Ecology of the Bellarmine Campus

Introduction
In our latest lab, we conducted a survey of the ecosystem--at Bellarmine! Our objective was to track and classify types of organisms based on their ecological function and niche (e.g. primary producer, herbivore, etc.) Through this lab, we learned of the vast diversity of life on campus and how life came together to form an ecosystem. To do this, we simply walked around campus identifying various types of species with our iPads.


Without ado, let's dive into the species we observed around campus!

Species Observed



Producer

Common name: grass

Description: green (indicating of photosynthesis), blade-like

Location found: growing in the quad

Primary Consumer

Common name: chicken

Description: These chickens mainly feed on grain and corn that put them snugly in the place of primary consumers.

Location found: garden

Secondary Consumer

Common name: cat

Description: Sporting retractable claws, this feline hunts for prey such as mice. It rarely attacks adult chickens. 

Location found: dumpster near Bellarmine

Tertiary Consumer 

Common name: human
Description: Able to eat almost anything, humans are at the top of the food chain with no natural predators.
Location found: on campus

Herbivore

Common Name: squirrel

Key traits: Padded paws that allow the squirrel to quickly climb trees and grab fruits and nuts to eat.

Location found: climbing on a tree near the quad

Carnivore

Common name: dog (pitbull)

Description: sharp teeth ideal for tearing meat (not shown), indicating that this species is carnivorous

Location found: sidewalk near Lokey

Omnivore

Common name: crow

Description: with their versatile beaks, crows eat almost anything; from worms, to nuts and seeds.

Location found: Liccardo roof

Decomposer

Common name: earthworm

Description: This little critter that breathes through its skin is actually an earthworm. Its ideal body structure helps it burrow through the soil, feeding on dead organic matter and mixing up the soil!

Location found: ground near the chapel

Pollution Source

Common name: airplane

Key traits: This man made device goes around the campus burning gasoline fuel and serves as a source of noise pollution as well as producing lots of carbon dioxide from the fuel!

Location found: sky above campus

Threatened Species

Common name: grizzly bear

Description: Due to hunting and natural competition, the grizzly bear is going extinct in some parts of the United States, which poses a serious threat to the ecological balance in the Arctic.

Location found: flagpole on the grass

Endangered species

Common name: honey bee

Key traits: This lovable critter that goes around pollinating plants is endangered due to pesticides that cause colony collapse disorder.

Location found: ground near chapel

Non-native species

Common name: Kamchatka horsetail

Description: green (indicating of photosynthesis)

Location found: growing near Liccardo

Discussion questions

1. Define and differentiate between ecology and environmental science and discuss the 

Bellarmine campus in the context of both.

Ecology is a science that seeks to understand the relationship between organisms and their environment, while environmental science is a more general concept that deals with all aspects of the environment--such as biotic, abiotic, chemical, and physical factors. In the context of Bellarmine, ecology would be studying the numerous organisms such as squirrels present on campus and how they affect each other and their environment. However, environmental science would be the study of the complete zone of the Bellarmine campus--such as the soil's nitrogen content, the sources of pollution, etcetera. 

 2. define and describe any population, community, ecosystem, biome and aquatic zone that you 

find on campus; and discuss the biotic and abiotic factors that contribute to that ecosystem.

Population: At Bellarmine, there is a sizable population of a few chickens in the garden. This population thrives because they have ample feed (from humans) and have no external sources of competition. 

Community: In addition to the chickens, a community would be found in the garden at Bellarmine. Many species such as the chicken, the earthworm in the soil, and the roses (photosynthesis) share a habitat and interact with each other constantly. 

Ecosystem: The entire campus of Bellarmine would form a complex ecosystem. Some abiotic factors found in this ecosystem include the rich soil, which has many nutrients and just the right amount of water (which allows for growth of various deciduous trees and a wide variety of foliage), and the strong sunlight year-round, which serves in the benefit for plants carrying out photosynthesis. Some biotic factors affecting the ecosystem would be the predator-prey relationship between numerous species on campus, such as the birds that eat worms; and birds of prey that eat squirrels. In addition, another biotic factor is the issue of human-introduced pollution. 

Biome: From observing the species found on campus, I can conclude that Bellarmine is found in a deciduous forest biome. This comes primarily with the climate on campus (well-defined rain seasons), with the foliage (deciduous trees). In addition, There are more deciduous trees than coniferous trees on campus. 

Aquatic Zone: There is not much water on campus, other than the swimming pool. However, some plants on campus have adapted in order to survive partially being drenched under water, due to heavy rains. 

3. construct and discuss a food chain, a food web, and an ecological pyramid based on the 

trophic levels that you observe.

Food Chain

This picture depicts a food chain. A food chain is simply a linear progression of consumption, beginning from the producer to intermediary consumers. For example, in this food chain, the chicken will eat the grass, but the chicken is in turn eaten by a human. 

This image depicts a food web, a sequence of events that is more complex than a food chain. This food web involves most of the organisms in a given ecosystem. For example, in this food web, the grass is consumed by multiple organisms (squirrel and chicken). In addition, the chicken is then consumed by a cat, but it also can be consumed by a human.

This image is an ecological pyramid. It depicts the relative energy that each organism has at each stage of the food chain. The producers, at the very bottom of the food chain, have the most energy, since they derive it straight from the sun. However, the primary consumers that eat these producers lose some of the energy and have to eat more of these plants because the plants do not have much stored energy. In turn, the secondary consumer and tertiary consumer lose more and more biomass and energy at the top of the pyramid, and need to eat more in order to maintain their metabolism. 

4. investigate and discuss any endangered, threatened, and invasive species on campus.

A large endangered species present at Bellarmine would be the honey bee. The honey bee is in danger of extinction across the nation because of pesticides that cause colony collapse disorder. Yet, bees are extremely important to the balance of the environment--because in places such as on the Bellarmine campus they are pollinators that help spread the pollen of plants to help them reproduce. Another threatened species observed on campus (not exactly physically present) would be a grizzly bear, present on the flag of California that flies near the quad. Because of hunting and natural competition, the grizzly bear is rapidly losing its dominance in the United States. Already, the California grizzly, depicted on the flag, has gone extinct. If the grizzly bear were to be pushed into being endangered, salmon that the bears help keep in check would probably grow more plentiful and throw river ecosystems out of proportion through their rapid breeding and proliferation. 

5. Define pollution, and describe and discuss the various types that you observe on campus.

Pollution is the presence of harmful substances on campus that damage the environment or the organisms present in the environment. One of the largest sources of pollution would be pollution from burning fossil fuels, which generates carbon dioxide--which is toxic to many organisms and contributes to global warming. This occurs on the Bellarmine campus through such man-made objects such as cars and airplanes in the sky. However, there is also sound pollution as well--from things such as the cement plant next to Bellarmine. While it may not be detrimental to most organisms, it is extremely annoying to listen to for humans. 

Fishies!

Introduction
 The lab we conducted was observing how temperature affected the respiration of goldfish. The purpose of this experiment was to study how the body adjusts its functions depending on temperature, and to see how different animals such as a goldfish breathe. Before the lab, we hypothesized that as the temperature increased, the goldfish would take more breaths. In addition, as the temperature decreased, we expected the goldfish to take less breaths. We thought so because heat and chill affects the rate at which body functions occur, such as breathing. To tackle this problem, our methodology was to place the beaker containing the goldfish in water baths of various temperatures, such as adding ice to the bath to make it cold. This way, we could accurately observe the goldfish's breathing rate without killing it. Ultimately, some key findings were that the goldfish's breathing rate did indeed slow down when placed in the cold bath, while it rapidly went up when placed in the warm water bath.

Materials and Procedure

Materials:
(1) goldfish in a beaker with non-chlorinated water
(1) bluetooth temperature probe
(1) bowl
(1) iPad timer
(1) tank of warm water
(1) chest of ice cubes
(4) beakers used to scoop ice cubes/warm water

Procedure

1. First, we retrieved the goldfish from Mr. Wong's table.
2. We put the temperature probe in and made sure that it was room temperature.
3. Then, we used the iPad timer and two group members counting in sync to record the number of breaths at room temperature (23 degrees Celsius) the goldfish took in 5 minutes.
4. We then scooped several cupfuls of warm water from the warm water tank and poured it into an empty bowl, which we then placed the goldfish in.
5. After ensuring that the temperature was above 25 degrees, we then counted the number of breaths the goldfish took in this temperature range.
6. We then changed the temperature of the bath by scooping up ice cubes and dumping them in until the temperature dropped to 14 degrees. 
7. Again, setting the timer for 5 minutes, we recorded the number of breaths the fish took.

Ice water bath

Data

For this experiment, the room temperature was 23 degrees C (rather than the 15-20 degrees suggested by the manual). In addition, we raised the temperature of the bath to 29 degrees C. Finally, the last temperature used was 12 degrees C. Unfortunately, we did not get to observe the fish at 5-9 degrees C because we ran out of time.

Table 1: Summary of Data

Graph 1: Total breaths taken in 1 minute intervals

Table 2: data relative to other groups

The data shows a relatively linear rate of respiration, as the goldfish's number of breaths taken per minute was relatively the same for each interval of 1 minute. As can be seen from the data, the goldfish had sudden uptick of respiration rate when put in the warm water bath. In fact, the total number of breaths it took in this 5 minute period almost totaled 1000, a large increase from the 644 observed when it was at room temperature. However, when it was placed in the ice bath, the opposite thing occurred: its respiration rate slowed down dramatically. In fact, while the average number of breaths per minute the goldfish took at room temperature was over 100, the average amount of breaths it took in 5 minutes at 12 degrees C was a mere 88.6.

Analysis and Conclusions

From the data, we can safely conclude that the hotter it is, the higher the rate of respiration will be for the goldfish. However, this can also be applied to other animals, such as humans. For example, people who have fever generally have higher respiration rates and heart rates, because of the increase in body temperature. Indeed, our original hypothesis was confirmed by this experiment. One thought as to why this may happen is that as it becomes colder, the goldfish's cellular metabolism dramatically slows down, because of a "numbing" effect that happens, as goldfish are cold-blooded. Therefore, as the metabolism slows to conserve energy, less oxygen is actively needed, and its rate of breathing slows down.  In contrast, as it becomes warmer, the goldfish's metabolic rate increases at a rapid pace. Therefore, its heart needs to pump faster, and in the process, more oxygen is needed in the blood. As a result, the respiratory rate of the goldfish speeds up to help it get this extra oxygen.

1. Describe how the fish's respiration rate is affected by the temperature. Be detailed.
As the temperature increased, the fish's respiration rate increased, from an average of 128.8 breaths per minute at room temperature to 194.6 breaths per minute. In contrast, as the temperature decreased, the fish's average rate of respiration decreased, from 128.8 breaths per minute at room temperature to 88.6 breaths per minute.

2. What other factors (besides temperature) may have affected the breathing rate?
Some other factors may have been that we moved the container (perhaps sending the goldfish into a temporary panic) and the amount of oxygen available in the water.

3. How did your fish compare to the average. Which reading is probably more accurate?
The data we recorded for our fish was slightly higher than the average in each of the three cases (room temperature, cold water, hot water). The reading that is probably more accurate is the average.

4. Why do scientists often take lots of data and look at the AVERAGE? Why do you think you did
 that in this experiment.
Scientists usually take lots of data and look at the average to get the most accurate reading. I think that we did that in this experiment to compare data with other groups and to put a range on our data.

5. Design an experiment that will test how a fish's respiration rate is affected by light. Explain your
 design below.

For this experiment, I would have the control be a fish that is exposed to normal light indoors. I would then change the light levels available to the fish by covering the container with a cloth, to darken it, and move the fish outside or shine a bright lamp on it to increase light levels.

6. Was your prediction at the beginning of the lab correct or incorrect?
It was correct, as the respiration rate did increase as temperature rose.

7. Propose an explanation for your experimental results. Why do you think fish react this way as
 their environmental temperature changes?
Because fish are cold-blooded, their temperature depends on the environment surrounding them. As the environment around them becomes warmer, their metabolism speeds up, and requires more oxygen, which in turn leads to a quicker pace of breathing.