Albert Livingston - ADI Lab 11

LAB 11
Teacher Notes
Lab 11. Food Webs and Ecosystems: Which Member of

an Ecosystem Would Affect the Food Web the Most If
Removed?
Purpose
The purpose of this lab is for students to apply their understanding of ecosystems and
the eating relationships that occur within them. Specifically, students must consider the
removal of different species from an ecosystem by humans and which removals would
cause the most damage to the overall food web. This lab gives students an opportunity
to learn about the role of models in science and how they can be used to study different
systems of living things. Students will also explore the flow of energy and matter through
systems. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on how science is connected to the
society and culture in which it is practiced and how imagination and creativity are import-
ant to science.
The Content
An ecosystem includes all the living and nonliving pieces of a particular area of the planet.
The living parts of an ecosystem include the plants, insects, bacteria, mammals, birds, and
other living organisms present in an area. The nonliving pieces of an ecosystem include the
rocks, water sources, gases in the air, and constructed structures like buildings and roads.
All of the pieces of a specific ecosystem will connect and work together in different ways
so the living members can try to survive in that ecosystem. An important set of relation-
ships in an ecosystem involves eating to survive. How living things eat in an ecosystem is
important to understand because eating involves the transfer of energy.
Living things in an ecosystem must eat other living things in the ecosystem to get the
energy they need to survive. The only organisms that do not have to eat other organisms
for their energy are called producers. Producers are organisms that create their own food by
harvesting energy from other sources, such as the Sun. Plants are the most common type
of producers found in an ecosystem. Bacteria can also be considered producers, especially
if they use chlorophyll to harvest solar energy in a manner similar to plants. Another term
used to describe producers is autotrophs, which are organisms that produce the organic
molecules they need to survive using light or chemical energy. Producers in some ecosys-
tems, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities, use chemicals instead of light to
produce the energy and matter they need to survive.
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Food Webs and Ecosystems
Which Member of an Ecosystem Would Affect the Food Web the Most If Removed?
If an organism is not a producer in an ecosystem, then it is considered a consumer.

Consumers are organisms that have to eat other living things to get the energy they need
to survive. Some consumers will eat only the plants in an ecosystem, some consumers
will eat only other consumers, and still other consumers will eat both the plants and other
consumers. All consumers can also be referred to as heterotrophs, because they have to meet
their energy and matter requirements for living through sources other than themselves.
Different organisms have different energy needs, which will influence what food they
eat. In any ecosystem, there can be multiple producers and types of consumers. One way
that scientists try to understand these relationships in an
ecosystem is through designing food webs. A food web is a
diagram that models the feeding relationships in an ecosys- FIGURE 11.1
tem. It can also be considered the combination of all the Example of a food web diagram,
showing the eating relationships in
unique food chains present in an ecosystem. Food chains are an ecosystem
models that represent the sequential eating relationship
among a group of organisms present in an ecosystem. There
can be many food chains present in a single ecosystem. One
species of organism can be involved in multiple food chains.
Food webs help show all the individual food chains operat-
ing in an ecosystem and how they overlap.
Figure 11.1 provides an example of a food web. Notice
how each organism has some lines with arrows pointed
into it and other lines with arrows coming out of it. A line
with an arrow coming out of an organism indicates what
that organism eats; in contrast, a line with an arrow pointing
into an organism indicates that the organism is eaten by the
organism at the other end of the line. Each oval represents
the young and adult forms of an organism. Some animals
will only eat the young version (e.g., eggs or larvae) of
another organism. Also notice how one type of organism in the food web can be a food
source for several other organisms in the same ecosystem.
In a food web, consumers can be ordered based upon their relative position in their
respective food chains and the overall food web. Consumers that feed only on the pro-
ducers in the ecosystem are called primary consumers. Consumers that typically feed on
primary consumers are considered secondary consumers. Based on the complexity of the
food web (i.e., the number of different species in a specific ecosystem and their relevant
food chains), consumers can also be classified as tertiary or quaternary. At the “top” of
most food webs, there is a species that is considered the keystone predator. The keystone
predator is an organism that does not have any competition for prey and regulates the
population levels of the other larger predator species present in an ecosystem. Often when
Argument-Driven Inquiry in Life Science: Lab Investigations for Grades 6–8 183
LAB 11
a keystone predator is removed from an ecosystem, the balance is upset and competition
between top-level consumers can cause the ecosystem to fail.
The level of consumer that an organism is also influences how much energy it can access
in an ecosystem. The amount of energy available to an ecosystem is determined by the
number of producer species present. As energy transfers from one level of the food web to
another (or up one “link” in a specific food chain), only 10% of the total energy available
from the lower level becomes usable energy at the next higher level. This 10% energy
principle for ecosystems helps explain why some species are more prevalent in certain
ecosystems than others. Primary consumers have access to much more energy because
they eat the producers directly and, thus, can support higher population levels in that
ecosystem. On the other hand, high-level consumers, such as keystone predators, have
to eat a lot more to meet their energy needs because their main prey also have to eat a
lot more to meet their energy needs. The ability of a species to have several sources of
food for energy also influences how large a population of that species an ecosystem can
support. The ability of a species to use several food sources (and be involved in multiple
food chains) is an important concept that this investigation will help students explore.
By understanding the food web of a certain ecosystem, scientists can also understand
the impact human activity can have on that ecosystem. There are many situations in
which humans try to remove a certain type of organism from an ecosystem, often for
reasons involving public health or managing resources. Humans can add chemicals to
an ecosystem that can get rid of certain plants or insects from an ecosystem. They can
also hunt larger organisms that may be a higher-level organism in an ecosystem’s food
web. However, eliminating one type of organism from an ecosystem will have an impact
on other organisms in that system. The scenario used to frame this investigation in the
“Your Task” section of the Lab Handout reflects this tension and provides students with a
real-world connection to the guiding question.
Timeline
The instructional time needed to implement this lab investigation is 130–200 minutes.
Appendix 2 (p. 355) provides options for implementing this lab investigation over sev-
eral class periods. Option C (200 minutes) should be used if students are unfamiliar with
scientific writing, because this option provides extra instructional time for scaffolding the
writing process. You can scaffold the writing process by modeling, providing examples,
and providing hints as students write each section of the report. Option D (130 minutes)
should be used if students are familiar with scientific writing and have the skills needed to
write an investigation report on their own. In option D, students complete stage 6 (writing
the investigation report) and stage 8 (revising the investigation report) as homework.

Materials and Preparation

The materials needed to implement this investigation are listed in Table 11.1. The slides can
be found at www.nsta.org/publications/press/extras/adi-lifescience.aspx.
TABLE 11.1
Materials list
Item Quantity
Slides of marsh ecosystem organisms 1 per group
Investigation Proposal A (optional) 1 per group
Whiteboard, 2' × 3'* 1 per group
Lab Handout 1 per student
Peer-review guide 1 per student
Checkout Questions 1 per student

* As an alternative, students can use computer and presentation
software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote to create
their arguments.
Safety Precautions
Follow all normal lab safety rules.
Topics for the Explicit and Reflective Discussion
Concepts That Can Be Used to Justify the Evidence

To provide an adequate justification of their evidence, students must explain why they
included the evidence in their arguments and make the assumptions underlying their
analysis and interpretation of the data explicit. In this investigation, students can use the
following concepts to help justify their evidence:
• Food webs model the many feeding interactions that occur in an ecosystem.
• Producers and consumers have different roles in an ecosystem food web, based on
their relationships to other organisms.
• Although one food source may be removed from an ecosystem, many species have
multiple food sources, which can limit the change to the overall structure of the
food web.
We recommend that you review these concepts during the explicit and reflective discus-
sion to help students make this connection.
LAB 11
How to Design Better Investigations

It is important for students to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the investigation
they designed during the explicit and reflective discussion. Students should therefore be
encouraged to discuss ways to eliminate potential flaws, measurement errors, or sources
of bias in their investigations. To help students be more reflective about the design of their
investigation, you can ask the following questions:
• What were some of the strengths of your investigation? What made it scientific?
• What were some of the weaknesses of your investigation? What made it less scientific?
• If you were to do this investigation again, what would you do to address the
weaknesses in your investigation? What could you do to make it more scientific?
Crosscutting Concepts
This investigation is aligned with two crosscutting concepts found in A Framework for
K−12 Science Education, and you should review these concepts during the explicit and
reflective discussion.
• Systems and system models: It is critical for scientists to be able to define the system
under study (e.g., the components of an ecosystem) and then make a model of it to
understand it. Models can be physical, conceptual, or mathematical.
• Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation: In science it is important to track
how energy and matter move into, out of, and within systems.
The Nature of Science and the Nature of Scientific Inquiry

This investigation is aligned with two important concepts related to the nature of science
(NOS) and the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), and you should review these concepts
during the explicit and reflective discussion.
• The influence of society and culture on science: Science is influenced by the society
and culture in which it is practiced because science is a human endeavor.
Cultural values and expectations determine what scientists choose to investigate,
how investigations are conducted, how research findings are interpreted, and
what people see as implications. People also view some research as being more
important than others because of cultural values and current events.
• The importance of imagination and creativity in science: Students should learn that
developing explanations for or models of natural phenomena and then figuring
out how they can be put to the test of reality is as creative as writing poetry,
composing music, or designing skyscrapers. Scientists must also use their
imagination and creativity to figure out new ways to test ideas and collect or
analyze data.

Hints for Implementing the Lab

• Having paper copies of the organism slides can help students physically lay out
their food webs.
• Laptop computers can be used for each group to view the slides if paper copies are
not available.
• Help students focus on ways of quantifying the changes that occur in their
different food web scenarios, which can help give them another piece of evidence.
Topic Connections
Table 11.2 provides an overview of the scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, disciplinary
core ideas, and supporting ideas at the heart of this lab investigation. In addition, it lists NOS
and NOSI concepts for the explicit and reflective discussion. Finally, it lists literacy and math-
ematics skills (CCSS ELA and CCSS Mathematics) that are addressed during the investigation.
TABLE 11.2
Lab 11 alignment with standards
Scientific practices • Asking questions and defining problems

• Developing and using models
• Planning and carrying out investigations
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Constructing explanations
• Engaging in argument from evidence
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Crosscutting concepts • Systems and system models

• Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation
Core idea • LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics
Supporting ideas • Food web

• Producer
• Consumer
• Multiple sources of food
NOS and NOSI • Social and cultural influences

concepts • Imagination and creativity in science
Literacy connections • Reading: Key ideas and details, craft and structure, integration of
(CCSS ELA) knowledge and ideas
• Writing: Text types and purposes, production and distribution of
writing, research to build and present knowledge, range of writing
• Speaking and listening: Comprehension and collaboration,
presentation of knowledge and ideas
Mathematics • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

connections • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
(CCSS Mathematics) • Use appropriate tools strategically
LAB 11
Lab Handout

Removed?
Introduction
An ecosystem includes all the living and nonliving pieces of a particular area of the planet.
Living things in an ecosystem must eat other living things in the ecosystem to get the
energy they need to survive. The only organisms that do not have to eat other organisms
for their energy are called producers. Producers are organisms that create their own food by
harvesting energy from other sources, such as the Sun. Plants are the most common type
of producers found in an ecosystem. If an organism is not a producer in an ecosystem,
then it is considered a consumer. Consumers are organisms that have to eat other living
things to get the energy they need to survive. Some consumers will eat only the plants in
an ecosystem, some consumers will eat only other consumers, and still other consumers
will eat both the plants and other consumers.
Different organisms have different energy needs, which will influence what food they
eat. In any ecosystem, there can be multiple producers and types of consumers. One way
that scientists try to understand these relationships in an ecosystem is
FIGURE L11.1 through designing food webs. A food web is a diagram that models the
Example of a food web diagram, feeding relationships in an ecosystem. It can also be considered the
showing the eating relationships in
combination of all the unique food chains present in an ecosystem. Food
an ecosystem
chains are models that represent the eating relationship among a
group of organisms present in an ecosystem. There can be many food
chains present in a single ecosystem. One species of organism can be
involved in multiple food chains. Food webs help show all the individ-
ual food chains operating in an ecosystem and how they overlap.
Figure L11.1 provides an example of a food web. Notice how each
organism has line arrows pointed into them and other line arrows
coming out from them. A line with an arrow coming out of an organ-
ism indicates what that organism eats; in contrast, a line with an arrow
pointing into an organism indicates that the organism is eaten by
the organism at the other end of the line. Also notice how one type
of organism in the food web can be a food source for several other
organisms in the same ecosystem.

By understanding the food web of a certain ecosystem, scientists can also understand
the impact human activity can have on that ecosystem. There are many situations in
which humans try to remove a certain type of organism from an ecosystem, often for
reasons involving public health or managing resources. Humans can add chemicals to an
ecosystem that can get rid of certain plants or insects from an ecosystem. They can also
hunt larger organisms that may be a higher-level organism in an ecosystem’s food web.
However, eliminating one type of organism from an ecosystem will have an impact on
other organisms in that system.
Your Task
Explore the different roles of organisms in a specific ecosystem. A town has to decide
which organism it should remove from its local ecosystem, which includes a swampy
marsh. Many residents are worried about the mosquitoes that heavily populate the marsh.
Others are concerned with the growth in algae and other weedlike plants in the marsh. Still
other residents believe that the ducks in the marsh are a problem and should be hunted.
Removing any one of these organisms, or others present in the marsh, will change the food
web of the ecosystem. Your investigation should determine which organisms the town
should remove to limit the amount of change to the existing food web.
The guiding question of this investigation is, Which member of an ecosystem would
affect the food web the most if removed?
Materials
You will use slides of marsh ecosystem organisms during your investigation.
Safety Precautions
Follow all normal lab safety rules.
Investigation Proposal Required?  Yes  No
Getting Started
Your teacher can provide you with a copy of slides that have information about the different
organisms in the marsh ecosystem. Use these slides to analyze what changes might occur
to the original food web for the marsh when any one of the organisms is removed from it.
To answer the guiding question, you must determine what type of data you need to
collect, how you will collect it, and how you will analyze it. To determine what type of data
you need to collect, think about the following questions:
• What information on the slides relates most to the food web of the marsh?
• How will you represent the data you use in different ways?
LAB 11
• What type of measurements or observations will you need to record during your
investigation?
To determine how you will analyze your data, think about the following questions:
• How will you understand what the current food web looks like?
• Do you need to analyze all the different organisms, or should you focus on types
of organisms?
• What type of graph could you create to help make sense of your data?
Connections to Crosscutting Concepts, the Nature of Science, and the Nature of

Scientific Inquiry
As you work through your investigation, be sure to think about
• the use of models to study systems,

• how tracking the flow of energy and matter through systems allows scientists to
understand these systems,
• how science is influenced by society, and
• the role of imagination and creativity when solving problems in science.
Initial Argument
Once your group has finished collecting and analyzing your data, you will need to develop
an initial argument. Your argument must include a claim, evidence to support your claim,
and a justification of the evidence. The claim is your group’s answer to the guiding ques-
tion. The evidence is an analysis and interpretation of your
FIGURE L11.2 data. Finally, the justification of the evidence is why your group
Argument presentation on a whiteboard thinks the evidence matters. The justification of the evidence is
important because scientists can use different kinds of evidence
The Guiding Question:
to support their claims. Your group will create your initial
argument on a whiteboard. Your whiteboard should include all
Our Claim:
the information shown in Figure L11.2.
Our Evidence: Our Justification

of the Evidence: Argumentation Session
The argumentation session allows all of the groups to share
their arguments. One member of each group will stay at the
lab station to share that group’s argument, while the other
members of the group go to the other lab stations one at a
time to listen to and critique the arguments developed by their
classmates. This is similar to how scientists present their arguments to other scientists at
conferences. If you are responsible for critiquing your classmates’ arguments, your goal

is to look for mistakes so these mistakes can be fixed and they can make their argument
better. The argumentation session is also a good time to think about ways you can make
your initial argument better. Scientists must share and critique arguments like this to
develop new ideas.
To critique an argument, you might need more information than what is included on
the whiteboard. You will therefore need to ask the presenter lots of questions. Here are
some good questions to ask:
• What did your group do to collect the data? Why do you think that way is the best
way to do it?
• What did your group do to analyze the data? Why did your group decide to
analyze it that way?
• What other ways of analyzing and interpreting the data did your group talk
about?
• Why did your group decide to present your evidence in that way?
• What other claims did your group discuss before you decided on that one? Why
did your group abandon those other ideas?
• How sure are you that your group’s claim is accurate? What could you do to be
more certain?
Once the argumentation session is complete, you will have a chance to meet with your
group and revise your original argument. Your group might need to gather more data or
design a way to test one or more alternative claims as part of this process. Remember, your
goal at this stage of the investigation is to develop the most valid or acceptable answer to
the research question!
Report
Once you have completed your research, you will need to prepare an investigation report
that consists of three sections that provide answers to the following questions:
1. What question were you trying to answer and why?
2. What did you do during your investigation and why did you conduct your
investigation in this way?
3. What is your argument?
Your report should answer these questions in two pages or less. The report must be
typed, and any diagrams, figures, or tables should be embedded into the document. Be
sure to write in a persuasive style; you are trying to convince others that your claim is
acceptable or valid!
LAB 11
Checkout Questions

Removed?
1. Imagine an ecosystem where mice eat the grass and foxes eat the mice. Explain
what will happen to the population of foxes if there is a severe drought and all the
grass dies.
2. The images below represent two food webs from different ecosystems that have
similar animals. Which population of foxes would be least impacted by a drought
that caused the grass to die in their ecosystem? Explain your reasoning.
3. Society and culture often influence how scientists go about their work.
a. I agree with this statement.

b. I disagree with this statement.

Explain your answer, using an example from your investigation about food webs
and ecosystems.
4. Scientists are very creative when they investigate the natural world.
a. I agree with this statement.

b. I disagree with this statement.
Explain your answer, using an example from your investigation about food webs
and ecosystems.
5. Scientists develop models to help them understand the natural world. Explain
how a food web acts like a model and explain why such a model would be useful
to scientists.
6. When scientists study the natural world, they often need to keep track of how
matter and energy move through a system. Explain why understanding the flow
of matter and energy is important, using an example from your investigation
about food webs and ecosystems.
LAB 12
Teacher Notes
Lab 12. Matter in Ecosystems: How Healthy Are Your Local

Ecosystems?
Purpose
The purpose of this lab is to have students apply their knowledge of how chemicals cycle
through the living and nonliving components of an ecosystem. Specifically, this investi-
gation gives students an opportunity to explore their natural surroundings where they
live and gain an appreciation for the many factors involved in determining the health of
the environment. This lab gives students an opportunity to understand how energy and
matter flow through systems and how changes in an ecosystem can affect the stability of
that system. Students will also have the opportunity to reflect on the difference between
observations and inferences and between data and evidence.
The Content
Ecosystems include all the living and nonliving things in a certain area. All living things
in an ecosystem are called biotic factors. Biotic factors include the plants and animals in the
ecosystem, as well as smaller organisms such as bacteria and fungi. All nonliving things in
an ecosystem are referred to as abiotic factors. Abiotic factors include the water, soil, rocks,
and air found in the ecosystem, as well as chemicals. Water or air in an ecosystem is made
up of many different chemicals. They include chemicals that are important for humans and
animals to survive, such as the oxygen (O2) we breathe and water molecules (H2O). The
air also contains other gases that other organisms use, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) used
by plants and nitrogen gas (N2) used by bacteria. As living things use these chemicals for
getting energy to survive, they will also release other chemicals that have similar elements,
such as urea (CO(NH2)2) and phosphates (PO43–). Living things release these chemicals into
an ecosystem, usually through waste they produce or through decomposition after they
die. All of this activity means that different chemicals move between living and nonliving
parts of an ecosystem.
The patterns of movement of matter through the living and nonliving parts of an
ecosystem are known as biogeochemical cycles. The “bio” aspects of these cycles involve
living things, and the “geo” aspects of these cycles involve nonliving things. All aspects of
these cycles involve chemicals that are different forms of matter. There are several major
chemical elements that cycle through ecosystems, including carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus,
and sulfur. Figure 12.1 provides a representation of the way carbon cycles through an
ecosystem. The figures in the Lab 12 Reference Sheet describe the movement of nitrogen
and phosphorus through ecosystems. Scientists have developed these models to make


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LAB 11

Lab 11. Food Webs and Ecosystems: Which Member of

182 National Science Teachers Association

If an organism is not a producer in an ecosystem, then it is considered a consumer.

184 National Science Teachers Association

Materials and Preparation

Investigation Proposal A (optional) 1 per group

Whiteboard, 2' × 3'* 1 per group

Lab Handout 1 per student

Peer-review guide 1 per student

Checkout Questions 1 per student

Topics for the Explicit and Reflective Discussion

Concepts That Can Be Used to Justify the Evidence

How to Design Better Investigations

The Nature of Science and the Nature of Scientific Inquiry

186 National Science Teachers Association

Hints for Implementing the Lab

Scientific practices • Asking questions and defining problems

Crosscutting concepts • Systems and system models

Core idea • LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics

Supporting ideas • Food web

NOS and NOSI • Social and cultural influences

Mathematics • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

Lab 11. Food Webs and Ecosystems: Which Member of

188 National Science Teachers Association

Investigation Proposal Required?  Yes  No

Connections to Crosscutting Concepts, the Nature of Science, and the Nature of

• the use of models to study systems,

Our Evidence: Our Justification

190 National Science Teachers Association

1. What question were you trying to answer and why?

3. What is your argument?

Lab 11. Food Webs and Ecosystems: Which Member of

a. I agree with this statement.

192 National Science Teachers Association

a. I agree with this statement.

Lab 12. Matter in Ecosystems: How Healthy Are Your Local

194 National Science Teachers Association

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