1. Ecosystems Unit Activity 2.2 The Meadow Simulation
Carbon: Transformations in Matter and Energy
Environmental Literacy Project Michigan State University
Ecosystems Unit Activity 2.2 The Meadow Simulation
Introduce the activity.
Open Lesson 2.2 Meadow Simulation PPT. Use Slide 3 to connect this Activity to the prior Activity about carbon pools. Remind students that scientists group parts of ecosystems into “pools” of carbon. Tell them that in this Activity they will be focusing on three specific organic carbon pools: the producers, herbivores, and carnivores.

2. Unit map
You are here
Use the instructional model to show students where they are in the course of the unit.
Show slide 2 of the 2.2 Meadow Simulation PPT.

3. The simulation
In the last activity you made predictions about changes in the biomass of three different populations in a meadow ecosystem
Producers: grasses
Herbivores: rabbits
Carnivores: foxes
In this activity you will use the online simulation to test your predictions
Introduce the activity.
Use slides 3-5 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.

4. Using the Meadow Simulation
Click the arrow to run the simulation.
Introduce the activity.
Use slides 3-5 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.
Change initial biomass of each population by typing in box or moving sliders. The maximum initial biomass for each population is 1000.

5. An animation of the changes in the grass, rabbit, and fox populations appears on the camera screen.
As the simulation runs, a graph of the biomass of each population over time is drawn.
The biomass of each population is represented in two different ways in this box.
Introduce the activity.
Use slides 3-5 to review the features of the online Meadow Simulation.

6. Directions
With a partner complete trials 1 & 2 (questions 1 – 5) on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet
Be ready to explain your results and your answers to the class
Do not go on until we have discussed our results as a class
Students complete trials 1 & 2 on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet.
Give each student a copy of the 2.2 Meadow Simulation Worksheet. Students should work in pairs at a computer. Use slide 6 to give the following directions:
With a partner complete trials 1 & 2 (questions 1 – 5) on the Meadow Simulation Worksheet.
Tell students: "Be ready to explain your results and your answers to the class. Do not go on until we have discussed our results as a class."

7. Trial 1 Results: What happened when we started with populations of equal biomass?
Discuss the results of trial 1 as a class.
Use Slide 7 and 8 to discuss the results of trial 1.
Use slide 7 to show the results of trial 1 (initial biomass = 500 for foxes, rabbits, and grasses). Ask students: What happened when we started with populations of equal biomass? Listen for students responses to recognize that the fox population quickly declined, the rabbit population initially declined but then returned to initial levels, and the grass population increased and then leveled off (the line graph captures this information, but students also saw it happening on real time through the “camera” image of the organisms).
Ask students: What are the relationships between the four different representations (line graph, biomass diagram, table, picture)? Make sure that they realize that all four representations are different ways to represent the amount of biomass in each of the three populations. The “camera” shows the populations in “real-time,” the line graph shows the biomass of each population at each time point, and the biomass diagram and table show the biomass of each population at selected time points. Help students connect the more concrete representation of the organisms through the camera viewer with the more abstract representations (especially the line graph and the biomass diagram).
Note to teachers: you may know the biomass diagram as the “biomass pyramid.” In the next activity students will identify this pattern, so try to refrain from calling it a pyramid at this point. Subsequent lessons will help students to develop an explanation for the biomass pyramid.
Use slide 8 to show the initial and final biomass diagrams. Ask students: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for them to explain that rabbits eat grasses and foxes eat rabbits. Probe their ideas by asking When a rabbit eats 10 pounds of grass do all 10 pounds end up as rabbit biomass? Where does the rest go? Listen to see if students remember that some of the mass of food that rabbits eat is lost as carbon dioxide and water through the process of cellular respiration. A full explanation of the biomass diagram will be the focus of lesson 3. .

8. Trial 1 Results: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram?
Initial Biomass Diagram Final Biomass Diagram
Use slide 8 to show the initial and final biomass diagrams. Ask students: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for them to explain that rabbits eat grasses and foxes eat rabbits. Probe their ideas by asking When a rabbit eats 10 pounds of grass do all 10 pounds end up as rabbit biomass? Where does the rest go? Listen to see if students remember that some of the mass of food that rabbits eat is lost as carbon dioxide and water through the process of cellular respiration. A full explanation of the biomass diagram will be the focus of lesson 3.

9. Trial 2 Results: What happened when we started with the greatest biomass in the carnivore population, less in the herbivores, and the least biomass in the producer population?
Discuss the results of trial 2 as a class.
Use slides 9 and 10 to discuss the results of trial 2.
Use Slide 9 to show the results of trial 2 (initial biomass = 1000 for foxes, 500 for rabbits, and 100 for grasses). Ask students: What happened when we started with the greatest biomass in the carnivore population, less in the herbivores, and the least biomass in the producer population? Listen for students’ responses to recognize that the foxes quickly ate all of the rabbits, so both populations died out leaving only grasses.

10. Trial 2 Results: How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram?
Initial Biomass Diagram Final Biomass Diagram
Use slide 10 to ask, How do we explain the changes in the biomass diagram? Listen for students to explain that only grasses remained and there were no herbivores, so the grass population increased.

11. Your Challenge:
Use the simulation to determine the maximum fox biomass that the meadow can support.
Choose initial conditions, run simulation, and record the final biomass of each population
Run at least 4 trials (question 7)
Write down the data and draw the biomass diagram for the trial that resulted in the highest fox biomass (question 8)
Students use simulation to determine the maximum fox biomass the meadow can support.
Use slide 11 to explain the challenge and how they should record their data on the worksheet. Students will use this data to complete the Evidence-Based Arguments Tool in Activity 2.3.