Nov. 29 – Ecosystems Services and Equilibrium

A schedule for the remainder of this unit:

• Monday, Dec. 2 – Assignment
• Wednesday Dec. 4 – Research Period
• Thursday Dec. 5 – Guest Speaker
• Tuesday Dec. 10 – Assignment Due
• Thursday Dec. 12 – Unit Test

After Dec. 12 we will begin our final unit on Space!
Back to what we did today...

Learning Goals: 

• Understand the different types of services that ecosystems provide for us.
• Understand ecological equilibrium and how succession works.

Success Criteria:

• You can describe different ecosystem services and what broad categories they fall under.
• You can describe what equilibrium is and the process of primary and secondary succession.

Handout:

• Ecosystem Services
• Equilibrium and Succession

We started today by asking this question: How does the ecosystem benefit humans?

You guys came up with many great answers which I put on different parts of the board.  You were able to then come up with some ideas about what the different categories meant.

Cultural Services –  They are benefits relating to our enjoyment of the environment. They include the recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual experiences we receive when we interact with our natural surroundings.

Ecosystem Products – These refer to goods that are provided by the ecosystems, such as food, medicine, building materials, rubber, fibres, dyes, etc.

Regulating Services – The ecosystem also regulates temperatures, weather, disease, animal populations, purifies water, etc.  All of which can benefit humans.

Ecotourism is an example of a cultural service.

Next we discussed what is meant by equilibrium.

Equilibrium describes the state of an ecosystem with constant abiotic and biotic conditions over a period of time. Equilibrium is maintained when abiotic conditions are stable. 

Succession is the process by which an ecosystem can recover or be replaced if after a disturbance such as a fire or human made changes.

Primary succession is the process in which bare rocks can grow into a forest.  The process can take hundreds of years. 

Homework: Continue to catch up on questions from previous days.

• P. 41 # 1, 2, 5, 9, 11
• P. 47 # 2, 4, 5, 6, 8
• P. 51 # 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8
• P. 55 # 2, 3, 4, 7