Unit 7 Reflection

This unit was about ecology, which is the study of the interaction between organisms and their environment. The big ideas of ecology are homeostasis/equilibrium and interdependence. What this means is basically that environments are healthiest when they are in balance, and all living things in an ecosystem are dependent on each other.

Specifically, we learned about the difference between a habitat, which is the area where an organism lives, and a niche, which includes the factors a species needs; abiotic (nonliving) and biotic (living) factors; the levels of organization for ecosystems; the different types of producers/autotrophs and consumers/heterotrophs, including herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores; the difference between food chains and food webs; the five trophic levels of primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and quaternary consumers; biomass, the unit of energy in an ecosystem; and energy pyramids, which show how energy is transferred, even though only 10% of energy in one level is passed on to the next.



Later, we also learned about population ecology, the study of populations in relation to the environment, including density, the number of individuals in a unit area, and dispersion, the pattern of spacing of these individuals; the many factors that affect populations; the difference between exponential and logistic growth due to the carrying capacity; ecological succession, either primary or secondary, in which communities respond to disturbances; the order of succession from disturbance to pioneer species to intermediate species to climax community and back again; the four nutrient cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous; the three different types of biodiversity; background versus mass extinctions; the causes of species loss; and the ways that we can help conserve the environment.



I want to learn more about ways to save the environment. For example, I noticed that last unit, we learned about biotech. I was wondering if biotech could be implemented to conserve the environment. I already know that biotech can be used to clone animals, so I wonder if cloning endangered or threatened animals is a plausible solution to extinction.

The major project of this unit, the conservation biology project, went pretty well. We collaborated as a group together well, so we were able to complete the project fairly quickly, although we did reach some time constraints during the end of the project. Also, at the beginning, we struggled a bit with dividing the tasks between all of us, but we eventually sorted it out. I learned a lot about the ecosystem of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

According to the self-assessment questions, my dominant conflict style is aggressive, which is just a point higher than assertive. However, none of my scores are in the 15-20 range, which supposedly indicates passivity.

• Assertive: 13
• Aggressive: 14
• Passive: 9
• Passive Agressive: 11

After watching this video on being more assertive, I have decided that in order to be more assertive, I will think about my responses and the consequences of my actions.