It's A Monday Friday!

Agenda:
1) Take out Double Bubble Map and Stamp sheet
2) Star/Wish- Attendance
3) Discuss Succession with video clip
4) Begin Biome Chart

Today, our class focused mostly on succession. The first thing in class that we did was to answer a few questions on a food chain. There was four levels in this food chain. The first level was grass, the second was a cricket, the third was a rat, and the fourth was a owl.

1) Q: List the autotrophs.
A: Grass
2) Q: Which is the secondary source?
A: Cricket
3) Q: How many trophic levels are there?
A: 4
4) Q: How much energy is available to the owl if the grass has 8,000? Reminder: As you move up each level 90% of the energy is lost, so only 10% is pasted onto the next level.
A: 8

We then took out our Double Bubble Map and went over it. The Double Bubble Map contained the topics of Primary Succession and Secondary Succession, which are both ecological successions. After the Double Bubble Map, we looked at a picture that showed how a forest could change from the pioneer stage, to the intermediate stage, to the "climax community". The pioneer stage is when the land is bare rock, lichens begin soil formation, moses and annual plants, grasses and small perennial plants. The intermediate stage is a meadow that includes shrubs and cottonwoods and softwood pines. The "climax community" is dense forest (beech and maple). We then took notes on the Aquatic Succession.

Aquatic Succession:
1) A pond is not a "climax community"
2) Overtime a pond will fill in to become a marsh or meadow

We then watched a short clip on succession. From the video we learned that plants can grow in some cracks because lichens develop soil in the crack and then the wind and animals eat seeds and poop them out in the cracks. After that we took more notes, but this time they were on Biomes.

Biomes:
1) Terrestrial communities covering a large area
-similar soil, climate, plants, and animals
2) Temperature and precipitation determine the climate

We got the rest of class to work on our homework.

Definitions:
1) Primary Succession- Succession that occurs in an area in which no trace of a previous community is present

2) Secondary Succession- Type of succession that occurs in an are that was only partially destroyed by disturbance

3) Ecological Succession- Series of gradual changes that occur in a community following a disturbance

4) Pioneer Species- First species to populate an area during succession

5) Lichen- Symbiotic association between a fungus and a photosynthetic organism

6) Climatogram- A chart that shows temperature and percipitation in any given area

Homework:
1) Finish Biome Chart (UP 29-30)
2) GOLD sheet- Section 4.2- Don't forget that it is double sided!
3) 10 images of oil spill due Tuesday, you and your partner must have 10 separate pictures!

Our next scribe will be Steven.