Large sheets of blank paper or white boards Writing utensils PROCEDURE Review the following ecological terms prior to beginning this activity: population, community, food web, trophic level, producers, consumers, herbivores, omnivores, carnivores. Pass out the handout and have students read the opening paragraph describing a “A Forest Web” forest community. Working in groups, have students generate a food web based on the organisms discussed in the story. Have students compare their web with other groups and make any new connections they see necessary. Discuss the answers to questions 1-3 on the handout prior to continuing onto the scenarios. Assign each group one of the three scenarios to investigate. After completing the altered food webs and questions, have students present the scenario and the changes they made to the food web based on the habitat alteration. EXTENSION Assign students different types of habitats (desert, wetland, rainforest, etc). Have them write their own story describing the interactions among the species. Students can then come up with their own scenarios that would alter their chosen environment. REVIEW QUESTIONS/ASSESSMENT The following questions can be used as guidelines to develop assessment tools (quiz, essay, etc.) appropriate for your students. What are the different forms of habitat destruction? How does habitat destruction lead to loss of species? What are persistent organic pollutants? How might they enter into water sources? Why are some pollutants many times greater in top carnivores than in organisms at the base of the food chain? What are exotic species? Identify some ways exotic species are introduced into a new habitat. Handout: A Forest Web A Forest Web Somewhere in a typical North American forest, a tall, hardy white oak tree drops an acorn which is quickly gathered up by an eastern gray squirrel. A yellow warbler lands on one of the oak’s upturned branches as it finishes off its second moth of the day. In the top branches, a great horned owl sleeps,
Large sheets of blank paper or white boards Writing utensils PROCEDURE Review the following ecological terms prior to beginning this activity: population, community, food web, trophic level, producers, consumers, herbivores, omnivores, carnivores. Pass out the “A Forest Web” handout and have students read the opening paragraph describing a forest community. Working in groups, have students generate a food web based on the organisms discussed in the story. Have students compare their web with other groups and make any new connections they see necessary. Discuss the answers to questions 1-3 on the handout prior to continuing onto the scenarios. Assign each group one of the three scenarios to investigate. After completing the altered food webs and questions, have students present the scenario and the changes they made to the food web based on the habitat alteration. EXTENSION Assign students different types of habitats (desert, wetland, rainforest, etc). Have them write their own story describing the interactions among the species. Students can then come up with their own scenarios that would alter their chosen environment. REVIEW QUESTIONS/ASSESSMENT The following questions can be used as guidelines to develop assessment tools (quiz, essay, etc.) appropriate for your students. What are the different forms of habitat destruction? How does habitat destruction lead to loss of species? What are persistent organic pollutants? How might they enter into water sources? Why are some pollutants many times greater in top carnivores than in organisms at the base of the food chain? What are exotic species? Identify some ways exotic species are introduced into a new habitat. Handout: A Forest Web A Forest Web Somewhere in a typical North American forest, a tall, hardy white oak tree drops an acorn which is quickly gathered up by an eastern gray squirrel. A yellow warbler lands on one of the oak’s upturned branches as it finishes off its second moth of the day. In the top branches, a great horned owl sleeps,
ES-Day-Lesson-Plan.docx