Bio 9B: Thursday, 5.13.10 Title: Introduction to Watersheds

Homework:1. Complete the “Design a Town” Analysis Questions2. Read pgs. 74-75 in the textbook. In your notebook, answer

the questions on the back of the assignment sheet.

Do Now(s): We are beginning our last unit of the year:

Ecology/Environmental Science. In your notebook, write down anything you KNOW or

WANT TO KNOW about these topics.

Today’s Objective: Design a town along a river with specific features and

elements.

Design A Town

• Build your Town along a river• The town needs to have the following elements:

• Roads• Factory• Power Plant• Shopping Mall• Places for people to live: Houses, Apartment

Developments, etc.• Farm• Sewage Plant• Forest• Outside Swimming Area (pond, lake, swimming hole)

• In your notebooks respond to the following:• Why did you put these elements where you did? • Was there disagreement among the team about where

to put these things? Why? Explain

Examples of your town’s features/ elements

Factory

Sewer Treatment Plant

Places People Live

Mall Power Plant

Farm

Design A Town Wrap-up

Now that all of the towns are put together, what trends do you notice about the how teams planned their towns?

Which seem to be the best town designs? Why?

What are some issues that could arise between neighboring towns?

Bio 9B: Friday, 5.14.10 Title: Ecosystems & Nutrient Cycles Day 1: Water Cycle & Watersheds

Homework: The HW listed on the assignment sheet is now due TUESDAY. Do it over the weekend if you want, or save it for Monday

night! Have a great weekend!

Do Now(s): What do you think a “watershed” is? Even if you’ve never

heard the word before, write down anything that comes to mind when you hear the word “watershed.”

Today’s Objectives: Design a town along a river with specific features and

elements.

ECOLOGY: ECOSYSTEMS & NUTRIENT CYCLES

PHA Biology 2009

Moretti/ Dickson

Ecosystems & Nutrient CyclesEcosystem – a collection of all the organisms

that live in a particular place, plus the non-living components of their environment

Nutrient – a chemical substance needed for life Made of the 6 common elements in living things

(CHNOPS) Ex: Water, Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen

Nutrients cycle through ecosystems – they aren’t created or destroyed, just transformed and recycled!

The Water Cycle

The Water Cycle

Water moves through ecosystems by… Precipitation Run-off (over the land) Infiltration/seepage (soaks into

ground) Evaporation Transpiration (evaporation

through plants/trees) Condensation

Precipitation & run-off can carry other nutrients, sediments (soil particles) and pollutants with it

These things build up as water flows downstream (think back to Design a Town)

An area of land that drains to reach a particular body of water (River, Stream, Lake, Pond, Ocean, etc.) 

Watershed -

http://www.recycleworks.org/images/watershed_800.jpg

Watershed Demo

In which direction(s) does water flow? How many separate watersheds are

there? What forms the boundaries between

different watersheds? How do different land surfaces and

topography affect water movement?

Watershed -

An area of land that drains to reach a particular body of water (River, Stream, Lake, Pond, Ocean, etc.) 

•Watershed Boundaries = Hills & Mountains• They direct the path of water movement• The speed of water movement is affected by topography

and land surfaces

•Watersheds are usually named after the main body of water in the watershed (Ex: Charles River watershed = all land that drains into the Charles)

• They vary in size• Every large watershed is composed of many smaller

watersheds• MA has 28 Distinct Watersheds that feed 6 River Basins

Wherever you are…you are in a watershed!

Mississippi Watershed

Image: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1998/of98-177/basnmap.gif

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Our Immediate Watershed: The Charles River

•80 miles long •Flows directly through 23 towns and cities in eastern Massachusetts•35 towns and cities comprise the Charles River watershed. •Begins at Echo Lake in Hopkinton and ends in the Boston Harbor.

•20 Dams along its length•The Charles River drains an area 308 square miles (its watershed).  •There are 20 species of fish found in the Charles River

Info and Image: http://www.crwa.org/watershed.html

What does the landscape look like? Hopkinton, MA

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/276761075_791fa7d454.jpg?v=0

Image: http://www.mass.gov/envir/smart_growth_toolkit/images/hopkinton-loc.gif

Getting Closer to home…

Image: http://esplanadeassociation.org/park/images/CRWABasinMap_000.jpg

What does the landscape look like?

Cambridge, MAhttp://www.skypic.com/sports/1-5382.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/0/05/20070902101525!Cambridge_ma_highlight.png

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/11/11.001j/f01/lectureimages/13/13002.JPG

Bio 9B: Monday, 5.17.10 Title: Mini-Lab – Human Impacts on Watershed Dynamics

Homework: Read the top of page 76 (Nutrient Cycles but not Carbon

Cycle) and pages 78-80. In your notebook, answer the questions on the back of

assignment sheet.

Do Now(s): Take out your notebook and write today’s title. We need

start with the lab immediately!

Today’s Objectives: Describe how different types of land surfaces affect the

flow of water.

Mini-Lab: Human Impacts on Watershed Dynamics

In this lab we will explore how different land surfaces affect the flow of water.

You will be in groups of 4 (the people sitting at your table) Divide into the following 4 Jobs for Group Members:

Facilitator - Read the instructions aloud to the group. Task manager - Make sure everyone is doing their jobs and staying on task. Rainman (or woman) - When instructed by the facilitator, using the water

bottle to create rain on the hill. Landscape Developer - When instructed by the facilitator, make changes in

the landscape.

Facilitator: Read the instructions to facilitate the completion of the lab. Make sure everyone is making observations as they move

through the lab. Everyone:

Complete the Analysis Questions at the end of the lab.