3/20 Biology update and homework due 3/27

Hi folks,

Today we continued to discuss relationships between organisms and we did a lab that modeled the complex relationship between the populations of predator and prey species.

For homework this week:

Read pages 366 -369  and pages 399 - 404

Do questions 1 - 6 on page 369

Do questions 1 - 7 on page 404

Also do the following:

Predator-Prey lab conclusions

Use the data from the included screen shots (they were the most representative of "real world" data) to make a  2 different graphs like the example I've included in this email.  Each one of our trials represents one generation.

Answer the following questions. 

1. What type of relationship is presented by the graphed data. (Hint: it's the whole point of the lab.)

2. According to your graphs and the example, what eventually happens to the prey species when the predator species population increases? Why? 

3. According to your graphs and the example, what eventually happens to the predator species when the prey species population increases? Why? 

4. Describe at least three other limiting factors (other than the number of predators or prey) that can affect population sizes. What effect does each of these limiting factors have on the populations? 

5. Describe at least three behaviors that either predators or prey use to increase their chances of survival. Explain how these behaviors help the organism to survive. 

6. Take a look at all the graphs and describe the how relationship of the population size of predator and prey relates to one another.

7. Describe what would happen if either your predator or prey species died out before the end of the 20 trials. 

a. Construct a hypothesis of what would happen in a real ecosystem if this were to occur. 

8.  The data from class that I included in this email slightly shows the same type of pattern that the example graph does.  What would we have needed to do in class to try to get a graph like the example?