Name: Victoria Gagro Date: Friday,May 13,2022

Student Exploration: Food Chain

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: consumer, ecosystem, energy pyramid, equilibrium, food chain, population, predator, prey,
producer

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

The Food Chain Gizmo shows a food chain with hawks, snakes, rabbits, and grass. In this simulation, the
hawks eat snakes, the snakes eat rabbits, and the rabbits eat grass.

1. Producers are organisms that do not need to eat other organisms to obtain energy.

A. Which organism is a producer in this food chain? grass is a producer.It does not eat any
other organisms.

B. Where does the producer get its energy? They use a process called
photosynthesis witch uses water,carbon
dioxide and the sun.

2. Consumers must eat other organisms for energy. Which organisms are consumers in this food chain?

Hawk,snake ,rabbits are all consumers.They are any organism called heterotroph’s and
cannot make there own food.There are primary consumers,secondary consumers and
tertiary consumers.

Gizmo Warm-up
The SIMULATION pane of the Gizmo shows the current population, or number, of
each organism in the food chain.

1. What are the current populations of each organism?

Hawks: 42 Snakes: 278 Rabbits: 2566 Grass: 27300

2. Select the BAR CHART tab, and click Play ( ). What do you notice about
each population as time goes by?

I noticed that the grass was a growing population.In 14 months there was 85 more
grass.The rabbits number slightly increased at 14 months.There was 1 more rabbit.The
number of snakes increased.There was 5 more snakes in 14 months.The number of
hawks stayed the same.

If populations don’t change very much over time, the ecosystem is in equilibrium.
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3. Notice the populations decrease as you go from the bottom of the food chain to the top. Why do you think
this is so?

I think this is because there is less energy as you go up the food chane and atvthe bottom
is where the energy come from.The animals at the top are larger witch takes up more
mass,so there will be less.Alot of the energy is lost as it goes up the food chain.

This diagram, showing decreasing populations at each level, is called an energy pyramid.

Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:

Predator-prey ● Click Reset ( ).

relationships ● Check that the BAR CHART tab is selected.

Question: Predators are animals that hunt other animals, called prey. How do predator and prey
populations affect one another?

1. Observe: Run the Gizmo with several different starting conditions. You can use the + or – buttons to add or
remove organisms, or you can choose Diseased from the dropdown lists.

2. Form hypothesis: How do you think predator and prey populations affect one another?

I believe when there are more predators it is going to impact prey.Because they can get
killed faster because there are more predators.

3. Predict: Based on your hypothesis, predict how changing the rabbit population will affect the other
organisms at first. Write “Increase” or “Decrease” next to each “Prediction” in the table.

Change Grass Snakes Hawks

Doubling Prediction:decrease Prediction:increase Prediction:decrease
rabbit
population Result:decrease Result:increase Result:increase
Halving Prediction:increase Prediction:decrease Prediction:increase
rabbit
population Result:increace Result:decrease Result:decrease

4. Test: Add rabbits until the population is about twice as large as it was (200% of balance). Click Play, and
then Pause ( ) after approximately ONE month. Next to each “Result” line in the table, write “Increase” or
“Decrease.” Click Reset and then halve the rabbit population (50% of balance). Record the results for this
experiment in the table as well.

A. How did doubling the rabbit population affect the grass, snakes, and hawks at first?

At first it affected them by decreasing the amount of grass witch is the tsrt of the
food chain ,where rabbits get there energy.Then the snakes had an increase
because of the dubled rabbits.Then the hawks decreased.

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 B. How did halving the rabbit population affect the grass, snakes, and hawks at first?

Halving the rabbit population at first made an increase in grass because there
wasnt as many rabbits to eat them.Then a decrease for the snakes because there
was less rabbits.Last a decrease in hawks.

5. Predict: Predict how changing the snake and hawk populations will affect the other organisms within the
first month. In the tables below, write your predictions.

Change Grass Rabbits Hawks

Doubling Prediction:decrease Prediction:decrease Prediction:incraese
snake
population Result:increse Result:decrease Result:incraese
Halving Prediction:incraese Prediction:increase Prediction:deecrease
snake
population Result:decrease Result:incrace Result:decrace

Change Grass Rabbits Snakes

Doubling Prediction:decraese Prediction:increase Prediction:decraese
hawk
population Result:decrease Result:increase Result:decrease
Halving Prediction:increase Prediction:decraesce Prediction:increace
hawk
population Result:decrease Result:increase Result:decrese

6. Test: Click Reset. Try each experiment with the Gizmo. Record each result after one month.

A.How did increasing the snakes affect the grass? The grass number increased

Explain why: This is bc there was less rabbits to eat the grass.The snakes ate
alot of rabbits.

B.How did increasing the hawks affect the rabbits? The rabbits increased

Explain why: This is bc with more hawks they were eating for snakes.Witch

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 means less snakes to eat rabbits.

7. Draw conclusions: In general, what effect did removing prey have on predators?

Removing prey made the predators decease.they didnt have as much energy or food.

What effect did removing predators have on prey?

Removing predators makes prey increase.This is because there is less predators to eat
them.There for they can stay alive longer.

Extend your thinking: In North America, many top predators, such as wolves, have been driven nearly to
extinction. What effect do you think this has on their main prey, deer? Write your answer on a separate sheet,
and/or discuss with your classmates and teacher.

Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:

Long-term ● Click Reset.

changes ● Select the GRAPH tab.

Question: An ecosystem is a group of living things and their physical environment. How do
ecosystems react to major disturbances?

1. Observe: Kill off most of the hawks using the – button, and then click Play. Observe the GRAPH for about
12 months, and then click Pause. What happens?

throughout the months the numbers on each graph were constantly changing.At 12
months they ended up all being the same amount.

2. Analyze: Explain why you think the population of each organism changed the way it did. (Use extra paper if
necessary.)

the population did that because it didnt have the end of the population.All factors are
important.If no one ws eating all the prey nothing would change.

3. Experiment: Click Reset. Try making other changes to the ecosystem. Use the + or – buttons, or choose
Diseased from the dropdown lists. Click Play and observe for at least 12 months. Record what happens
below.

The hawks decreased,snakes increased,rabbits decreased,grass increased

4. Summarize: Give at least one example of each of the following:

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A. A major disturbance that the ecosystem was able to recover completely from.

A decrease in grass.It can grow more.

B. A major disturbance that caused the ecosystem to stabilize at a new equilibrium.

C. A major disturbance that caused the ecosystem to completely collapse.

Hawks being almost gone,

D. (Challenge) A major disturbance that almost caused a total collapse, but that the ecosystem was
able to recover from eventually.

temperature cahnge

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