What We Did
For this project we were given a task to implement a policy change to a certain are of Marin County. Then create predictions of that site for 50, 100, 300 and 1000 years to the site. We would also study the food web and different factors of the area and see how we can help both humans and all kinds of animals. So my group, Jeffrey Sutter, Ashley Smith, Brigid O'Brien, and I chose Little Mountain in O'Hair park. O'Hair park is next to the horse stables across the street from San Marin. So once we picked our spot we wanted to implement changes that would require hours for high schoolers but not be super drastic. We came up with inserting 3 weather resistant picnic tables and bathrooms, one female and one male. And lastly re-direct water from a nearby lake. So for our tables we would put three to allow hiker to stop and enjoy maybe a quick lunch or maybe just rest. They will be built out of weather resistant wood and won't need maintenance. Our bathrooms will hopefully promote more human activity and allow hikers to not have to leave there hike to use the restroom. And our water will allow water to flow through a once running creek which may hopefully increase the carrying capacity or organisms in the area.
Our Project
Concepts
Here is a list of what we learned
Biotic- living organism
Abiotic- non-living organism
Biology- the study of the living world
Ecology- study of the interactions between living things and their environments
Individual- a single living organism
Population- a group of homogeneous individual species that live in the same habitat
Community- populations of different species interacting with each other
Ecosystem- how the communities interact with their environment
Biome- group of ecosystem that have the same climate and similar dominant communities
Biosphere-where all of life exists in the world, earth
Food web- a bunch of mixed up food chains
Autotrophs- organisms that produce their own energy
Heterotroph- organisms that rely on others to get energy
Nutrient cycle- movements and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter
Carbon cycle- series of processes by which carbon compounds are inter-converted in the environment
Nitrogen cycle- series of process by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms
Water cycle- journey that water takes as it circulates from land to sky to land
Weather- day to day condition of the earths atmosphere
Climate- the average year after year conditions of temp and precipitation in a particular region
Primary succession- succession takes place on surface where no soil exists
Pioneer species- first species to appear in succession
Secondary succession- disturbance changes existing community without removing soil
Biotic- living organism
Abiotic- non-living organism
Biology- the study of the living world
Ecology- study of the interactions between living things and their environments
Individual- a single living organism
Population- a group of homogeneous individual species that live in the same habitat
Community- populations of different species interacting with each other
Ecosystem- how the communities interact with their environment
Biome- group of ecosystem that have the same climate and similar dominant communities
Biosphere-where all of life exists in the world, earth
Food web- a bunch of mixed up food chains
Autotrophs- organisms that produce their own energy
Heterotroph- organisms that rely on others to get energy
Nutrient cycle- movements and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter
Carbon cycle- series of processes by which carbon compounds are inter-converted in the environment
Nitrogen cycle- series of process by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms
Water cycle- journey that water takes as it circulates from land to sky to land
Weather- day to day condition of the earths atmosphere
Climate- the average year after year conditions of temp and precipitation in a particular region
Primary succession- succession takes place on surface where no soil exists
Pioneer species- first species to appear in succession
Secondary succession- disturbance changes existing community without removing soil
Reflection
I think this project went pretty well. But I think I could have improved my work ethic with my group. I got off task a lot when I could have contributed more. But over all I think we did a pretty good job. When we first started our teacher, Mrs. M. Told us that we had to make a time log and it made it so much easier cause I made our group ensure we finished our task before the end of class. And we were so time efficient that we had time at the end to go over our project and fix our mistakes and make the project the best to our ability. I also really liked how for the first project we weren't just getting to know each other so we didn't have to waste time "breaking the ice" and getting to know each other we were able to get right to work. I really enjoyed this project and would rate it a 9/10 (only cause i'm saving me 10/10, but don't get me wrong I loved this project)