Monday, October 16, 2017
02:30 - 04:15; 105 min. -
AP Environmental Science:
Trophic and Bio-geochemical cycles -
Chase was tested on the bio-geochemical cycles that are the basis of our living planet. She was tasked with drawing them out, together on the same page. We discussed the cause and effect of overloading any one or many of these cycles. Then, to demonstrate how energy travels through the food chain, Chase was asked to fill five test tubes with 10 ml of water each. She then added 10 drops of food color to the first tube to represent the produce level of the trophic pyramid. Since each level keeps 90 percent of the energy it gets from the previous level, only 10 percent is available to progress through the levels. Chase was tasked with adding ten drops from the first tube to the second tube to represent the primary consumer. She recorded her observations and then added ten drops from the primary produce to the next tube to represent the secondary consumer. She repeated the process through the tertiary consumer. She then added ten drops from each consumer to the final tube to represent the decomposer. We discussed the benefits of eating producers and primary consumers and how tertiary consumers are not worth the effort. We also discussed the how the food chain related to the carbon cycle. Homework: Study vocabulary for chapter 2