Activities

3. Explain the difference in the following statements. How would the situations be different?
   1. Low prey population
   2. High predator population

4. Think about how your day changes with extreme weather (i.e. extreme heat vs. extreme cold, or flood of water vs. drought). What do humans do to adapt to these changes? State 3 extreme weather conditions and how humans adapt to them. Then, think with a partner how an animal in that same environment would adapt?

5. Scientists have created vaccines to protect humans from some diseases. How does this slow or stop the spread of the disease? Can we do the same thing for animal populations? What challenges are there for scientists who are concerned about the spread of disease in animal and plant communities?

6. Identify and research an animal that was classified as an endangered species but has had a comeback.
   Consider the following questions:

• • How did this species population get so low?
  • Were there any environmental factors that contributed to the decline of population?
  • What steps were taken to aid this species?

Prepare a poster or presentation to show your findings.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Acceptable answers may include, but are not limited to:

An alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health…‘Alien species’ means, with respect to a particular ecosystem, any species…that is not native to that ecosystem

2. Answers
   
   
   1. e
   2. d
   3. b
   4. a
   5. f
   6. c

3. Acceptable answer may include, but are not limited to:

• • Low prey population- may cause the predator population to then decrease over time
  • High predator population- may cause the prey population to decrease steadily

4. Acceptable answers may include, but are not limited to:

• • Tornadoes- people prepare by taking shelter in a safe location.
  • Blizzards- people prepare by ensuring they will have enough food and supplies to last them for days in case they cannot leave their house.
  • Hurricanes- people prepare by boarding up doors and windows to help prevent high winds from breaking glass

5. Acceptable answers may include, but are not limited to:

• • When people are vaccinated, from a disease, they are no longer susceptible to it.  Therefore the more we vaccinate, there is a fewer number of people who are vulnerable to the disease, causing the spreading to be minimal and slow over time.
  • Animals can also be vaccinated for diseases, such as rabies.  The more that are vaccinated, the less number of animals will carry it and pass it on to others causing the disease to be passed at a slower rate.

6. Suggested Rubric: This rubric may be used to assess a student’s overall mastery of the standard or eligible content: