design an investigation.
It's time to design your own investigation. Your investigation will be a simulation of the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations in an ecosystem. So far, you have observed students model competition between wolves for water, prey, and space. You read about a similar investigation that modeled the difference between intraspecific and interspecific competition. You learned how graphs can help display and interpret data. You will use all these ideas as you design your own simulation.
choose a question to investigate
Designing any investigation starts when you ask a question. Think back to some of the questions you generated about how the original simulation could be expanded. Choose one of these questions or think of a new one.
List materials
What materials will you need to perform your simulation? Make a list of these and take time to gather them all before you begin.
You might need:
beans of different colors
a timer
cups or bags
pencil
paper
write out your procedure
Procedure:
1. Begin by setting up your simulation area with separate sections for each "organism" competing for resources. You can use cups or bags to represent each organism's territory.
2. Label each section with the colors of beans that will represent the resources each organism needs (for example, blue beans for water, green beans for prey, and red beans for space).
3. Start by placing an equal number of beans in each section to represent the initial availability of resources in the ecosystem.
4. Set a timer for a designated amount of time to represent a specific time period in the ecosystem.
5. Allow each "organism" (represented by a different colored bean) to "consume" its required resources from its section during the designated time period.
6. After the time period is up, record how many resources each organism was able to obtain. You can represent this with tally marks on a piece of paper.
7. Repeat the simulation for multiple time periods to observe changes in resource availability and competition among organisms.
8. Use your data to create graphs or charts that display the changes in resource availability and competition over time.
9. Analyze your data and draw conclusions about the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations in an ecosystem.
10. Discuss your findings and potential real-world applications of your simulation results.