Introduction Current extinction rates are orders of magnitude higher than throughout much of earth's history Should we care? You are probably familiar with many arguments for the protection of species. These range from utilitarian values (of use to humans: "That plant might contain the cure for cancer." "I like seeing whales.") to existence values ("Every species has a right to continue on the earth"). One argument of increasing interest to ecologists is the role of biological diversity in ecosystem functioning. Biological diversity (or biodiversity) refers to differences among organic entities at genetic, species and whole ecosystem levels. Here we focus on species richness, the number of species present. Ecosystem functioning refers to the biophysical processes carried out by organisms in conjunction with their physical environment. In addition to biomass production, examples include nutrient cycling, water purification, temperature moderation, pollination, erosion control, and decomposition. Biomass is the total mass of organisms in a population, created primarily through photosynthesis. In this lab, we will use plant above ground biomass as an indicator of production. Review this lab description carefully to understand the experimental setup and what has been done prior to your lab, then . To study why biodiversity increases productivity (see the reading for this week's lab), suggest an hypothesis involving one of the three possible mechanisms (resource use efficiency, facilitation, sampling effect). As independent variables, use the treatment groups (table on p. 8.6). the functional groups (table on p. 8.5), or seed weights (table on p. 8.5). To find a measurement for your dependent variable, view a sample of the data in next week's lab description (table on p. 9.2). The lab tables can be accessed via the Google Doc link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AG2XIxSuQyw1xHjpKqd-kc4w1k6hrhjaw_UW1Pz7l0A/edit?usp=sharing Answer this: Hypothesis: Which mechanism are you investigating? How is your hypothesis related to that mechanism? Which treatment group will you use? Be specific: identify species, plant set, species richness, etc. What will you measure?
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Introduction
Current extinction rates are orders of magnitude higher than throughout much of earth's history Should we care? You are probably familiar with many arguments for the protection of species.
These range from utilitarian values (of use to humans: "That plant might contain the cure for cancer." "I like seeing whales.") to existence values ("Every species has a right to continue on the earth"). One argument of increasing interest to ecologists is the role of biological diversity in ecosystem functioning.
Biological diversity (or biodiversity) refers to differences among organic entities at genetic, species and whole ecosystem levels. Here we focus on species richness, the number of species present.
Ecosystem functioning refers to the biophysical processes carried out by organisms in conjunction with their physical environment. In addition to biomass production, examples include nutrient cycling, water purification, temperature moderation, pollination, erosion control, and decomposition. Biomass is the total mass of organisms in a population, created primarily through photosynthesis. In this lab, we will use plant above ground biomass as an indicator of production.
Review this lab description carefully to understand the experimental setup and what has been done prior to your lab, then .
To study why biodiversity increases productivity (see the reading for this week's lab), suggest an hypothesis involving one of the three possible mechanisms (resource use efficiency, facilitation, sampling effect). As independent variables, use the treatment groups (table on p. 8.6). the functional
groups (table on p. 8.5), or seed weights (table on p. 8.5). To find a measurement for your dependent variable, view a sample of the data in next week's lab description (table on p. 9.2).
The lab tables can be accessed via the Google Doc link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AG2XIxSuQyw1xHjpKqd-kc4w1k6hrhjaw_UW1Pz7l0A/edit?usp=sharing
Answer this:
Hypothesis:
Which mechanism are you investigating? How is your hypothesis related to that mechanism?
Which treatment group will you use? Be specific: identify species, plant set, species richness, etc.
What will you measure?
