Unit 7 Reflection

    This unit was about ecology basics. Some of the big ideas were interdependence in nature, and matter and energy. The first chapter in this unit is the biosphere. In this chapter we talked about the different types of interactions between species, as well as interdependence. We learned about how energy decreases on every trophic level, and how food webs help sustain populations. We learned about different types of cycles, such as the water cycle, and how it impacted people and other organisms. The next chapter is about ecosystems and communities. In this chapter, we talked about different ways that temperature can be changed, as well as biotic and abiotic factors, which are classified mainly by whether they are living or nonliving. There are several interactions between species, including predetation and symbiosis. Symbiosis also includes three subcategories, including mutualism, commesalism, and parasitism. Different types of succession are categorized based on whether the process started with or without soil. The species that start the primary successions are called pioneer species. Biomes are classified by their soil and climate, as well as the plants and animals found in it. Some of the major biomes are the tropical rain forest, desert, temperate grassland, tundra, and northwestern coniferous forest. The next chapter is about populations. We first talked about population growth. In the beginning, species usually go through an exponential growth. Later, when the population starts reaching the carrying capacity of the region, it goes through a more logistic growth curve. Limiting factors cause the population to decrease. Density-dependent factors are factors that are dependent on density, and density-independent factors are factors that are independent on density. These concepts are demonstrated pretty well in the human population growth patterns, also called demography. The next chapter is about humans in the biosphere. In this chapter, it talks about how humans affect the environment. People started to hunt and gather a long time ago. But some time after that, they learned how to grow their own stuff, agriculture. Then came industrial growth and urban development, which brings us to where we are today. There are many different types of resources, and we can classify them into groups such as renewable, nonrenewable, land, forest, fishery, air, and freshwater.

    I'd like to learn more about the different types of biomes, and what types of things are included in them. I wonder about how people are taking over the world, and are approaching carrying capacity. The Conservational Biology Project went decently well. We all worked well together, although we had trouble getting together to record the video. I learned a lot about many different ways of how Madagascar was being threatened, which is also the part that I researched. In this unit, we also worked on 20 Time. We made our first blog posts, which can be found here. After taking the self assessment, I noticed that the numbers in all four categories were the same. Therefore, I do not have a dominant conflict style.