Updated May 2006
Some LESSON PLANS here
SCHEME OF WORK (Updated Jan 2006)
Ecosystems are often left until the last part of the course, as there is an overlap with Biology here. Of course Geographers have a different slant on the subject than pure Ecology, but some concepts are important for both subjects. Biogeography is the key focus of these pages.
This year, my Year 13 students had the chance to choose the 2nd topic to be taught in their A2 year, and they went for Ecosystems over Meteorology, which is a first for me. I shall be developing these pages over the next few months.
Productivity is a key concept. Case studies of both HIGH and LOW productivity have to be studied. I start by looking at ecosystems in general.
A useful text is Greg O' Hare's 'Soils, Vegetation and Ecosystems', which we use in the department. The books of Chris Park are also useful in this area, as are various other textbooks which I have bought over the years. Remember that when starting to teach a new topic it is important to do a major trawl of resources. Hopefully this page will save a lot of you a lot of time.
Whatever your Biome of choice here's a great GUIDE TO THE WORLD'S BIOMES. From here you can link to all the others. As far as the syllabus goes, we have to study one example of each of the following:
HIGH PRODUCTIVITY is best studied using the TROPICAL RAINFORESTS, click to go to the Rainforests pages.
Or if you prefer, try the Savannah GRASSLANDS. (this is one of a series by Berkeley, and is a good clear summary) - they cover most of the main biomes.
For LOW PRODUCTIVITY I use the example of HEATHLANDS. A page of links is HERE.
Some useful materials at the IUPUI Department of Biology. A good quote on the site from G. Tyler Miller, an American chemist:
"Three hundred trout are needed to support one man for a year. The trout, in turn, must consume 90,000 frogs, that must consume 27 million grasshoppers that live off 1000 tons of grass." What does this quote tell us about the transfer of energy through an ecosystem ? Where is energy lost ? How 'realistic' is this pyramid or sequence of events ?
A useful map of the World biomes HERE. It features the main world biomes with links to other material. Don't forget to use the IMAGE SEARCHES for more ideas.
BIOLOGY / BIOGEOGRAPHY RELATED LINKS
This is a whole other area of WEB related endeavour - as with Geography there are a whole load of talented teachers and other individuals who have been busy putting together collections of links and resources for Biology teachers. Some of these sites are useful for Geographers too, and a selection of these are now listed below.
Start off with MARK ROTHERY's collection of stuff. This has to be a rather essential visit as it has a great list of LINKS to other places and of course I am biased towards sites put together by practising teachers..
Are you BIOLOGY MAD ? If so, this looks to be a great site. One of the most useful sections from my point of view is a long list of classified links, all with brief descriptions so that you can see what is worth visiting or not. They also have a good selection of notes for each of the AS and A2 topics.
BIO SCHOOL is useful if you want some images, perhaps to flesh out some POWERPOINT presentations.
Fancy dissecting a frog but can't lay your hands on one....why not go to the virtual dissection at FROG GUTS.
Head over to the BIOLOGY ZONE for more stuff
If you have access to an Interactive whiteboard, there's a whole range of stuff in the library so get on to it...
BIONET ONLINE has a range of stuff
SPOLEM - a strange name, but a great site - lots of material hidden in there - try to explore it...
BIOLOGY 4 ALL... even you!
Visit the S-COOL REVISION SITE where you can see lots of useful animations on the topic of ECOSYSTEMS. This is a great site for basic information.
Soils. I spent a lot of the final year of my degree doing soil science: digging soil pits, testing Atterberg limits and aggregate stability, pondering the sedimentation of Pennine reservoirs, and using the old Casagrande apparatus. Dug a lot of soil pits up on Saddleworth, and cooked a lot of it to determine organic content. A year well spent all in all... Soil is obviously vital to existence, and reflects the climate and the nature of the parent material as well as a host of other factors.
For more go to my SOILS PAGE. This relates more directly to the syllabus, and has links to SOIL EROSION page.
Try this interactive adventure: DIGGING THE DIRT on SOIL. It's designed for younger kids, but it's kind of fun.
Also a new NASA site with the tagline SOIL ROCKS!
One of the main issues with soil is SOIL EROSION. Soil is removed by 2 main methods: WATER or WIND (or a combination of the two together...)
Recently (November 2005) received a rather nice poster which has been produced by the NRSI (National Soil Research Institute), the BSSS (British Society of Soil Science) and the Environment Agency. It provided a range of information about the tremendous VALUE of soil, and also introduced the website: SOIL NET DOT COM, which is a new resource funded by Defra. It is dedicated to what it calls the HIDDEN RESOURCE. Very nice resource which I shall find a space for soon.
For rainforests try the UNEP home page.
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK. Also links to lots of rainforest images.
An excellent report on FOREST DECLINE. This is great stuff which you wouldn't get access to if it wasn't for the wonder of the web. It is perhaps a little more than you would need for A2 but more is better than less.
There was an excellent review of Colin Tudge's THE SECRET LIFE OF TREES in 'The Independent' in December 2005. From this I extracted the following:
"Trees are the tallest, oldest and in many ways most efficient of all living things."
"They are the planet's biochemical engines, drawing water and minerals from the soil"
"...converting harmful carbon dioxide into live-giving oxygen"
"We turn them into commodities"
"We tend to see them in economic terms as sources of timber, or part of the scenery"
The important material in trees is LIGNIN: the simple chemical that allows trees to grow to the height they do
Trees have a memory. They can analyse problems e.g. wind from a particular direction, and come up with a solution
An oak tree knows winter is coming by measuring day length
Looks like a book worth checking out!
Grass is a very common plant. It has particular adaptations which have allowed it to survive: in particular it can be cropped and grow back, as it doesn't grow from the tip but from the base, and will be uprooted if something pulls up too hard.
It can also cope with fire well..
Large areas of grassland are known as STEPPES or PAMPAS or SAVANNAH (or various other names...)
This is an area where there are limited online resources. Let me know if you find anything particularly useful.
1. Introduction to Ecosystems TERMINOLOGY.
Check out BIOLOGYMAD notes.
2. NPP: Net Primary Productivity
Do some research into the various levels of productivity of different ecosystems (or biomes..) What factors affect productivity in an ecosystem ?
Make sure you are familiar with the concepts of STRESS and COMPETITION.
3. Decline in Tropical Rainforests.
Map available from this website. What factors have led to the decline of the rainforests.
For more on this area, head over to the BIOME page for more details..
4. Soil Erosion (notes + revision links)
5. FINAL A2 RESEARCH CASE STUDY TASK for February 2006
Feel free to get started on some of this research in advance of the time when you will ACTUALLY be doing it.
6. PAST QUESTION
When I was absent earlier this year to attend the National Teacher Research Conference, I left my group to answer the following question:
a) Describe the difference between climatic climax and plagio-climax vegetation, giving examples of each (5 marks)
Define terms: need to mention Succession or Sere, and explain that the climatic climax is the final stage
Mention the term EQUILIBRIUM
Give examples e.g. UK has deciduous woodland as its climatic climax
Ecosystems are managed by humans
This can result in the interruption of the succession: arrested succession
e.g. Heather moorlands in Peak District, Lake District, Scottish Highlands - managed for grouse shooting / muirburn
Heathlands e.g. Brecklands in Norfolk
Moorland - N. Yorks Moors - 'Heartbeat' country
Need to explain that the vegetation type / communities that develop are different in each case
b) Outline the means by which energy is transferred through an ecosystem (20 marks)
Need a diagram to show the energy flow: from the input as INSOLATION to the output as HEAT. This is related to the climate, which therefore affects both the climatic climax vegetation and also the PRODUCTIVITY (NPP) of the resulting ecosystem.
Define an ECOSYSTEM
Also need to show TROPHIC LEVELS - perhaps a drawing of the trophic pyramid.
Refer to how energy is transferred along the FOOD CHAIN - need to have a named example which is located within a particular ecosystem.
Refer to PRODUCERS / AUTOTROPHS (plants) - energy is transferred by CONSUMPTION. RESPIRATION leads to energy loss through heat. Eventually there are the DECOMPOSERS waiting.
Although not a major issue in this question, one would need to mention NUTRIENT CYCLING.
Basically need to mention 3 particular times when energy is transferred:
a) when an animal respires
b) when food is consumed
c) when something dies
Try to place the answer on one of 5 LEVELS which will then provide the mark....
7. Managing Ecosystems: a SYNOPTIC checklist ready for the A2 exam.
8. Visit the YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK site for details on the management of an area for tourism. It's also worth searching the links and other sites to use the example of the 1988 wildfires. These raged for weeks in 1988 and they offer a useful case study of plant succession as the areas have since started to recover, and be re-colonised by plants.
9. For an alternative to the usual, why not visit PHILIP STOTT's site and blog. They offer an alternative to the usual views on green thinking. Try ECOTROP and the GREENSPIN blog. There are an increasing number of enviro-sceptic websites and resources out there. I even appear on a few of them in the USA.
10. ECOSYSTEM GLOSSARY
There are plenty of key terms which you need to know about. These are vital if you are to be able to understand the questions, and convince the examiner in an essay that you know what you are writing about. There is plenty of opportunity to do GLOSSARY tests / crosswords / puzzles / drag and drops and lots of such things these days.
11. 'AS GURU' SITE
Biology is one of the subjects which is covered at the BBC's AS GURU site. As you'd expect, it features notes, images etc., and some of these are rather useful. Try a range of places to seek them out. Geography is not included, but with BIOLOGY this is OK.
12. ECOSYSTEMS ANIMATIONS NOW AVAILABLE
The Mothersoles at WYCOMBE HIGH SCHOOL have now added some tremendous animations from various sources to their site. Check out the Geography site for these animations. Just been looking at them as part of my lesson planning (yes, I do plan them sometimes...) There are also some rather nice ones on S COOL.
13. MONTAGE A GOOGLE STARTER
This was produced by Val Vannet. The site below produces collages / montages of images on a theme based on Google searches.
http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google
Put any term you want into the search box, and it will load 20 small images, and then make a collage from them.
14. LITHOSERE
A lithosere is a succession which develops on rock or a new surface. Could develop after volcanic activity, or following re-emergence of new land following a drop in sea level relative to the land. It requires a 'new' land surface which then moves through a series of stages to a climax (unless of course it is interrupted by something...)
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aa/landt/lt/lithosere/intro.htm - a virtual fieldtrip on a lithosere
An excellent example is SURTSEY. This volcanic island was formed by volcanic eruptions off the coast of Iceland: the Westman Islands in November 1963
http://www.surtsey.is/pp_ens/biola_2.htm - rather good site which follows through the process
http://www.vulkaner.no/n/surtsey/esurtmenu.html - has plenty of detail for a case study development
Another example used in textbooks is the Isle of Arran, which has experienced recession as the island has risen due to isostatic readjustment.
15. HYDROSERE
A useful section towards the end of the 'Natural History of the British Isles' - the final programme in the series looks at the Norfolk Broads, and how people keep the ecosystem at a state of plagio-climax.
16. Check out my BIOMES page, which has more links and stuff suitable for a study of the TROPICAL RAINFORESTS in particular.
17. INSOLATION: this is the source of energy for all ecosystems.
Need to be clear about HOW the energy is then transferred through the ecosystem.
You need to have a case study of either TEMPERATE or TROPICAL grasslands.
Click the link above for some details on TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS
19. FACTORS AFFECTING SUCCESSIONS
Make sure that you have a range of different successions which you can describe.
Try this Welsh NGFL activity: http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/eco_succession/eng/Introduction/default.htm
Remember the mono-climax theory, which says that climate is the dominant, as opposed to those who suggest that there are multiples of factors.
20. SOILS PAGE
For all you budding pedologists... Updated and full of new stuff, including links to FLASH animations...
21. ECO TOURISM in Rainforest Areas (also useful for A2 SYNOPTIC PAPER)
Related to an article in the 'Daily Mail' by David Atkinson
MADIDI NATIONAL PARK, BOLIVIA
This is one of 22 national parks in Bolivia, making up 16% of the country.
Madidi national park has an area of 4.75 million acres
Madidi national park has 11% of world's species of flora and fauna, including 10 000 tree species
Community run eco-lodge: Albergue Ecologico Chalalan.
Attracts 1000 people locally - funding goes to health and education services
Project started in 1995, with £800 000 funding from Inter American Development Bank and Conservation International.
There are jobs for locals as guides: local tour operators charge £10 for a jungle experience - local Quechua-Tacana community - supports 74 families
Chalalan is a little more expensive than other lodges - series of cabins - local stone built bathrooms, solar energy shower, mosquito nets. Communal meals made with local ingredients, Bolivian red wine from Tarija region.
Series of marked trails of different levels of difficulty. Chance to see jungle ecosystem.
Area has been affected by illegal logging, but the area is recovering
Money was raised following the discovery of a new species of monkey - the name of the monkey was auctioned off via a website charityfolks.com and this raised around £350 000.
The same article suggested 2 useful weblinks for visiting to develop ECOTOURISM case studies...
KAPAWI ECOLODGE in Ecuador on the Pastaza river
POSADA AMAZONAS in Peru
Also regions of KALIMANTAN.
USEFUL TEXTBOOKS
"Ecosystems" - Gordon Dickinson and Kevin Murphy (Routledge, 1998)
"Temperate Grasslands - Characteristics and Development" - D.C. Money (Evans Brothers, 1982)
(yes I know it's old, but grass is the same now as it was in 1982... a bit longer perhaps....)
"Ecosystems and Human Activity" - Justin Woodfield (Collins, 2000)