Ecology Lab

Over the past few days, my Honors Environmental Science class has been learning about ecosystems and their complexity. Ecosystems have a lot of different components, and to help give us a better understanding as well as wrap up the section, we completed an ecology lab in class. For this lab, we used an online simulator of a make-believe ecosystem and completed a series of activities related to it.

The lab was broken up into two sections: one on producers and the other on food webs. For the producer section, we were given a scenario where an ecosystem was recently destroyed by a wildfire and two plants were re-emerging back into the environment. We had to use the simulator to see what would happen to these two plants as they began to grow and re-populate the ecosystem without any consumers eating them. Both plant populations started at 5,000 organisms. Over a 100 day simulation, the population of Plant A doubled in size to 10,000 organisms while Plant B went extinct. Through this simulation, I learned that co-dominance is very difficult to achieve and therefore, must be quite rare within nature. I also learned that certain environmental conditions may be more suitable for one particular species over another. 

For the next simulation, we were required to add an herbivore into the mix. Since Plant B went extinct, we were instructed to add a population of rabbits into the simulation and have them only eat Plant A. After a 100 day simulation, the population of Plant A slightly increased while Plant B was able to remain alive and only lost approximately half of its original population. Adding an herbivore into the ecosystem allowed both plants to exist and added to the overall health of the environment. 

We then moved on to the second portion of the lab on the food web. For the first activity in this section, we were instructed to add an omnivore and a predator into the mix. We had to have Predator A eat Omnivore A, Omnivore A eat Herbivore A, and Herbivore A eat Plant A. Plant B was to be left untouched by any other organism. In this 100 day simulation, the populations of Plant A and Predator A decreased while the populations of Herbivore A and Omnivore A increased. The population of Plant B remained unaffected. Here, I learned the importance of producers. They provide essential nutrients to organisms up the food chain in higher trophic levels as well as ensure the overall health of the ecosystem at large. 

In the final simulation, we were required to hit the “all on” button on the simulator. This made every single organism eat all the organisms below it. With the exception of Predator A, all other organisms either decreased in population size or went entirely extinct. I ran the 100 day simulation twice, and the result remained the same. I learned that energy flows from the lowest trophic level (producers) to the highest trophic level (highest-level consumer within an ecosystem). 

For the final portion of this lab, we were then to create an ecosystem where all organisms had to stay alive. This took a significant amount of effort and collaboration, but after what seemed like hundreds of attempts, I finally found the perfect configuration. A picture is located below. 

After I ran through all the simulators, there was a short reflection piece. Through the completion of this activity, I discovered that ecosystems are incredibly complex. Even the slightest of changes can have detrimental effects. That’s not to say that all changes are negative, but a slight shift in one thing or another can result in a major change overall. Therefore, humans must be considerate with their actions. We are currently causing lots of harm to various ecosystems across the globe. Things such as greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation have catastrophic effects and we must change our ways to live in harmony with all other living organisms on this planet.