Science Homework

Due Monday, 4/14/14

Use your corrected food web of the pond ecosystem to predict how a decrease in one population would affect other populations in the ecosystem.  Write your answers on the back of your food web or a piece of lined paper.

Your task:

1.    Find the minnows on your food web.

2.    Pretend the population of minnows had a large decrease one year.

3.    Clearly explain how the decrease in minnow population would affect the following populations.  You must include your claim (what you think), and your reasoning (why you think that).

a.    Aquatic insects

b.    Largemouth bass

c.     Great blue heron

d.    Aquatic plants

Example:  The first sentence is the claim and the second is the reasoning.

A decrease in the size of the minnow population would cause an increase in the population of zooplankton.  Minnows eat zooplankton, and if there are fewer minnows, then there will be more zooplankton because there are fewer minnows to eat them.