GIZMOS Student Exploration: Coral Reefs 1 – Abiotic FactorS

1/8 Name: Guiomar Gonzalez Date: 4/13 Student Exploration: Coral Reefs 1 – Abiotic Factors Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes. Vocabulary: consumer, coral, coral bleaching, coral reef, filter feeder, food chain, food web, grazer, nutrients, ocean acidification, pH, plankton, predator, producer, sediment, zooxanthellae Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) 1. Look at the graph to the right. What does it show? Percentage of coral in Caribbean Reefs 2. Why do you think corals have declined since 1977? maybe climate change Gizmo Warm -up Coral reefs are some of the most diverse habitats on Earth, home to over a quarter of all marine species. The Coral Reefs Gizmo provides a simplified model of interactions among 10 key species in Caribbean reefs. In the Coral Reefs 1 exploration, you will focus on the effects of environmental factors on Caribbean reefs. 1. Click Advance year 10 times. Look carefully at the composition of the reef over time. Do you see any major changes? nothing much 2. Select the DATA tab. Check that Staghorn coral, Star coral, Sponges, and Algae are selected. Populations are given as a percentage of normal populations. What do you notice about these populations? They’re all mostly at the same level in the percentage of normal population 3. On the right side of the Gizmo, select the SUMMARY tab. In a healthy reef, what are the values for Nutrient load, Water clarity, Coral cover, and the total number of fish species? Nutrient 4ppt Water 94% Coral 49% Total fish 442 load: clarity: cover: species: 2/8 Activity A: The Caribbean reef ecosystem Get the Gizmo ready: ● On the CONDITIONS tab, click Return to original settings. Click Restart. ● Select the CORAL REEF tab. Introduction: A healthy Caribbean reef is home to over 50 species of coral and over 400 fish species. In this simplified model, we only consider the interactions of ten important species. Question: How do different species interact in a healthy coral reef? 1. Describe: On the CORAL REEF tab, click on each organism shown in the table below. For each organism, give its name and what it eats (or how it obtains energy). Picture Name What it eats (or how it obtains energy) staghorn coral photosynthesis boulder star coral photosynthesis sponges plankton algae shallow nutrient rich water stoplight parrotfish algae queen angelfish sponges yellow tail snapper young fish, shrimp, crabs, worms nassau grouper reef fish such as snappers, angelfish, parrotfish long spined sea urchin algae hawksbill sea turtle sponges 2. Corals obtain energy from tiny photosynthetic algae, called zooxanthellae, which live inside the coral’s tissue. How do you think corals would be affected by cloudy, muddy water? the zooxanthellae would die because they wouldn't get any sunlight