April 2017 – MrKubuske.com

Yesterday we talked about Human impacts on the environment. We covered several topics including:

Acid Rain
Ozone layer depletion
Mass Extinction
Depletion of Natural Resources/Destruction of habitat
Climate Change
Invasive Species

Today we’ll be reviewing some case studies to determine the cause and solutions to some of these problems. After that, we’re going to play a game courtesy of the BBC. The game is called “Climate Challenge” and basically you get to run a country that is facing the threat of global climate change head on. You’ll have to balance protecting the earth, your citizens, and your job! Use the link below to reach the game (*note, if you are using a iOS device you will need to view this using the puffin app). Good luck, have fun, and learn something!

Climate Challenge – The Game

So now we know that ecology isn’t just the study of the environment… its studying the interactions between living things and the abiotic and biotic factors of their habitat. Today, we’re going to focus in a little bit more on the relationship between different biotic factors in an ecosystem. These relationships all fall under the category of something called interdependence. Hopefully that rings some bells for you because that was one of the themes of biology & characteristics of life we talked about at the beginning of the year! Interdependence is the idea that every living things relies on other living things one way or another. So lets take some time to dive into these different relationships and understand the concepts behind the interconnectedness. Please watch the video below, take notes, ask questions, and be prepared to discuss the different types of relationships and how living things are connected.