LAC 28:XI.9785. Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics

A. Recognize that the carrying capacities of ecosystems are related to the availability of living and nonliving resources and challenges (e.g., predation, competition, disease). B. Use a graphical representation to identify carrying capacities in ecosystems as limits to the numbers of organisms or populations they can support. C. Use a graphical or mathematical representation to identify the changes in the amount of matter as it travels through a food web. D. Use a graphical or mathematical representation to identify the changes in the amount of energy as it travels through a food web. E. Use evidence to identify how modest biological or physical changes versus extreme changes affect stability and change (e.g., number and types of organisms) in ecosystems. F. Evaluate explanations of how living things in an ecosystem are affected by changes in the environment (e.g., changes to the food supply, climate change, or the introduction of predators). G. Evaluate explanations of how interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem. H. Describe how people can help protect the Earth's environment and biodiversity (e.g., preserving ecosystems) and how a human activity would threaten Earth's environment and biodiversity (e.g., pollution, damaging habitats, over hunting). I. Evaluate or refine a solution to changes in an ecosystem (biodiversity) resulting from a human activity.