which in turn affects the availability of food energy for organisms at the highest feeding level. The lesson is directed at high school level biology students. Students should be familiar already with food webs, food chains, and trophic (feeding) levels. They should also be familiar with the general equations for photosynthesis (CO2 + H2O => C6H12O6) and cell respiration (C6H12O6 => CO2 + H2O), and understand the basic purpose of these processes in nature. This lesson can be completed during one long classroom period, or can be divided over two or more class meetings. The duration of the lesson will depend on prior knowledge of the students and on the amount of time allotted for student discussion. There are no supplies required for this lesson other than the downloadable worksheets (accessed on this BLOSSOMS site), paper and some glue or tape.

The Industrial Ecology Open Online Course (IEooc) is a collection of web content on industrial ecology background, methods, and applications. It has two purposes: First, to document and explain some of the ‘soft’ knowledge around industrial ecology concepts, methods, data, and applications that is needed to conduct state-of-the-art industrial ecology research. Second, to guide new industrial ecology researchers towards having fun and impact with properly conducted science for sustainability.

The course was developed for university students. It features the following items, which are freely available for educational use: lectures (screencasts and webinars of 15-60 minutes), exercises with sample solutions, code samples or notebooks, and reading material (papers, essays, reports, blog entries). There are now more than 40 exercises and tutorials, and these form the core of this course.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Identify the two major abiotic factors that determine terrestrial biomesRecognize distinguishing characteristics of each of the eight major terrestrial biomes

Quantitative Ecology introduces and discusses the principles of ecology from populations to ecosystems including human populations, disease, exotic organisms, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity and global dynamics. The book also reformulates and unifies ecological equations making them more accessible to the reader and easier to teach.