Population prediction for food chain

ENV326 Week Four

Ecology Laboratory Reporting Form

Resource needed:

Annenberg Learner. (n.d.). Ecology Lab [Interactive lab]. In The Habitable Planet. Retrieved from https://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/ecology/

Table 1: Population Size for Plants A and B

*The first answers have been completed for you to help ensure that you are on track.

1. Which plant (also called producers) dominates over the other? Provide reasons that explain why one plant can be dominant over another?

Table 2: Population Size for Plants A and B, with an Herbivore preying on Plant A

2. Explain how herbivory might affect a plant. Your answer should consider lethal effects (i.e. mortality) and nonlethal effects such as impacts to plant size, number of seeds produced, and ability to photosynthesize.

3. Explain how adding the herbivore can alter the competition between plants A and B?

Table 3: Population prediction for food chain

*You will not lose any points if your predictions are incorrect. Just explain why in the answer below.

4. Was your prediction correct? How did you arrive at your prediction? What differences were there between your prediction and the simulation?

5. Did any of the species increase in number? What could account for this increase? Which species decreased in number and what might account for this decrease?

Table 4: Population prediction for food web

*It is ok if you predictions are incorrect. You will not lose any points. Just explain the why in the answer below.

6. Was your prediction correct? How did you arrive at your prediction? What differences were there between your prediction and the simulation?

7. Which species die out? Explain why this might happen.