Ecosystem Project
Project Description: For this project my team and I were given the task of finding an endangered ecosystem, researching it and spreading awareness about it. We had to find species living there, how it connects with the carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles, how it is affected by factors such as carrying capacity and biodiversity, and how it is being affected by human actions. Our group decided upon the rain forests of Borneo in the Indonesian island chain and how it is being destroyed by human interests in the palm oil industry. To spread awareness my team made a website detailing the wonders of the ecosystem and its dire situation as well as a power point that we presented. In it we linked a charity that is fighting to help keep it alive and to advertise our website we posted flyers.
Power Point:
Power Point:
Website: https://borneoecosystemstem.weebly.com/
Concepts:
- Carrying Capacity: is the maximum number of individuals a population ca sustain before famine sets in; this relates to our project because deforestation in Borneo is limiting its carrying capacity.
- Abiotic: is the non-living parts of an ecosystem; in our project one abiotic factor would be the heavy rainfall in Borneo.
- Biotic: is the living parts of an ecosystem; an example of this from our project would be the pygmy elephant which is found in Borneo.
- Carbon cycle: is the process in which carbon is exchanged between the atmosphere and living things; the carbon cycle in Borneo can be seen when carbon is inhaled by the vast jungle and exhaled as oxygen which in turn animals breathe and exhale carbon back into the atmosphere.
- Nitrogen cycle: is the process in which nitrogen is exchanged between the atmosphere, living things, and the soil, this is found in Borneo when carcasses are decomposed and the nitrogen is introduced into the soil where it makes its way back into the atmosphere.
- Water cycle: is the process in which water is transferred between the atmosphere and liquid bodies; this relates to our project because there is massive rainfall in Borneo which finds its way into rivers and lakes and evaporates condensing into clouds to repeat the process again.
- Individual: a single organism; an example of this in Borneo is the orangutan.
- Population: a group of the same species, an example of this from Borneo would be a herd of pygmy elephants.
- Community: numerous species in one area; an example of this would be orangutans, pygmy elephants and squirrels all living in the same location.
- Ecosystem: a habitat that is home to multiple species; Borneo is an example of this as it is a unique habitat home to many species.
- Biome: a type of ecosystem that includes habitats from all over the world, an example of this would be rain forests such as the one in Borneo or the Amazon.
- Biosphere: a planet that is home to a multitude of species and environments; an example of this would be Earth.
- Symbiosis: is the interaction between two different species; for example when a clouded leopard eats a pygmy squirrel.
- Mutualism: when two different species interact with each other in a way that both benefit; an example from Borneo would be when the bats living there use carnivorous plants as a roost to sleep and in return the plant is fertilized.
- Predation: when one species consumes another, taking its energy; an example from Borneo would be when the Borneo bay cat eats a a proboscis monkey.
- Commensialism: when one organism benefits from an interaction and the other is unaffected; an example of this in Borneo would be the frogs that shelter from the rain underneath the leaves of plants.
- Competition: when two different animals compete for the same resources and both are negatively affected; an example from Borneo would be the competition between clouded leopards and Borneo bay cats for food.
- Biomass: the total mass of living organisms in an area; an example of this is Borneo where there is a level of biomass that should be constant although it is decreasing due to poaching and deforestation.
- Food web: a graphic showing where animals get their food from, an example from Borneo would be fruit grown on trees are eaten by orangutans which are then eaten be leopards.
- Energy flow: the direction in which energy is transported; an example of energy flow would be an orangutan eating fruit and taking its energy.
- Limiting factors: are events that lead to a decrease in population size; an example of this would be humans destroying the Borneo rain forest.
- Disturbance of homeostasis: is something that disrupts the norm and causes damage to an environment or species; an example of this in Borneo would be the wide spread poaching that kills many animals.
- Biodiversity: is when there is a wide variety of life in a region; an example of this would be the multitude of animals in the Borneo rain forest.