Name: Date:
Student Exploration: Forest Ecosystem
Vocabulary: consumer, decomposer, inorganic, organic, organism, population, producer
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. When a rancher puts cattle in a pasture, what happens to the amount of grass in it? amount
of grass will decrease
2. If someone adds millions of small fish to a lake, how would the number of big fish change?
the number of big fish will increase
Gizmo Warm-up
The Forest Ecosystem Gizmo™ shows you the effects of
adding organisms to, or taking them from, a forest. An
organism is any living thing. To start, do the following:
● Press Reset on the Gizmo.
● Click Advance year a couple times to see two
years of growth.
● Remove all deer from the forest by clicking the
minus (-) button until none remain.
● Click Advance year a couple more times.
1. Select the DATA tab. Select Pictograph and click the Tree to show the size of the tree
population for the past several years. How did removing deer affect the tree population?
Why do you think this happened? the amount of trees increased because the deers weren't
eating from the trees
2. Under Choose organism, select the Mushroom. How did losing deer affect the mushroom
population? Explain why this occurred. the mushrooms increased because there weren't any
deer to eat the mushrooms.
Student Exploration: Forest Ecosystem
Vocabulary: consumer, decomposer, inorganic, organic, organism, population, producer
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. When a rancher puts cattle in a pasture, what happens to the amount of grass in it? amount
of grass will decrease
2. If someone adds millions of small fish to a lake, how would the number of big fish change?
the number of big fish will increase
Gizmo Warm-up
The Forest Ecosystem Gizmo™ shows you the effects of
adding organisms to, or taking them from, a forest. An
organism is any living thing. To start, do the following:
● Press Reset on the Gizmo.
● Click Advance year a couple times to see two
years of growth.
● Remove all deer from the forest by clicking the
minus (-) button until none remain.
● Click Advance year a couple more times.
1. Select the DATA tab. Select Pictograph and click the Tree to show the size of the tree
population for the past several years. How did removing deer affect the tree population?
Why do you think this happened? the amount of trees increased because the deers weren't
eating from the trees
2. Under Choose organism, select the Mushroom. How did losing deer affect the mushroom
population? Explain why this occurred. the mushrooms increased because there weren't any
deer to eat the mushrooms.
