Openscied Ecosystems

Lola lives on a small island in Lake Erie. She loves watching the local squirrels chase each other and eat berries. She decides to plant 100 berry bushes on the island. How might the larger population of berry bushes affect the squirrel population that eats the berries?

• The squirrels will stop eating berries because there are too many.

• The larger population of berries will have no effect on the squirrel population on the island.

• The larger population of berries will cause an increase in the squirrel population on the island.

• The larger population of berries will cause a decrease in the squirrel population on the island.

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Carolina is working on a science fair project. She is doing a survey of the diversity of dragonflies in a pond in her local park. In the spring, she counts an average of 25 blue winged dragonflies and 12 orange headed dragonflies each day. At a different park, on the other side of town, she counts an average of 12 blue winged dragonflies and 30 orange headed dragonflies each day. What might explain this pattern?

• Blue winged dragonflies are more common than orange headed dragonflies.

• Blue winged dragonflies are better at competing for a limited resource under any set of conditions.

• Orange headed dragonflies are better at competing for a limited resource under any set of conditions.

• Blue winged dragonflies are better at competing for a limited resource at the pond in the local park than are orange headed dragonflies.

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Khalid is interested in how plants respond to limited resources. He decides to study how plant growth is affected by the amount of sunlight, a resource that all green plants need to survive and reproduce. He plants seeds under different light conditions, varying from plants exposed to no shade during the day to plants that are shaded for 80% of every day. He then measures the response of the plants to these conditions by measuring their total mass after a period of growth. Khalid’s results are shown in the table.

Which pattern best fits the data collected by Khalid?

• Plants that grow with more shade grow larger.

• Plants that grow with more sunshine grow larger.

• Plants that grow with more sunshine end up being smaller.

• Plants that grow with medium amounts of sunshine grow larger.

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Khalid has been put in charge of designing a test garden in his school. How might he use the information from his experiment to help design a garden that grows the largest plants?

• Khalid should make sure that the garden is shaded to reduce sunlight.

• Khalid should make sure that the garden has lots of exposure to sunlight.

• Khalid should make sure that the garden has medium amounts of sunlight.

• These data do not provide information that will help Khalid design the test garden.

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In this experiment, sunlight is not a limited resource, but water and carbon dioxide are limited resources. How might the results change if all of the plants were grown under the same amount of sunlight, but with a limited amount of a resource, such as carbon dioxide?

• The plants would all grow larger.

• The mass of all of the plants would be larger.

• The mass of all of the plants would be smaller.

• Limited resources would have no impact on the plants.

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Rainfall _________.

• Decreased

• Increased

• Stayed the Same

Amount of seeds _________.

• Decreased

• Increased

• Stayed the Same

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Number of finches _________.

• Decreased

• Increased

• Stayed the Same

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Choose the claim that you think provides the BEST and most complete explanation for the changes observed in the three graphs above.

• The amount of seeds declined because the finches ate them.

• The number of finches declined because there were fewer seeds to eat.

• Lower rainfall caused the amount of seeds to decline but did not affect the finch population.

• Lower rainfall caused both the amount of seeds and the finch population to decline.

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Complete your scientific explanation by supporting your claim with evidence. What data can be used to support your claim?

• The seed population decreased from 11 g/m2 to 4 g/m2 and the finch population decreased by 1200 birds.

• The number of finches decreased by about 200 birds and the number of seeds increased 5 g/m2.

• The rainfall increased about 100 mm and the finch population increased by 1200 birds.

• In one year the rainfall dropped a total of about 100 mm and the amount of seed production decreased from 11 g/m2 to 4 g/m2 and the number of finch decreased by 1200 birds.

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