Biomes and Population Dynamics - Balance within Natural Systems
Populations of organisms within a desert biome community.Copyright 2006 Wendy J. Holmgren, Vanderbilt University
With a continued focus on the Sonoran Desert, students are introduced to the concepts of biomes, limiting factors (resources), carrying capacity and growth curves through a PowerPoint® presentation. Abiotic factors (temperature, annual precipitation, seasons, etc.) determine the biome landscape. The vegetative component, as producers, determines the types of consumers that form its various communities. Students learn how the type and quantity of available resources defines how many organisms can be supported within the community, as well as its particular resident species. With this understanding, students are able to explain how carrying capacity is determined by the limiting factors within the community and feeding relationships. By completing the associated activity to investigate these ecological relationships, students see the connection between ecological relationships of organisms and the fundamentals of engineering design, adding to their base of knowledge towards solving the grand challenge posed in this unit.
This lesson introduces students to computer simulation. It provides direct application in utilizing a computer simulation to allow an opportunity to assess and measure the responses of a community to measurable changes within individual populations. In addition, as students continue in their study of ecological relationships, bridges begin to form that enable them to connect ecological relationships to the fundamentals of engineering design.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Define the term "biome" and list the various types on our planet.
- Define population and carrying capacity.
- Explain why different species are found within different biomes.
- Explain why carrying capacity is determined by the limiting factors within the community.
- Explain how population data can be used to analyze growth rate curves.
- Identify the connection between ecological relationships of organisms and their effect on population to the fundamentals of engineering design.