he volleyball picnic at Farmer Melanie’s house is just about over, now. Before they left, the last few visitors were helping to take down the volleyball net and clean up after the picnic. The tablecloths were washed, dried, folded, and taken into the house. Farmer Melanie had used “real,” reusable plates and silverware rather than paper and plastic that would end up in the landfill. Thus, someone was helping to wash dishes. Several people volunteered to walk the property picking up trash that had accidentally been left there, but thankfully, they found that not much had been left behind. The chickens and the pig had a feast that night as they “recycled” all the left-over food scraps.
We humans are part of the world around us, the ecosystem in
which we live, and everything
we do will affect the world around us for the better or for the worse.
Will we, via the laws we enact and the food we purchase, encourage small
family farms where the farmers care about their land, or support agribusiness
that’s only interested in making as much profit as
possible?
Will we help to preserve woodland wildflowers or replace them with non-native
grass lawns that are high maintenance and through the gasoline, fertilizers,
insecticides, herbicides, etc., that they require, contribute to air and
water pollution?
These hens were hatched in the biology lab. We used a digital thermometer to
monitor the incubator temperature, not realizing it was calibrated 4° off.
That caused them to hatch with crippled right feet. In the “egg industry,”
they would be considered a waste of money, and would have been left to die.
These girls were several months old in this picture, and are now several
years old (and pampered). What is our responsibility with respect to the
health of our domestic animals — should we kill them for our convenience or
care for them (thereby, discovering how intelligent and loving they can
be)?
Knowing that most of the oxygen we need to breath is produced by trees, will
we work to save our natural areas or encourage the
bulldozers?
Sea Oats at dawn on the Gulf Coast. . . What can we do to help restore this
habitat?
The choices we make and the things we do can make a difference, but like
a game of volleyball, it’s a team effort.
Links to Related Information on Our Web Server
The following Web pages contain information related to
the influence of human activities on the ecology of the world around
us.
There will be one, combined assignment for the topics of Taxonomy, Evolution, Ecology, and Human Intervention. Thus, even though this will appear on each of those pages to remind you, you only need to do it once. You will need to go somewhere where there are lots of living organisms. Assuming you’re here in the Cincinnati area, you might go (with your family?) to the Cincinnati Zoo, Krohn Conservatory, the Newport Aquarium, one of the local parks, or someplace similar to that. If you’re not in the Cincinnati area, there are probably similar places to visit near wherever you are. However, if finances are tight and/or you’re short on time, your back yard would work, too! Then, you need to try to find organisms in as many taxonomic groups/categories as possible. You need to observe and take notes on each organism you find — you do not need to try to catch them or pick them up, but rather, observe their natural behavior — then go look up further information on each of those organisms. The grading criteria for this assignment are given below, and you should also refer to those as you work on the assignment. A total of 26 points is possible.
1. Taxonomy: | ||
---|---|---|
2 | — | Representatives of 4(+) kingdoms were included |
1 | — | Representatives of 2-3 kingdoms were included |
0 | — | Representatives of only 1 kingdom were included |
2 | — | Representatives of 4(+) plant divisions were included |
1 | — | Representatives of 2-3 plant divisions were included |
0 | — | Representatives of only 0-1 plant division were included |
2 | — | Representatives of 4(+) animal phyla were included |
1 | — | Representatives of 2-3 animal phyla were included |
0 | — | Representatives of only 0-1 animal phylum were included |
2 | — | Representatives of 4(+) arthropod classes were included |
1 | — | Representatives of 2-3 arthropod classes were included |
0 | — | Representatives of only 0-1 arthropod class were included |
2 | — | Representatives of 4(+) vertebrate classes were included |
1 | — | Representatives of 2-3 vertebrate classes were included |
0 | — | Representatives of only 0-1 vertebrate class were included |
2 | — | 11 or more total organisms were included |
1 | — | 6-10 total organisms were included |
0 | — | 5 or less total organisms were included |
2 | — | 5(+) scientific names were included |
1 | — | 2-4 scientific names were included |
0 | — | 0-1 scientific names were included |
2. Ecology: | ||
2 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ traits/characteristics were thorough and showed that the student was extremely observant |
1 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ traits/characteristics were adequate and showed that the student was fairly observant |
0 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ traits/characteristics were too sketchy and showed that the student wasn’t very observant |
2 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ habitat and environmental conditions were thorough and showed that the student was extremely observant |
1 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ habitat and environmental conditions were adequate and showed that the student was fairly observant |
0 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ habitat and environmental conditions were too sketchy and showed that the student wasn’t very observant |
2 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ interactions and behaviors were thorough and showed that the student was extremely observant |
1 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ interactions and behaviors were adequate and showed that the student was fairly observant |
0 | — | Descriptions of the organisms’ interactions and behaviors were too sketchy and showed that the student wasn’t very observant |
2 | — | Descriptions of the human impact on these organisms’ environments were thorough and showed that the student was extremely observant and thoughtful |
1 | — | Descriptions of the human impact on these organisms’ environments were adequate and showed that the student was fairly observant and thoughtful |
0 | — | Descriptions of the human impact on these organisms’ environments were too sketchy and showed that the student wasn’t very observant and/or gave little evidence of putting much thought into it |
3. Overall: | ||
2 | — | The student, obviously, went beyond the minimum requirements of the assignment |
1 | — | The student adequately completed the assignment |
0 | — | The student completed considerably less of the assignment than what was required |
2 | — | It is evident that the student used much insight, thoughtfulness, and critical thinking when completing this assignment |
1 | — | The student adequately thought about the assignment – there was, perhaps, a bit of “fuzzy thinking” in a couple places |
0 | — | The assignment gives the appearance of being “slapped together” just to get it done, with little evidence of thoughtfulness |
Total Possible: | ||
26 | — | total points |