vargas island, summer, 2010

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Very sad news

it is with great sadness that I learned that my colleague Ms. Radu passed away at a very young age. I can scarcely believe I would not see her in the Staff room smiling and eating lunch with us, telling us of her skiing and travels... Always cheerful.   My condolences to her family.

updated nutrient cycle notes

you may have already uploaded these:  An update is here.  on Wednesday you will hand in your project on the ecology of school grounds.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Group assignments due Wed

Today we went over the biome 2 notes and learned about ecological pyramids, and food webs.  I assigned the following homework due next period

go to the area of the school assigned to you:  five marks for items 1 through 3 below.  3 marks for item 4
1.  draw a pyramid and identify: 
a.  organisms you managed to directly observe
b.  traces or remnants or evidence of the presence of organisms:  such as pawprints, scats or excrement, fur, feathers, etc
c.  organisms which you have anecdotal or actual evidence of its presence in your area (a skunk, coyote, raccoon presence observed by others)

2.  Note the abiotic factors:  Light levels, nutrient levels, available water

3.  Using the organisms listed in item 1, make a food web diagram for your area.
4.  Make a pie graph listing the names and jobs of each member of your group as well as their contribution as a percentage.  Any assymmetry would be accounted for in the final mark.

Evaluation:  complete, accurate and well thought out assignments with no errors can receive a total mark of 18.  Incomplete or late assignments will be deducted marks.