Our first project of the year was Secretary Of The Future. For this project, we had to chose a plot of land and create a policy change for it. We then had to predict what would happen to our area with and without the policy change for the next 50, 100, 300, and 1,000 years. Afterwards we had to write a proposal for a representative about our policy.
The area my group and I chose was Rush Creek, which is by Highway 101. Rush creek is a marsh with a beautiful hiking trail that runs around it. Our policy change for the area was to add chickens and eucalyptus trees to minimize ticks. The chickens will eat the ticks and the eucalyptus trees will help deter them with their odor. The coyotes in the area will keep the chicken population at a stable level by eating them.
Proposal
Email To Representative:
Concepts:
Biotic Factors: living; biological influence on organisms within an ecosystem
Abiotic Factors: nonliving; physical factor that shapes an ecosystem
Population: a group of the same species that live in the same habitat
Community: populations of different species interacting with each other
Ecosystem: how communities interact with the environment
Biodiversity: the diversity of life in a given area
Carrying Capacity: the number of organisms an area can support
Food Web: a diagram that shows the complex flows of energy through an entire ecosystem
Trophic Levels: a step in the food chain
Consumer: heterotrophs that eat other organisms for energy
Producer: autotrophs that are at the bottom of the food chain
Detritivores: heterotrophs that feed on plant and animal remains and other dead matter
Decomposer: heterotrophs that break down organic matters
Heterotroph: rely on other organisms for energy/food supply
Autotroph: use energy from environment to create their food
Resources: materials acquired from the environment for use by an organism
Climate: the average year after year conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region
Carbon Cycle: the movement of carbon through the environment
These concepts were used in our project when developed our policy change and made predictions for our plot of land.
Reflection
This was the first project of the year and I thought it went smoothly. One peak of the project was that my group was very efficient and worked hard. We would accomplish something new each work day, which resulted in us finishing before the due date. A second peak was collaboration. Usually I am more reserved and don't ask my teammates for their opinion or questions, but for this project I communicated more. I would ask for their opinion and ask both my group mates and the teacher questions. One thing I need to work on is presenting my project. When I present, I read off of the slides and don't go into detail about the subject using my background knowledge. I need to start working on presenting without reading of the slideshow and feeling confident in what I am saying and doing plenty of research in what I am presenting. Another thing I need to work on is staying positive. Sometimes if there was something that was confusing, I would give up quickly or become negative. I need to start staying positive and ready for any challenge.