Read the Overview and launch this ecolosystem simulator. Familiarize yourself with the simulator interface. Notice that you can control which species are present in your environment initially and what the diets of each species are. The types of species possible in the program are Plants (A,B,C), Herbivores (A,B,C), Omnivores (A,B) and one top Predator. You can control the diet of each by indicating what they feed on. By setting up different starting configurations you can investigate the evolution of this simulated ecological system.

A. In a couple of sentences describe what happens when you start with only two (A&B) and then all three plant species present.

When only A & B plant species are there and we run the stimulator, the population of Plant a increases and becomes maximum and that of plant B decreases to 0. As the time passes by, species of A decreases and that of B increases such that in long run we have equal distribution of Species A & B.

When we run the simulator with all the three plant species, The consequence of Plant A & B is same but there is no plant of type C.

In this case there are only producers. They harness the sun energy and grow. The favourable ones boom and the others are overshadowed in the process.

B. Describe how many herbivores and omnivores you added (and what they eat) in order to create an ecosystem in which all three plant species can coexist. (if you cannot accomplish the survival of Plant C describe your best configuration. Describe your ecologies by identifying the species present and their diet, for instance:

Omnivore A eats Herbivore A, Herbivore A eats plant A and plant B, Herbivore B eats plant A, All plants present.

All the three varieties of plant A, B & C co-exists when we add Herbivore A, B, & C

Herbivore A eats Plant A & C, Herbivore B eats Plant A & B and Herbivore C Eats Plant B & C.

Omnivore A eats Herbivore A & B and Omnivore B eats Herbivore B & C

Top Predator eats both Omnivore A & B. In this ecosystem all the varieties have a co-existence.

C. If you can accomplish part B, see if you can get all of the species to coexist. (limit your time on this entire experiment to 90 minutes)

D. If we assume that this simulation is a reasonable oversimplification of a typical ecosystems food web what does it tell us about biodiversity and ecology- are they robust or fragile? In general is an ecosystem’s biodiversity preserved as it responds to change?

Virtual Lab 6: Evolution: Sex and the Single Guppy

This simulation follows a set of real life experiments in evolution and natural selection. Familiarize yourself with the interface, guppies, guppy predators, and the experiment. Use an “even mix” of the different guppy color types to start. Run three experiments one with each of the combination of predators. Each experiment should run for five or more generations. Type your solutions in bold face text.

•   State the percentage that each color type makes up in your guppy population both before and after you have let five generations pass. With each experiment state a conclusion that is consistent with your observation.

1. Rivulus only

131 guppies

2. Rivulus and Acara

3. Rivulus, Acara and Cichlids.

•   What two selection pressures are operative?

Virtual Lab 7: Anatomy and Dissections

A. Dissections

1. Earthworm

A. Identify items 1 & 2 on the external dorsal (back side) surface of the worm.

B. Identify items 3, 4, & 5 on the external ventral (belly side) of surface of the worm.

C. Identify item 2 in the image of the worm’s internal morphology w/o the digestive tract.

D. Describe sexual reproduction in worms.

2. Fetal Pig

A. Use the Anatomical References guide. To what region of the body does dorsal, ventral, anterior, and posterior refer to?

B. Investigate the Nervous system. The pig is similar to the human in many ways.

Name four large regions (lobes) of the brain and indicate where they are located and what functions they have in humans.

B. Comparative Hominid Anatomy

•   Compare the the skull casts of a chimp, Australopithicus, Homo erectus, neanderthal, and modern Homo sapiens. Be sure to use the lateral view.

•   Describe features that are common and different between the cranial structure of these creatures. What patterns do you see? •   Describe the basic timeline and sequence of evolution for the creatures listed above. Be explicit.

Virtual Lab 8: Human Impact

A. Water footprints

•   Describe the water crisis. How is it impacting women and children globally? What is happening with the Ogalala (be specific)?

Water crisis refers to lack of access to safe water sources. Inadequate drinking water supply is among the world’s major causes of preventable morbidity and mortality.

Water related health burdens are borne by women and children who may forego schooling and childhood in order to transport water from distant sources. Women and children are also often responsible for the gathering of fuel wood both for cooking and for boiling the polluted water.

The High Plains stretch northward from West Texas to Wyoming and South Dakota, and in natural conditions form a dry grassland. There is less than 16 inches of rain a year near the Rockies and in West Texas, but that increases eastward to 28 inches in central Kansas. The rainfall varies a great deal from year to year, however. The steady gradient of increasing rain to the eastward, but varying yearly rainfall, means that the optimal western limit for growing crops such as corn, rather than grazing cattle, shifts each year. This problem is made worse because there is hardly any water surplus: evaporation levels are very close to precipitation levels. Apart from the constraints on farming, this fact means that there is little recharge of ground water from precipitation: ground water percolates only very slowly eastward in underground aquifers from the areas where Rocky Mountain snowmelt recharges them.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) began intensive research on the Ogallala in 1978. It found that the Ogallala had discharged perhaps 3 maf/yr into springs and rivers before development: this, then, would be a sustainable yield from the aquifer as it used to be, compared with the 1980 pumping rate of 18 maf/yr.

•   Describe what the water footprint is and how it is estimated.

The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Water use is measured in water volume consumed (evaporated) and/or polluted per unit of time.

A water footprint can be calculated for any well-defined group of consumers (e.g., an individual, family, village, city, province, state or nation) or producers (e.g., a public organization, private enterprise or economic sector). The water footprint is a geographically explicit indicator, not only showing volumes of water use and pollution, but also the locations. However, the water footprint does not provide information on how the embedded water negatively or positively affects local water resources, ecosystems and livelihoods.

•   Report the two or more estimates of your water footprint (and the calculator(s) that you used).

Virtual Lab 8: Human Impact

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

Ecosystem simulator

Introduction

This ecosystem simulator will help you create alien worlds. To do this, you’ll need to choose a planet and the weather and environment. You can then add plants and animals that can survive there, as well as some disasters that might destroy your species. Next, observe what happens! If everything goes well for your planet’s ecosystem (or doesn’t), write down your results in an explanatory paragraph for us!

How it works

The Science Behind the Simulator

The ecosystem simulator is based on a real-world model of ecosystems, which contains all of the necessary ingredients to create a simulation. The model describes how different types of plants and animals interact with each other in their environment and how these interactions affect their growth, survival and reproduction. It also includes an interactive tool where you can add your own species into the system as well as modify existing ones through natural selection pressures (i.e., how hard it is for one species to compete against another).

Once you’ve created your own simulation, there are multiple ways you can play around with it:

• Selecting different scenarios from within the menu below will give you varying results based on what kind of disaster was selected (i.e., drought versus flood) along with its severity level; this allows users access control over what type  of crises they want included in their simulations!

• You can also view different types directly off screen by clicking on them directly without having any idea what type it might be until after viewing some visuals first hand.”

Choose a planet.

To start, you’ll need to choose a planet. The first thing you should do is make sure it has the right temperature and weather conditions for your ecosystem to thrive in. For example, Earth’s climate is too warm for many types of plants and animals to survive here; however, Venus’ atmosphere is so thick with carbon dioxide that it would be very difficult for anything living there (or even dead) to decompose properly.

You also want to consider how much water each planet has available for life forms like humans—and if there’s any danger from an uneven distribution of this resource like on Mars where some areas get more rainfall than others because they’re closer together at higher altitudes where raindrops fall before reaching lower elevations below ground level where water accumulates underground rather than falling onto dry ground near where people live instead.”

Choose the weather and environment.

• Climate: Choose the climate for your ecosystem.

• Environment: Choose your environment and its characteristics, such as temperature and humidity levels.

• Water cycle: This affects how plants grow, how animals eat and excrete waste, how microbes metabolize nutrients within soils or water bodies (such as lakes or oceans), which in turn affects their own ability to survive or thrive in an ecosystem’s climate conditions.

• Weather patterns: Weather patterns determine whether plants will get enough sunlight during certain times of day when they need it most—for example, during springtime when there are more hours of daylight than in wintertime when dark falls early each evening!

Choose plants and animals that can survive there.

The first step is to choose plants and animals that can survive in the environment. There are many options for both types of organisms, but keep in mind that some species may not be native to your specific ecosystem. This means they could be invasive or poisonous to other animals and plants, or they may not have adapted well enough to their new environment.

For example: a lily pad is an excellent choice because it grows quickly without much care from its owner (you). It has also survived many years without being eaten by any predators thanks to its camouflage coloration and stalks which resemble trees more than lily pads do! If you don’t want an expensive plant around for long term use then consider using something like cactus instead which takes less maintenance but still looks nice when planted outdoors too…

Add some disaster to spice things up.

If you want to add some disaster to the simulation, then go ahead! You can choose what kind of disaster it is and how often it happens. You can also make it more severe by choosing a higher level of damage (for example, if your city has been hit by a tornado or earthquake).

Observe!

To begin observing an ecosystem, you’ll need to equip your binoculars and get out of the house.

First, be sure that you can find the area where the ecosystem lives. You may want to go on a hike or take a drive around town until you find it. If possible, go during daylight hours so that there are fewer distractions and more light available for observation purposes.

If possible, try not to disturb anything while looking at these ecosystems—leave everything as natural as possible (including wildlife), so that this will help them thrive!

Test the simulation.

After you have completed the simulation, it’s time to test it. You can add more plants and animals, change the weather and environment, or even change the planet itself! This will help you become familiar with how these factors affect your ecosystem as a whole. You’ll be able to see what happens when disasters strike, so that when they actually happen in reality (or maybe they won’t) you’ll know exactly what needs doing to fix things up again.

This ecosystem simulator will help you create alien worlds.

This is a tool that will help you create alien worlds. You can choose the planet, weather and environment of your new ecosystem. Then, you can add plants and animals that are native to this planet. After that, it’s time for disaster! You can add some catastrophe in order to spice things up a bit. Finally, observe how your new ecosystem evolves over time by observing its population numbers and biomass levels.