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Seniors AP Environmental Science Packet Name_____________________________

Below is work not completed from Quarter 1 & 2.

Students have been notified of the pages you need to complete in order to earn credit via email.

A reminder you can only receive a maximum letter grade of D.

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Quarter 1

Assignment 1: Tree Killing Beetle

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Scientific Question:

What is the Hypothesis:

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Assignment 2: Replace Tragedy of the Commons assignment

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Links for Niche Partitioning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4j3ZF_wH8

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Link for 2015 Holiday lecture on Metabarcoding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVk65o7Tin4

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Assignment 3: Mung Bean Lab

Soil Salinization Lab

Background: Soil salinization is a serious threat to agriculture. Excessive salinity costs the United States billions of dollars each year. As new land comes into use, it is often in arid areas, which are highly susceptible to the problems associated with soil salinization. Irrigation water contains a variety of dissolved salts including NaCl, MgCl2, Cacl2, etc. When a field is irrigated, much of the water can evaporate, leaving these salts behind as a thin layer on top. Overtime, salts build up on fields until the soil is so salty (salinized) that seeds will no longer germinate in the soil.

In this lab, you will test the following concentrations of salt on radish seeds: 0% (distilled water), 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 5%

Problem: How does increasing salt concentration affect the germination of plants?

Hypothesis: (Use the words increasing/decreasing in your hypothesis) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the control in this experiment? ______________________________________________________ What is the experimental group? _______________________________________________________________ What is the independent variable? _________________________________________________________ What is the dependent variable? ____________________________________________________________ What are our constants? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Materials: Sandwich plastic bag Graduated Cylinder 5% NaCl solution beakers Distilled water Seeds (mung beans or radish) Paper Towels ruler

Procedure: Day 1 1. You will test the following concentrations of salt on mung beans: 0% (distilled water), 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 5%

2. Obtain 6 Plastic bags. Label with the 6 concentrations to be tested. 3. Place 5 seeds in between two small paper towels in each plastic bag.

Day 4

1. Open plastic bags and observe how many of the mung beans germinated. Record in your data. Figure percentages.

2. With a ruler, measure the length in mm of each sprout. Record.

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Data:

Concentration of Number of beans Percentage of beans germinated Length of Sprout in mm

Day

NaCl germinated

Analysis: Create 2 graphs. • Graph the relationship between the concentration of NaCl and Percentage of mung beans germinated. • Graph the relationship between the concentration of NaCl and the length of the sprouts. Make sure you label your axes and title your graphs (with a phrase or sentence). Make your graphs on a separate sheet of graph paper and attach.

Lab Conclusion

Write the following conclusion following the Science Writing Guidelines. Use complex sentences in all sections. 1. Introductory statement with the problem and

hypothesis. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Summary of experiment with results. In your summary, ALSO

• Explain whether the results of the lab confirm or refute the hypothesis. • Discuss the experimental design (dependent variable, independent variable, hypothesis).

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Describe any real or possible error. If you had real error, explain why this error occurred. If no error occurred, explain why another group had error or theorize where error could occur. Be specific and do not describe a math error--instead re-do the

math. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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4. Paraphrase and cite the textbook or other reference material (pg. #, title and author) and explain whether the results of this lab confirm or refute the scientific concepts in the

material. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MLA Citation:

5. Provide a concluding statement that is evidence-based (facts and data). Remember, no opinions or feelings. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Assignment 4: Quarter 1 Current Event Summary

· You will collect and summarize one new article.

· Each article must be at least three paragraphs long and selected from reputable news sources

· You must provide a copy of the article or hyperlink to the online source.

For each article, you must write or type a 1-2 page (approximate) response in the following way:

1. SUMMARY: Provide a BRIEF summary of the article – what does the author say happened and why. One short (5-8

sentences) paragraph. Who are the stakeholders? What are the environmental problems/impacts? What possible solutions

are there?

2. ANALYSIS: Give an analysis of the article. Look for bias and “authority.” Go through the list of tools to use when

reading in order to determine if this article can be considered valid, or do you have questions about its validity. As a

template, you can start by answering the following questions:

a. Who Says So? – is there any place where there is bias?

b. How does he/she Know? – what is the data, ‘facts’, analysis presented? Is this biased?

c. What’s missing? – this one is not in the article. Is there anything else you can think of that would add to your

understanding of what is being presented? Think of contrary data.

d. Do they change the subject rapidly, without answering the question? – (if not, don’t write an answer for this question –

it’s just something to keep in mind. If they do change the subject, what does that say about the validity of the research

being presented?)

3. REFLECTION: This is the longest section. It is your opinion of the research based on the article, your analysis of the

article, and your prior knowledge! You will relate what is being presented in the article to what we have covered in class.

a. Does it make sense? Does what they are presenting make sense with their data/evidence and what you already know.

b. How does it relate to what we have covered in class? Be specific and provide details from material covered in class.

This is where you can incorporate #4 below.

c. Do you agree with the methods or findings? Why or why not? This is your opinion, but provide data or information

presented in the paper to support your opinion. You must be informed.

d. How would you confirm or disprove these results? Give a short outline of a different experiment that you would do

where these results could be confirmed or disproved.

4. VOCABULARY Identify at least 3 environmental science terms, concepts, laws, etc. used in the article: Please

underline or highlight these. For each item you identify, provide an explanation and/or definition.

Grade: Content of the review (what you say) is much more important than length. I am looking for thoughtful and

insightful comments, highlighting connections between what you already know and what you are learning. I do not want

to read a re-telling of the gory details of each article – just the key points that support the topic, point of view and purpose,

etc as described above. After all, you are including a copy of the article. Feel free to mark up and highlight the article if it

helps you. By the way, the topic is usually found in the article title.

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Assignment 5: Quarter 1 Field Work

A minimum of 2 hours of fieldwork. Fieldwork can be volunteering, advocacy, or

something similar. Some ideas are listed below.

You need to document your experience with a picture or something equivalent. I

also need a description of the activity as well as the date and time. This should be

submitted via Google Classroom.

OPTIONS:

1) Community service or stewardship related to the environment, such as Clean the

Bay Day. Pick up trash around your neighborhood and document time start and

finish and image of trash collected.

2) Watch an environmental documentary and write a 250 word summary of the

video

3) Outdoor recreation: take a hike, go kayaking or stand up paddle boarding. Even

better take family along and get them to appreciate the outdoors! Document start

and end time with a picture.

4) Create a found art /trash to treasure project using recycled/upcycled items. Can

only do this once. Worth 2 hours.

5) Volunteer at the zoo, Nauticus, school, or some other similar organization.

6) Advocate for an environmental cause/issue you believe in—write letters to your

local, state, or federal representatives or newspaper about the issue. A copy of the

letter would suffice as documentation for this, but depending on the case may only

equate to 1 hour.

7) Conduct some sort of environmental science study—collect samples to study

particulates in the air. Test water quality at a nearby water source. Test drinking

water from multiple sources.

Upload work to Google Classroom.

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Quarter 2

Assignment 1: Natures seeds lab

Nature’s Seeds

Objective: To visualize the intangible concept of energy (First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics) using a concrete process, a

relay race using seeds.

1st Law of Thermodynamics: Often called the Law of Conservation of Energy. This Law states that energy cannot be created or

destroyed, it just changes forms as it is transferred from one level to another. Thus, the total amount of energy available in any

system is constant.

2nd Law of Thermodynamics: As energy changes form, it moves from more useful forms to less useful forms. It gets degraded

as it moves from a higher energy state to a lower energy state (usually heat). Energy flows in one irreversible direction. It

cannot be recycled or reused.

This law also predicts entropy. Entropy is the measure of disorder in a system. Because heat is lost when energy is transferred,

entropy always increases with time. Eventually, because of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, energy in the Universe is becoming

less useful over time.

In this activity, you will run a relay race.

• Divide into two groups, and line up facing each other. Spread out slightly more than arm’s length apart.

• Groups should be sorted from the tallest to the shortest. The tallest person likely has the largest hands, and the shortest

the smallest.

• Each group represents a “food chain.”

• The person with the biggest hands (can hold the most energy) goes first. The person with the smallest hands goes last.

Procedure:

1. Record the original volume of the seeds in the beaker in Table 1.

2. One person in each group will be the timer. Set a stopwatch to zero.

3. Start time, and the Timer will pour the entire beaker of seeds onto the hands of the First Person. First Person moves as

fast as possible to pass the seeds to the Next Person in line, all the way to the Last Person. Try to beat the row across

from you! Best time wins!

4. Last Person holds onto the seeds. Pour it back in the beaker and bring it inside. We

will measure and record the new volume in Table 1. Timer records end time in Table

2.

Data:

Recall that: % Change = [(new –

original)/original] X 100

GROUP ORIG

MASS

Seeds

(g)

NEW

MASS

Seeds

(g)

ORIG

VOL

Seeds

(ml)

NEW

VOL

Seeds

(ml)

NET

LOSS

(g)

%

LOSS

1 100 g 8g n/a n/a

2 120g 11g n/a n/a

GROUP TIME

1 10 s

2 12s

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Analysis:

1. What do the seeds represent?

2. What does the handing off of the seeds represent?

3. What law is simulated when the seeds are handed off to the nearest member of the “food chain”?

4. What would happened to the next organism if the seeds were not handed off?

5. What law is simulated when the seeds fall, either as you rush or as you hand off the seeds to the next trophic level?

6. What do the seeds on the ground represent?

7. Within a food web, how much energy is actually transferred from one trophic level to another? Take a guess if you aren’t sure.

8. Draw a real-life example of a food chain with at least 4 trophic levels in the space below.

What is the source of energy for this chain?

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Examine the pyramid shown below, and answer the question that follows.

Based on your understanding of the laws of energy, why is it so important to protect producers?

Biomass Population

Decreases Decrease

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Assignment 2: Owl Pellet Lab

Watch these two videos

https://youtu.be/_PfjN2ZSmdA

https://youtu.be/JdrbSzC6Jcg

Explore

An owl is approximately 43-50 cm (17-20 in) long with a wingspan of 99-110 cm (39-43 in) and has a mass of about 0.8

kg. Owls are nocturnal raptors that feed on small mammals, birds and reptiles. Owls swallow their food whole or if too

big, may tear it into chunks. Owls are not able to digest hair, bones or feathers. The owl digestive system has a

specialized section that presses the undigested portions together forming a pellet. Since the owls can not pass the pellet

through their digestive system, they must spit out the pellet. Owls spit out 2.5 pellets per day on average.

Prey Length (cm) Number

Found

Number eaten

per day

Number eaten

per week

Number eaten

per year

Mouse/Vole 6.5 to 9.8 0

Mole 12 to 14 0

Shrew 8 0

Rat 40 2

Bird 15 0

Total

Explain

Use your data to help analyze the amount of biomass (food) needed at lower trophic levels to support your owl.

A. Create a Numbers Pyramid for the owl based on the number eaten per year with one owl on the top with total

annual number of all prey below. Use the assumption that an owl produces an average of 2.5 pellets per day.

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B. Use the following facts about the prey to draw a food web that is representative of your pellet

Prey Diet

Mouse/vole Insects and other invertebrates, seeds, fruits, flowers, nuts, and other plant products.

Mole Earthworms, centipedes, millipedes, snails, slugs, grubs, ants, sowbugs, termites, beetles, and crickets

Shrew Beetles, grasshoppers, butterfly and moth larvae, wasps, crickets, spiders, snails, earthworms, slugs, centipedes,

and millipedes. Shrews also eat small birds, mice, small snakes, plants

Rat The rat's diet typically includes seeds, nuts, grains, vegetables, fruits, fungi, and insects.

Bird Insects, arthropods, seeds, grains nuts, fruit

Draw your food web here.

● Arrows point the direction energy is flowing (toward the predator) ● Do NOT write “seed” or “flower, etc.” Those are not organisms. Instead, write “plant”.

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C. Use this chart to calculate Biomass eaten. Transfer the last column of your data chart to the second column below. Then multiple

that number times the third column-- mass (g). Then convert from g to kg. Next, multiple the mass of prey (kg) with the annual food

(kg) eat/kg of prey to get the biomass eaten in kg. Add the two columns to get the two totals needed for part D.

Prey Number

eaten per

year

Mass (g) Mass of

Prey (g)

Mass of

Prey (kg)

Annual Food (kg)

Eaten/kg of prey

Biomass Eaten

(kg)

Mouse/vole 20 45.6 kg

Mole 55 365 kg

Shrew 5 1168 kg

Rat 240 12.8 kg

Bird 20 127 kg

Total Total

D. Use the chart above to create a Biomass Pyramid. For the top carnivore level you need to see the opening paragraph to find the

mass of Barn Owl. For the herbivore level use the total Mass of Prey (kg). For the producer level, use the Total Biomass

Eaten (kg).

Elaborate

1. Calculate about how many TIMES more energy is at the Producer level (1st trophic level) vs. Herbivore (2nd) level. To calculate, divide the 1st trophic level by the 2nd trophic level and round. Show your work!

How much more energy is at the herbivore level (2nd) vs. the top carnivore (3rd) level?

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2. Calculate how much energy is lost going from the 1st and 2nd trophic level. Use percent change to calculate. To

find percent change: Starting amount-ending amount / starting amount X 100. Show your work!

How much energy is lost from the 2nd to the 3rd trophic level?

3. Your textbook says 90% of the energy is lost as you go up a trophic level. Are your results 90%? Why or why not? What can you infer?

4. According to the 1st law of thermodynamics, energy is never lost, it just changes form. We say that energy is “lost” as you go up a trophic level, but it’s really not. Explain what we mean using the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

5. Predict what might happen to the owl if a disease wiped out a lot of the rat population. Be specific using information about populations.

6. Think of and describe another cause and effect situation that could occur using these organisms and populations.

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Evaluate

Lab Conclusion

Write the following conclusion in paragraph form following the Science Writing Guidelines. Use complex sentences in all sections.

1. Introductory statement with the purpose.

2. Summary of experiment with results.

3. Describe any real or possible error. If you had real error, explain why this error occurred. If no error occurred,

explain why another group had error or theorize where error could occur. Be specific and do not describe a math

error--instead re-do the math.

4. Paraphrase and cite the textbook or other reference material (pg. #, title and author) and explain whether the

results of this lab confirm or refute the scientific concepts in the material.

5. Provide a concluding statement that is evidence-based (facts and data). Remember, no opinions or feelings.

6. Write a Formal MLA for the text or reference material

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Assignment 3: Dimensional analysis

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1.

2.

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3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

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Assignment 4: Island Biogeography Lab

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1.

2.

3.

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4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

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Assignment 5: Environmentally Tacky Sweater

Fill in sweater with an environmental theme.

Environmentally Friendly Tacky Sweater

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Assignment 6: World on the Edge: Chapter 3—Eroding Soils and Expanding Deserts

Article is after the questions

http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/book_files/wotebook.pdf

Why does Lester Brown call topsoil the “foundation of civilization”?

Why is soil erosion the “silent global crisis”?

Briefly explain how desertification occurs and dust bowls are formed (see p. 37).

List three regions or countries affected by soil degradation and desertification and give 2 pieces of data that

support the claim.

1.

2.

3.

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1

2

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3

4

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5

6

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Assignment 7: Unit 4 Progress Check

oil texture chart, determine the following soil textures using the percentages given.

Soil Textural Triangle Practice Exercises

% Sand % Silt % Clay Texture Name

75 10 15 Sandy loam

10 83 7

20 20 70

42 37

52 21

35 50

64 30

50 40

36 Clay loam

Silty clay

Loamy sand

Silt loam

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Assignment 8: Quarter 2 Current Event Summary

· You will collect and summarize one new article.

· Each article must be at least three paragraphs long and selected from reputable news sources

· You must provide a copy of the article or hyperlink to the online source.

For each article, you must write or type a 1-2 page (approximate) response in the following way:

1. SUMMARY: Provide a BRIEF summary of the article – what does the author say happened and why. One short (5-8

sentences) paragraph. Who are the stakeholders? What are the environmental problems/impacts? What possible solutions

are there?

2. ANALYSIS: Give an analysis of the article. Look for bias and “authority.” Go through the list of tools to use when

reading in order to determine if this article can be considered valid, or do you have questions about its validity. As a

template, you can start by answering the following questions:

a. Who Says So? – is there any place where there is bias?

b. How does he/she Know? – what is the data, ‘facts’, analysis presented? Is this biased?

c. What’s missing? – this one is not in the article. Is there anything else you can think of that would add to your

understanding of what is being presented? Think of contrary data.

d. Do they change the subject rapidly, without answering the question? – (if not, don’t write an answer for this question –

it’s just something to keep in mind. If they do change the subject, what does that say about the validity of the research

being presented?)

3. REFLECTION: This is the longest section. It is your opinion of the research based on the article, your analysis of the

article, and your prior knowledge! You will relate what is being presented in the article to what we have covered in class.

a. Does it make sense? Does what they are presenting make sense with their data/evidence and what you already know.

b. How does it relate to what we have covered in class? Be specific and provide details from material covered in class.

This is where you can incorporate #4 below.

c. Do you agree with the methods or findings? Why or why not? This is your opinion, but provide data or information

presented in the paper to support your opinion. You must be informed.

d. How would you confirm or disprove these results? Give a short outline of a different experiment that you would do

where these results could be confirmed or disproved.

4. VOCABULARY Identify at least 3 environmental science terms, concepts, laws, etc. used in the article: Please

underline or highlight these. For each item you identify, provide an explanation and/or definition.

Grade: Content of the review (what you say) is much more important than length. I am looking for thoughtful and

insightful comments, highlighting connections between what you already know and what you are learning. I do not want

to read a re-telling of the gory details of each article – just the key points that support the topic, point of view and purpose,

etc as described above. After all, you are including a copy of the article. Feel free to mark up and highlight the article if it

helps you. By the way, the topic is usually found in the article title.

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Assignment 9: Quarter 2 Field Work

A minimum of 2 hours of fieldwork. Fieldwork can be volunteering, advocacy, or

something similar. Some ideas are listed below.

You need to document your experience with a picture or something equivalent. I

also need a description of the activity as well as the date and time. This should be

submitted via Google Classroom.

OPTIONS:

1) Community service or stewardship related to the environment, such as Clean the

Bay Day. Pick up trash around your neighborhood and document time start and

finish and image of trash collected.

2) Watch an environmental documentary and write a 250 word summary of the

video

3) Outdoor recreation: take a hike, go kayaking or stand up paddle boarding. Even

better take family along and get them to appreciate the outdoors! Document start

and end time with a picture.

4) Create a found art /trash to treasure project using recycled/upcycled items. Can

only do this once. Worth 2 hours.

5) Volunteer at the zoo, Nauticus, school, or some other similar organization.

6) Advocate for an environmental cause/issue you believe in—write letters to your

local, state, or federal representatives or newspaper about the issue. A copy of the

letter would suffice as documentation for this, but depending on the case may only

equate to 1 hour.

7) Conduct some sort of environmental science study—collect samples to study

particulates in the air. Test water quality at a nearby water source. Test drinking

water from multiple sources.

Upload work to Google Classroom.

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Unit 2 & 4 Alternative test assignment:

Write a 1000-word research paper on Biodiversity’s role in environmental science, detailing

negative and positive impacts.

-Use peer reviewed sources for this paper.

-Must cite sources

-plagiarism will result in a zero

___________________________________________________________________________

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