Ecosystem
What is Serengeti?
a national park in East Africa
Define conservation. give an examples
Protecting Earth's natural resources and ecosystems for current and future generations
Serengeti
Define: Component
A part of a system that interacts with other parts.
This is the term for how quickly a population's size increases or decreases over a given period of time.
Rate of change
On a population graph, this is what the line typically does once a population reaches carrying capacity.
It levels off / plateaus
Name two animals that live in the Serengeti.
Name one living and one nonliving component of the Serengeti.
Living Components (Biotic)
Nonliving Components (Abiotic)
Define: Interaction
he way two or more components affect each other in a system.
Create a chain using : Rain Lions wildebeest Grass
Rainfall ↑ → Grass ↑ → wildebeest → Lions ↑
Name two examples of limiting factors that could affect a wildebeest population.
Any two of: food/grass availability, water, predators, disease, space
Why do wildebeest migrate?
To find food and water.
This type of relationship exists when one organism kills and eats the other, such as a lion and a wildebeest.
Predation (predator-prey relationship)
Define: Limiting Factor
A resource or condition that limits how large a population can grow or survive.
What is the difference between an independent and dependent variable?
Independent: This is the variable that a researcher intentionally changes in an experiment
Dependent: This is the variable that is measured or observed, and that responds to changes in the independent variable
If a predator is removed from an ecosystem, this often happens to prey populations.
They grow rapidly / become overpopulated
What role does rainfall play in the Serengeti ecosystem?
Rainfall helps grass grow, which provides food for herbivores.
What is one interaction between two components in the Serengeti?
Lions hunt wildebeest.
Grass provides food for wildebeest.
Define: Stakeholder
A person or group that is affected by or has an interest in a decision.
What is the difference between evidence and reasoning?
This was the general goal of reintroducing African wild dogs to Liwonde National Park.
To restore ecological balance / control prey populations that had grown unchecked
A drought causes much less rainfall. Predict two changes that would happen in the Serengeti. Explain your reasoning
example answers: Less rainfall → less grass and water → less food for wildebeest → fewer wildebeest
If the amount of grass decreases, what happens next in the ecosystem?
Cause-and-effect chain
ex: wildeebeest have no food die, predator starts dying
Define: Keystone Species
A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.
If a wildebeest population grows from 1,000 to 1,200 in 2 years, what is the rate of change per year?
100 wildebeest per year
This is why scientists model ecosystems like the Serengeti using tools like SageModeler before making real-world decisions.
To predict how changes will affect the whole system before intervening