How is energy transfer and matter cycling affected in a changing ecosystem?

Students will use a food web model to gather data and classify which roles (producer, consumer, and decomposer) each organism plays in this mountain ecosystem. In doing so, students will reason how energy and matter are impacted by the change taking place in this environment. Students will develop and use models to explain their thinking.

What does normal look like in this forest?

(20 minutes)

How does energy flow in this ecosystem?

(60 minutes)

How does energy flow change as lodgepole pines continue to die off?

(25 minutes)

How will the loss of lodgepole pines affect the energy producers in this ecosystem?

(45 minutes)