CoralReef182Copy

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2019 Name: Ishtar Camila Fregoso Date: 04, 20, 2024 Student Exploration: Coral Reefs 1 – Abiotic Factors 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? The coral in the caribbean decreasing 2. Why do you think corals have declined since 1977? Pollution from the environment, overfishing, buildings 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? Not many 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? Populations are given as a percentage of normal populations 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 load: 4ppt Water clarity: 94% Coral cover: 49% Total fish species:441

2019 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) Stage Horn coral Photosynthesis symbiotic, algae Boulder star coral sponge filters feeder, plankton algae photosynthesis stoplight parrot fish algae queen angelfish sponge yellowtail snapper shrimps, crabs, worms, younger fish nassau grouper snippers, angelfish, parrot fish 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 coral would not be able to multiply as much as photosynthesis (Activity A continued on next page)

2019 Activity A (continued from previous page) 3. Classify : A producer is an organism that makes its own energy, usually from sunlight. A consumer is an organism that gets energy by feeding on other organisms. A. Which of the reef organisms in this Gizmo are producers? The coral reef producers, are coral, zooanthellae, and algae B. Which of the reef organisms are consumers? The reed consumers are snappers, grouper, parrotfish, angelfish, urchins, and sea turtles. C. Consumers in the reef can be further classified as filter feeders , or organisms that eat plankton by filtering water; grazers , or organisms that feed on organisms that don’t move; and predators , or organisms that eat other animals. List at least one example of each. Filter feeders: Sponges Grazers: Urchin Predators: Grouper 4. Create : A food chain is a series that shows which organisms obtain energy from other organisms. For example, the food chain “grass → mouse → hawk” means that the mouse eats grass and the hawk eats the mouse. Create two possible food chains for the Caribbean coral reef based on what you have learned about the ten organisms in this Gizmo. Food chain 1: Algae, spotlight parrotfish, nassan grouper Food chain 2:Sponges, queen angelfish, nassan grouper 5. Challenge : A food web is a more complicated diagram that shows the feeding relationships of all the organisms in the ecosystem. As with a food chain, an arrow pointing from species A to species B indicates species B gets its energy from species A. In the diagram at right, create a food web by drawing arrows to show which organisms obtain energy from others.

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2019 Activity B: Ocean conditions Get the Gizmo ready : ● On the CONDITIONS tab, Click Return to original settings and Restart . Check that Ocean conditions is selected on the dropdown menu. Introduction: In recent decades, global climate change has altered ocean conditions in the Caribbean. Average surface temperatures have risen about 0.25 °C – 0.5 °C. Many scientists think climate change will lead to stronger storms and may cause the ocean to be more acidic. Question: How are coral reefs affected by storms, high temperatures, and acidic water? 1. Predict : Coral reefs in the Caribbean are sometimes damaged by hurricanes. Of the two types of coral shown, which do you think is more resistant to storm damage? Explain. The boulder star will resist storming damage because of the hard shell 2. Observe : Set the Storm severity to 50%. Click Advance year 10 times. What changes do you notice? Stag-horn coral popped and decreased a lot. The boulder star coral declines slightly 3. Analyze : On the DATA tab, select Staghorn coral , Star coral , Sponges , and Algae . Which organism was most hurt by increased storms, and why do you think this is so? Staghorn coral because it has fragile branches that are easy to sway 4. Predict : In the Caribbean, water temperatures typically range from 24 °C to 30 °C. What do you think might happen if temperatures rise much higher than 30 °C? Many organisms may die due to the adaptation to their environment 5. Observe : Select the CORAL REEF tab. Click Return to original settings and Restart . Set the Ocean temperature to 33 °C. Click Advance year 10 times. A. What changes do you notice? Many of the populations decreased including stag- horn coral , boulder star coral, and sponges. B. The white corals you see have undergone coral bleaching . At high temperatures, corals may lose their zooxanthellae, causing corals to lose their color and their main source of food. Once bleaching occurs, the coral colony usually dies. C. Select the DATA tab. Which coral is most affected by bleaching? The stag-horn coral (Activity B continued on next page)

2019 Activity B (continued from previous page) 6. Analyze : On the DATA tab, select every organism. In general, how does the decline in corals affect the other organisms on the reef? The decline in the coral affects the other organisms because as they die out there is nothing for them to eat. 7. Predict : The pH of a solution is a measure of how acidic or basic it is. The greater the pH, the more basic the solution is. Corals and other marine invertebrates require less energy to make their exoskeletons and shells when ocean water is slightly basic. As carbon dioxide concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere rise, ocean water absorbs carbon dioxide and becomes more acidic. This process is called ocean acidification . How do you think ocean acidification will affect coral reefs? It will affect them by the carbon dioxide rising and the organi sms could die out 8. Observe : Click Return to original conditions and Restart . Set the Ocean pH to 7.6. Click Advance year 20 times. What changes do you see on the CORAL REEF and DATA tabs? On the coral reef tab, there are fewer fish. On the data tab the stag-horn population decreased 9. Observe : Select the SUMMARY tab. How has the loss of coral affected the number of fish species present on the reef? The loss of coral affected the number of species present because the population went down from to 441 to 28 10. Summarize : Many scientists predict stronger storms, warmer oceans, and lower ocean pH in the future. If this occurs, how do you think these changes will affect Caribbean coral reefs? Test your ideas using the Gizmo The organisms in the coral reef will die out because they are not adapted to the new environment. 11. Apply : In the 1970s, staghorn corals dominated Caribbean reefs. Since that time, staghorn corals have declined by over 90% and are now classified as critically endangered. What do you think are the causes of this decline, and why do you think staghorns are so vulnerable? They are vulnerable because of the harmful organisms that can hurt them or from storms and the inability of their branches to withstand breaking off. Activity C: Land use Get the Gizmo ready : ● On the CONDITIONS tab, click Return to original settings and Restart . Select Land use .

2019 Introduction: Corals depend on ample sunlight, warm (but not too warm) temperatures, clear water, and low levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Algae and sponges, on the other hand, thrive in water that is higher in nutrients. Logging, agriculture, and other human activities can add excess nutrients and sediments (small dirt particles) to the sea. Question: How do changes in land use affect reefs? 1. Observe : Select the SUMMARY tab. Under normal conditions, what is the sediment load, nutrient load, and water clarity? 5 ppt, 4 ppt, 94 % 2. The sediment load and nutrient load are measured in parts per thousand (ppt). It can affect the coral reef by an accident: a log falls in and hurts an animal or if they eat it, it could kill them. 3. Predict : Logging removes vegetation that anchors soil and prevents erosion. How do you think logging will affect a coral reef? Explain. It can affect the coral reef by an accident a log falls in and hurts an animal or if they eat it, it could kill them. 4. Observe : On the CONDITIONS tab, set Logging to 50%. Select the SUMMARY tab. What is the sediment load, nutrient load, and water clarity? 155 ppt, 8 ppt, 75% 5. Observe : Click Advance year 10 times. What changes do you notice? I didn’t observe any changes 6. Analyze : On the DATA tab, select Staghorn coral , Star coral , Sponges , Algae , Stoplight parrotfish , Queen angelfish , and Long-spined sea urchin . A. Which species were hurt the most by logging? Queen angelfish B. Which species were helped most by logging? Stoplight parrotfish C. Why do you think the populations of parrotfish and long-spined sea urchins changed the way they did? They weren’t getting enough nutrients of water clarity (Activity C continued on next page)

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2019 Activity C (continued from previous page) 7. Observe : Click Restart . On the CONDITIONS tab, set Logging to 0% and Sewage to 50%. Select the SUMMARY tab. What is the sediment load, nutrient load, and water clarity now? 18 ppt, 10 ppt, 86% 8. Predict : The primary effect of dumping raw sewage into ocean water is a sharp increase in the nutrient load. How do you think this will affect the reef? The animals couldn’t eat the sewage and die 9. Observe : Select the CORAL REEF tab. Click Advance year 10 times. What changes do you notice? Coral cover is medium, algae cover is high 10. Analyze : On the DATA tab, select every organism except Red lionfish and Crown-of- thorns starfish . (These are invasive species you will experiment with in another activity.) A. How does the increase in nutrients affect the algae population? Algae population increases B. How does this change the populations of the two species that eat algae, parrotfish and sea urchins?Urchins population increase and then decrease including parrot fish 11. Experiment : Click Restart . In 1983, a mysterious disease killed off most of the long-spined sea urchins in the Caribbean. To model this, select Disease from the CONDITIONS tab and set the Sea urchin infection rate to 100%. Check that Sewage is still 50%. A. Click Advance year 10 times. What happens? The coral cover is low C urgent disease is present algae covet is high in stag-horn coral has died out and fish diversity is low B. Based on these results, what is the importance of long-spined sea urchins to Caribbean reefs? The importance is to keep the algae population down 12. On your own : Click Return to original settings and Restart . Investigate the effects of agriculture on Caribbean reefs. Summarize your findings on a separate sheet of paper to turn in with this activity.

CoralReef182Copy

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