Ecology Webquest
Name: __________________________ Period: ________ Date: _____
Part I: Ecosystems and Nutrient Cycling
I. FOOD CHAINS
http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/index.cfm
and click on “play the game” to begin. Answer the questions below:
1. A person is called a _____________________________________ because they eat meat and vegetables.
2. Food gives people and animals __________________________________.
3. ________________________ are animals that only eat meat.
4. ________________________ are animals that only eat plants.
(2) Choose the Forest Food Chain.
1. What animals were in your food chain? Place them in the correct order by creating a food link (show arrows representing the direction of energy).
2. What 5 things happen if you take the frog out of the food chain?
1. _________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________
II. FOOD WEBS
(1) Go to http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html Play the 3 food webs and answer the questions below
Name a consumer in your food web _______________________________
Name a producer in your food web ________________________________
Name a decomposer in your food web ______________________________
III. NUTRIENT CYCLING
A. Carbon Cycle
Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/co2_cycle.html
1. DRAW and label the carbon cycle on a separate paper AND fill in the blanks below:
• Plants pull carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere to make food, through a process called ____________________.
• Through food chains animals get ____________ from the plants and other animals they eat.
• When plants and animals die and _________________, carbon goes back into the ground.
• Some carbon is buried deep in the ground and forms ________________________.
• When humans burn fossil fuels, ________________ is released back into the atmosphere.
• When humans and animals exhale, they release carbon back into the air by a process called ______________________________.
B. Water Cyle
Go to http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/water_cycle.html
1. DRAW and label the water cycle AND define the following vocabulary words
Transpiration, Condensation, Precipitation, Evaporation
B. Nitrogen Cycle
Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/nitrogen_cycle.html&edu=mid
DRAW and label the nitrogen cycle and answer the questions below
1. What are 2 ways nitrogen becomes useable to plants, humans and animals:
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
2. How do herbivores obtain the nitrogen they need?
_________________________________________________________
3. How is nitrogen returned to the atmosphere?
_________________________________________________________
4. What are two ways humans impact the nitrogen cycle:
1.________________________________________________________
2.________________________________________________________
5. What is the role of bacteria in the nitrogen cycle?
__________________________________________________________
IV. POPULATION
Go to http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_population.html and answer the following questions:
1. What is a population? __________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
2. Two things that increase a population
a. ______________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________
3. Two things that decrease a population:
a. _____________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________
V. BIODIVERSITY
Go to http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/issues/biodiversity/ and answer the following questions
1. What is biodiversity? ____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
2. What is the estimated number of species existing on earth today______________
3. How many species have been named (a) and why may this number actually be too high (b)
a. _______________
b. ____________________________________________
4. What is a species?
5. What are the five main pressures on biodiversity
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Describe three of the reasons that biodiversity is important
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
