SUBJECT Lower Secondary Science Year 8

TOPIC Ecosystem Processes

ASSIGNMENT Four

STUDENT NAME

FEEDBACK AND REFLECTION:

฀ I have read the feedback on my last assignment carefully.

฀ I have considered whether any of that feedback is relevant to this assignment.

One thing I will try to do either the same or differently in this assignment as a result of my previous
feedback is: _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT GUIDANCE:

 You should complete this assignment by carrying out Practical 2: Population on this sheet and
then handwriting in black ink both the Practical 2: Population questions and the assignment
questions that follow on, unless you have obtained specific permission through your SPM to
submit typed work. Then scan it in and submit it, as a single document.
 This is not a timed assignment. We estimate that this assignment may take you between 1 and 2
hours for the practical, and between 40 and 60 minutes for the assignment itself. However, if
you need to take longer, then please do so.
 Make sure you write your full name clearly in the box at the top of this page.
 In order to complete this assignment, you will need a calculator, ruler, your coursebook and
notes.
LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

LS Science Assignment Four

PRACTICAL 2: POPULATION
How does the population of daisies differ with different environmental conditions?

When scientists want to work out the population of an area, rather than (for example) counting
every single daisy in a 100m² field, they will use a quadrat.

A quadrat is a square of metal, usually 1m² in size.

They will place it at random points in the field and count all the daisies they can see inside that
square.

If they do this ten times, they will have the number of daisies in 10m².

If they multiply this number by 10, they will have an estimate of how many daisies are in the whole
100m² field!

Now, you may not have daisies in your area, and that is okay. It also does not have to be that big.
You could do this experiment in your garden, or scale it down, make a really small quadrat, and
sample the lichen on two different trees! Look around and decide what you want to investigate …

Apparatus

 Tape measure.

 Quadrat – you can make this at home out of cardboard. Just measure out the size you want,
cut it out (ask for help please!) and trim it - make sure you have got a good chunky frame of
cardboard of any size around that square hole.

 Clipboard and pen to take notes while you are sampling.

1. This question covers the practical.

Sampling

a. Why do you think they have to sample randomly? Why can’t they just choose the spots with
the most daisies and test those?

_____________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

Variables

b. What is the organism you are going to sample? Their population is now your dependent
variable.

_____________________________________________________________________

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

(1 mark)

c. What is your independent variable going to be? E.g. shade vs sun, wet vs dry, tree in the
garden vs tree in the street?

_____________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

Method

d. This will be different for every student because you will all have access to different sites. So
you are going to write your method today. The information at the top of the page will help
you, but also think about the following things:

 How big is your sample area? How did you measure it and make sure the two sites were
the same?

 How big was your quadrat? How many quadrats would it take to fill up your whole
sample area?

 How many quadrats did you sample?

 How did you try to make sure your placement was random?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

(4 marks)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

Results

e. Put your results into the table below.

Quadrat Population of organism in each quadrat.

number Site 1 Site 2

(1 mark)

f. Now can you work out what the population is of each area?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

(2 marks)
(Total 10 marks)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES
2.
a. Complete the reaction representing photosynthesis below

Water + glucose (starch) +

(2 marks)

b. How do plants obtain the energy for this process? Name the pigment involved.

Energy= ____________________ Pigment = __________________

(2 marks)

c. Outline the role of stomata in this process

(1 mark)
(Total 5 marks)

3.

a. Alex poured some pond water into three beakers. She then put waterweed into each
beaker. She put the beakers in different places.

Beaker A Beaker B Beaker C

in normal in the dark in bright
daylight light

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

i. In which beaker did the waterweed grow best? Give the correct letter.

________
(1 mark)

ii. The waterweed in the box changed from dark green to pale yellow. Why did this happen?

_______________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

b. In the school pond there were lots of water lilies with large leaves covering the surface.
There were not many plants growing below the surface. Suggest a reason for this.

(1 mark)

c. In another experiment, Alex put similar pieces of waterweed into two more beakers of pond
water. She added fertiliser to one of them. She kept them both by a window.

i. Alex added fertiliser to beaker E. Suggest the results of this experiment.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

ii. What do fertilisers contain to help plants grow? Tick the correct box.

fat

sand

minerals

sugar

(1 mark)
(Total 5 marks)

4. Bindweed is a plant that grows tightly around other plants. The drawing below shows bindweed
growing around a rose bush.

a. Complete the sentences below. Choose from the words in the list.

air light support water minerals

i. Bindweed grows as high as possible on the rose bush so that the bindweed can get as
much _________________ as possible.

(1 mark)

ii. Bindweed grows around the rose bush because the rose bush provides _______________ for the
bindweed.

(1 mark)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

b. A gardener cut through the stem of the bindweed at X. Two days later the bindweed above X
was dead.

Why did the bindweed die? Tick the correct box.

no air

no warmth

no light

no water

(1 mark)

c. The gardener adds fertiliser to the soil to help her rose bushes to grow well. What do plants
get from the fertiliser? Tick the correct box.

acids

sugars

minerals

vitamins

(1 mark)
(Total 4 marks)

5. The drawings below show four living things found in a wood.

not to scale

• Caterpillars eat oak leaves.

• Owls eat blackbirds.

• Blackbirds eat caterpillars.

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

a.

i. Complete the food chain for these four living things.

oak tree _________________ _________________ ________________

(1 mark)

ii. Why is an oak tree called a producer? Tick the correct box.

it loses its leaves in autumn

it makes food by photosynthesis

its flowers are tiny

its leaves will not rot

(1 mark)

b. On one oak tree, there were two types of caterpillar.

All the caterpillars were eating the leaves. The number of gypsy moth caterpillars increased.

i. What happened to the number of orange-striped caterpillars?

____________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

ii. Explain your answer.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)
(Total 4 marks)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

6. Scientists measured the concentration of the insecticide, DDT, in three animals and microscopic
plant called chlamydomonas.

a. The food chain for these four organisms is shown below.

The bar chart shows the concentration of DDT in the four organisms.

Give one reason for the difference in the concentration of DDT in these organisms.

(1 mark)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

b. In 1970 the average concentration of DDT in the tissues of sea lions in California was 760
parts per million. Nearly half the sea lion pups born that year died because of high levels of
DDT in their tissues.

How does DDT get from the body of a mother sea lion into the body of her pup:

i. before the pup is born?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

ii. after the pup is born?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

(1 mark)
(Total 3 marks)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

7. The drawing below shows part of a food web in the sea around Antarctica.

a. From the food web give the name of two animals that eat only krill.

1. ___________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

b.

i. Which word describes the plants in a food web? Tick the correct box.

producers

predators

herbivores

carnivores

(1 mark)

ii. Krill are small animals that eat tiny plants. Which word describes krill in the food web?
Tick the correct box.

producers

predators

herbivores

carnivores

(1 mark)

c.

i. Crabeater seals eat krill. Fishermen catch large amounts of krill from the sea. How would
a decrease in the number of krill affect the number of crabeater seals?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

ii. Look at the food web. Leopard seals also eat krill.

A decrease in the number of krill would affect the crabeater seals sooner than it affects
leopard seals. Give the reason for this.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)
(Total 5 marks)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

8. The drawings below show the trees in a woodland area at the beginning of May and at the end
of May.

The graph below shows the amount of light reaching the top of the trees and the woodland floor
over one year.

a. Why does the amount of light reaching the woodland floor decrease during May?

(1 mark)

b. Plants grow on the woodland floor. Explain why these plants grow bigger and faster when
there is plenty of light.

(2 mark)

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LS SCIENCE YEAR 8 ASSIGNMENT 04

c. Respiration takes place in the cells of all plants. Complete the word equation for respiration.

oxygen + ______________ carbon dioxide + _________________

(2 marks)
(Total 5 marks)

TOTAL FOR ASSIGNMENT 41 MARKS

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