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Biology Partnership (A Teacher Quality Grant). PBL Lab sampling & Techniques Nancy Dow Jill Hansen Tammy Stundon Summer 2013. Pre-test Q and A board. How do I sample living organisms?. What is the impact of human on the environment?.
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Biology Partnership (A Teacher Quality Grant) PBL Lab sampling & Techniques Nancy Dow Jill Hansen Tammy Stundon Summer 2013
Pre-test Q and A board How do I sample living organisms? What is the impact of human on the environment?
Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards SC.912.L.17.8* Recognize the consequences of the losses of biodiversity due to catastrophic events, climate changes, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species. (HIGH) SC.912.L.17.13* Discuss the need for adequate monitoring of environmental parameters when making policy decisions. (HIGH) SC.912.L.17.20* Predict the impact of individuals on environmental systems and examine how human lifestyles affect sustainability. (HIGH) SC.912.L.17.2*Explain the general distribution of life in aquatic systems as a function of chemistry, geography, light, depth, salinity, and temperature. (HIGH)
Food chain- follows the connection between one producer and a single chain of consumers within an ecosystem. Links organisms by their feeding relationships Food web- emphasizes complicated feeding relationships and energy flow in an ecosystem.
Aquatic Ecosystems • Aquatic ecosystems are defined by their salinity, chemistry, geography, depth, flow, light conditions, and water temperature. • The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems • Each ecosystem has its own properties and organisms.
Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands Are Highly Productive • Important ecological and economic services • Coastal aquatic systems maintain water quality by filtering • Toxic pollutants • Excess plant nutrients • Sediments • Absorb other pollutants • Provide food, timber, fuel wood, and habitats • Reduce storm damage and coast erosion
Coastal Zone • The coastal zone makes up less than 10% of the world’s ocean but contains 90% of all marine species. • Warm, nutrient rich, shallow water • Extends from high tide mark to edge of the continental shelf • High productivity because of ample sunlight and plant nutrients flowing from the land
Coastal Ecosystems • Estuaries-where the river meets the sea. • Temperature and salinity levels vary greatly • daily rhythms of the tides • seasonal variations in the flow of freshwater • Coastalwetlands lands covered with water all or part of the year • River mouths, inlets, bays, sounds, mangroves and saltwater marshes • Mangrove Swampstrees that can tolerate salt • Extensive roots that stabilize the substrate • Provides a nursery grounds for many invertebrates and fish
What are you talking about? Communication! Observation skills
Biodiversity • What is Biodiversity? • The variety of life • the number, or abundance of different species living within a particular region.
Why is Biodiversity important? • Everything that lives in an ecosystem is part of the web of life, including humans. Each species of vegetation and each creature has a place on the earth and plays a vital role in the circle of life. Plant, animal, and insect species interact and depend upon one another for what each offers, such as food, shelter, oxygen, and soil enrichment.
Maintaining a wide diversity of species in each ecosystem is necessary to preserve the web of life that sustains all living things. • "It is reckless to suppose that biodiversity can be diminished indefinitely without threatening humanity itself." • Famed Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson "father of biodiversity"
Ecosystem Nature Walk "Man, however much he may like to pretend, is part of nature." -- Rachel Carson, Silent Spring Appreciation Through Experience
Data Collection & Sampling Techniques • In research, statisticians use data in many different ways. • Data can be used to describe situations. • Data can be collected in a variety of ways, BUT if the sample data is not collected in an appropriate way, the data may be so completely useless that no amount of statistical torturing can salvage them.
Basic Methods of Sampling 1. Systematic Sampling • Select a random starting point and then select every kth subject in the population • Simple to use so it is used often
Basic Methods of Sampling 2. Convenience Sampling • Use subjects that are easily accessible • Examples: • Using family members or students in a classroom • Mall shoppers • Common survey type science fair projects
Basic Methods of Sampling 3. Stratified Sampling • Divide the population into at least two different groups with common characteristic(s), then draw SOME subjects from each group (group is called strata or stratum) • Results in a more representative sample
Basic Methods of Sampling 4. Cluster Sampling • Divide the population into groups (called clusters), randomly select some of the groups, and then collect data from ALL members of the selected groups • Used extensively by government and private research organizations • Examples: • Exit Polls
Basic Methods of Sampling 5. Random Sampling (Transect or Quadrat Sampling in the field) • Selected by using chance or at random • Each individual subject (human or otherwise) has an equal chance of being selected Transects!
Types of Experiments • Observational Studies • The researcher merely observes what is happening or what has happened in the past and tries to draw conclusions based on these observations • No interaction with subjects, usually • No modifications on subjects • Occur in natural settings, usually • Can be expensive and time consuming • Example: • Surveys---telephone, mailed questionnaire, personal interview
Types of Experiments • Experimental Studies • The researcher manipulates one of the variables and tries to determine how the manipulation influences other variables • Interaction with subject occurs, usually • Modifications on subject occurs • May occur in unnatural settings (labs or classrooms) • Example: • Clinical trials of new medications ,treatments, etc.
Uses of Statistics • Describe data • Compare two or more data sets • Determine if a relationship exists between variables • Test hypothesis (educated statement) • Make estimates about population characteristics • Predict past or future behavior of data • Watch for misuse of statistics
Misuses of Statistics Analyze the two graphs….
Misuses of Statistics • Survey Questions Loaded Questions---unintentional wording to elicit a desired response • Order of Questions • Nonresponse (Refusal)—subject refuses to answer questions • Self-Interest ---Sponsor of the survey could enjoy monetary gains from the results
What is pollution? • Pollution is the introduction of a contaminant into the environment. • It is created mostly by human actions, but can also be a result of natural disasters. • Pollution has a detrimental effect on any living organism in an environment, making it virtually impossible to sustain life.
What are the different types of pollution? • The three main types of pollution are: • Land • Air • Water
“Who Dirtied the Water?” Chorus: • Would you want to swim in this bay? • Would you eat fish caught in this water? • Would you like to go boating on this bay?
Sustainability • The key concept for our future: • Limiting human impact on the natural world so that our civilization can continue to exist • Using resources without destroying or depleting them, while providing for a human need
Conservation and Sustainable Practices • Refuse • Don’t Use • Reduce • Don’t waste • Reuse • Using a resource over and over in the same form • Recycle • Collecting and reprocessing a resource into new products
Sources of Water Pollution • Surface vs Groundwater • Surface water is the water we see in streams, rivers, wetlands, and lakes across the country. Every square mile of ground drains into one of these bodies of water. The area drained is known as a watershed. As smaller creeks and rivers feed into larger ones, the size of the watershed increases. • This feeds into the groundwater (stored in aquifers).
Sources of Water Pollution • Point Source Pollution • Comes from a single source • Factories, sewage treatment plants, etc • Nonpoint Source Pollution • Comes from a wide variety of sources • Surface water runoff (oil, fertilizers, lawn chemicals)
Oil Spills • Oil Spills • Accidental spills only account for about 1/3 of oil pollution resulting from shipping. • 60% comes from routine shipping operations
How Pollutants move through the ecosystem • There are two basic terms we are discussing here. • Bioaccumulation refers to how pollutants enter a food chain; : increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism in a food chain • Biomagnification refers to the tendency of pollutants to concentrate as they move from one trophic level to the next.
We are concerned about these phenomena because together they mean that even small concentrations of chemicals in the environment can find their way into organisms in high enough dosages to cause problems. In order for biomagnification to occur, the pollutant must be: • long-lived • mobile • soluble in fats • biologically active
Dissolved Oxygen • Oxygen is measured in its dissolved form as dissolved oxygen (DO). If more oxygen is consumed than is produced, dissolved oxygen levels decline and some sensitive animals may move away, weaken, or die. • Important measure of water quality
Dissolved Oxygen • Critical for the sustainability of an ecosystem • Insufficient oxygen (hypoxia) can be caused by the decomposition of organic matter and/or nutrient pollution
Formal Lab Report • Title Page • Purpose • Introduction • Material • Methods • Data/Results • Analysis • Conclusion • Further Studies
Food for Thought How to understand large values! Human Population Video
Tragedy of the Commons • The tragedy of the commons is the depletion of a shared resource by individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, despite their understanding that depleting the common resource is contrary to the group's long-term best interests. Hardin’s Example
Resources • Fostering outdoor observation skills by U.S. Fish & Wildlife • QUADRAT & TRANSECT ACTIVITIES
Follow up • Q & A • Post Test
Our notes • Tammy – test – done and questions are in the notes on the ppt. With SEVERAL as general themes or as content for the PBL, we really need to make conscience efforts to talk about the content of the questions throughout the week. Almost review the questions each day and focus on one or two each of us will throw in some how. • Lorax – quick video as an intro????