Animal Cracker Ecosystem Lab

Name: ______Period: ______

On the mythical island of Gowambu, a rare collection of natural wildlife exists. The following passage describes these amazing organisms and the ecological niches they fill.

Native vegetation grows throughout the island and sustains a wide variety of animals. Deep within the boreal forest elephants and rhinos forage on the low branches of maple trees. While, red clover grows only along the coast and is a staple food source for donkeys, camels, and hippos. Tall switch grass is abundant throughout the Great Plains and regularly consumed by buffalos, horses, and cows. However, goats must wander vast distances across the highlands to find the rare, orange jewelweed.

Cats have evolved a camouflage coloration which allows them to blend in with tall switch grass when stalking buffalos and cows. However, tigers must rely upon their speed to hunt down camels and donkeys along the coast. The rock outcrops of the highlands provide excellent cover for lions where they wait to devour unsuspecting goats. When goats are scarce, lions have also been known to even wander down to the coast and attack camels and donkeys. Bears live in the boreal forest and actively hunt elephants and rhinos, but their favorite foods are more commonly found on the Great Plains: cats, cows, and switchgrass.

PART 1: Based on the passage above, complete the first two columns in the following table. If an organism is a consumer, please note if it is primary, secondary, or tertiary.

Herbivore, Carnivore, Consumer (1°, 2°, 3°) Number of Species Omnivore Organism Or from kCal Or Producer Random Sampling Autotroph

Bear 4

Buffalo 400

Camel 300

Cat 40

Clover 3000

Cow 400

Donkey 300

Elephant 350

Goat 250

Hippo 300

Horse 400

Jewelweed 2500

Lion 30 Maple Tree 3500

Rhino 350

Switchgrass 4000

Tiger 30

PART 2: In the space below, create a food web using all of the organisms from Gowambu. Make sure arrows show the flow of energy! PART 3: Ask your teacher for a random sampling of animals from Gowambu. Correctly identify each species (using the diagram below) and fill in the third column on the data table.

PART 4: Analysis Questions (complete sentences!) 1. What provides the producers with energy?

2. From your random sampling, how many of the following do you have?

1° consumers ______2° consumers ______3° consumers ______

3. Choose 1 food chain from your food web above (must include 4 organisms) to answer the following: (USE YOUR WORKSHEET FROM YESTERDAY’S ACTIVITY AS A GUIDE) a. Calculate the percent energy available to the primary consumers from the producers.

b. Calculate the percent energy available to the secondary consumers from the primary consumers. c. Calculate the percent energy available to the tertiary consumers from the secondary consumers.

d. Calculate the average percent energy available in your food chain.

4. How might the extinction of clover cause a decline in the lion population?

5. A non-biodegradable waste container buried in the Great Plains has ruptured causing a continuous leak of pesticide. The tall switchgrass still survives, but small amounts of pollutants have been found in their leaves. This pollutant is not harmful in the small amounts found in the leaves, but builds up in the tissues of the primary and secondary consumers who eat the switchgrass. If the level of toxin builds up too much, the organism can die. How will this affect the buffalo, cat, and bear? Be specific!

6. While visiting Gowambu, you decide to bring the red clover back to your house in Oswego. Within five years, red clover has spread throughout all of Kendall County and has completely replaced the native species of purple clover. a. Why has the clover spread rapidly?

b. What local environmental consequences might result from the spread of this invasive species?

7. Global warming may cause sea levels to rise along the coastline of Gowambu. Rising sea levels decrease the amount of soil and nutrients available to the producers. How will this affect the tiger population?