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Uses of Copper | Supply, Demand, Production, Resources

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A USGS Fact Sheet that details copper resources, supply, demand, production and uses.

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The world is a dynamic place, the earth that we stand on, and think of as fixed, is anything but. The most unstable areas of all are the plate boundaries, where giant crustal plates collide together, the physics is simple; something's gotta give, and there are probably going to be fireworks - or at least volcanic eruptions and earthquakes! Along with the destruction though, comes the creation of many of the mineral deposits we rely on.

Plate tectonics is the theory that explains why there are lots of volcanoes in Iceland and Japan, but far fewer in Russia and Africa. It also explains why the Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world while the highest peak in Australia is barely over 2000m!

The energy released along boundaries, results in volcanic and hydrothermal activity that creates the right conditions for many minerals to be concentrated. Plate boundaries are also a way for deep-seated rocks from the mantle to find a way to the near-surface. These rocks become the source of many of our largest mineral deposits.

Plate boundaries are crucial; they are where new land is created. If the plates suddenly stopped moving, fairly quickly, in geological terms, the whole world would be one gigantic ocean again as the continents were eroded down to below sea level.

Although the details can be complex - there are in essence three types of plate boundaries:

Divergent boundaries - where the plates are being forced apart, usually along mid-oceanic ridges. Iceland is the best-studied example, as it's conveniently above sea level, undersea examples include the "black smokers" of the mid-Atlantic and northwest Pacific.

Convergent boundaries - where plates collide, one will be forced under the other - the Himalayas being the most spectacular example, formed as the Indian plate slams into the southern edge of the Eurasian plate. These don't always create mountain ranges - a subduction zone is marked by a deep ocean trench with a line of volcanoes such as Indonesia where the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and others are volcanic, formed by the collision of the Australian plate which is being forced under the Eurasian plate.

Transform boundaries are less common - in this case the plates slide alongside each other. The San Andreas fault in California is the best known example.

Not all plates are the same thickness - oceanic plates are thinner while the continental plates are thicker with a much lower geothermal gradient. Simplistically, as we move away from the mid-ocean ridges the crust gets thicker and colder.

Mineralisation and Plate Boundaries

What happens along plate boundaries is critical for mineral formation. The energy released along boundaries, results in volcanic and hydrothermal activity that creates the right conditions for many minerals to be concentrated. Plate boundaries are also a way for deep-seated rocks from the mantle to find a way to the near-surface. These rocks become the source of many of our largest mineral deposits.

However, for the exploration geologist, it is not just about where plate boundaries are now - it's about where they were many hundreds of millions of years ago. If we have a clear understanding of the location of ancient plate boundaries, it's easier to predict where regional mineralisation may occur today.

Divergent Plate Boundaries and Mineralisation

As the seafloor splits apart, the hydrothermal activity cause deposits of both sulphides and metalliferous sediments along flanks of ridges. Black smokers and volcanic massive sulphide deposits are created by water circulating via cracks along ridges, collecting minerals from the heated rock before being expelled through hydrothermal vents. As the super-heated fluids make contact with the seawater, metals that were dissolved from the surrounding basaltic rocks are re-deposited on the sea floor.

Companies are currently considering undersea mining of this type of deposit in the Red Sea. Minerals associated with mid-ocean ridges include iron, zinc, copper, lead, gold, and silver.

Historic examples of volcanic massive sulphide deposits include the Troodos copper-iron complex in Cyprus. The massive sulphides and related stockwork occurs within a basaltic pillow lava sequence. Similar mineralisation occurs in Semail, Oman.

Some 50% of the world's chromite production is associated with oceanic rocks consisting of layered mafic and ultramafic (i.e. silicon poor) intrusives.

Also associated with mid-ocean ridges are manganese-rich polymetallic nodules that are thought to result from slow accretion of minerals from the seawater over extremely wide areas of the ocean floor.

Subduction Zones and Mineralisation

The well-known Pacific Ring of fire - is also a ring of mineral deposits, including deposits along the western North and South Americas, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand. Key resources include:

base metals - copper lead, zinc, and molybdenum

precious metals platinum copper gold

others metals including tin, tungsten, antimony, mercury and uranium deposits

At these boundaries, one oceanic plate is being forced progressively under another plate. This creates both a source of both heat and minerals that result in a wide variety of mineral deposits.

Mineralization along subduction zone boundaries show a predictable pattern that has been observed in many locations including Myanmar and the Andes. For example from west to east in the Andes we observe mineral deposits including:

contact metasomatic iron

copper-silver and gold veins

porphyry copper molybdenum deposits

lead zinc silver veins and contact metasomatic deposits

tin deposits

This mineralogy reflects progressive melting of metals from the descending slab - tin coming from a depth of 300km. The metals are sourced from the descending slab and overlying mantle. There are often associated geothermal regions.

Collision Boundaries

When two crustal plates collide the thickness of the plates ensure that there is far less hydrothermal activity, compared to the thin-skinned oceanic plates at subduction zones. Rather than directly causing the formation of mineral deposits, this type of plate boundary will expose a variety of mineralisation which were created elsewhere, displaced and then uplifted by the moving plate.

Transform Faults and Mineralisation

In a transform fault neither plate is being forced down into the mantle, so there is little hydrothermal activity. What mineralisation that does occur tends be localised and small scale e.g. the hot spring gold deposit at McLaughin in the California coast ranges

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Minerals on the Edge - Plate Boundaries and Minerals

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The world is a dynamic place, the earth that we stand on, and think of as fixed, is anything but. The most unstable areas of all are the plate boundaries, where giant crustal plates collide together, the physics is simple; something's gotta give, and there are probably going to be fireworks - or at least volcanic eruptions and earthquakes!

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Dig into Mining is an interactive program for grades 6-8 that spotlights the value and uses of transition metals including copper, gold and molybdenum and fosters a deeper understanding of the mining industry by equipping educators, students and families with dynamic resources including a virtual field trip, interactive digital learning tools and career exploration activities.

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Summary Students gather evidence to explain the theory of plate tectonics. Using the online resources at the Earthquakes Living Lab, students examine information and gather evidence supporting the theory. They also look at how volcanoes and earthquakes are explained by tectonic plate movement, and how engineers use this information. Working in pairs, students think like engineers and connect what they understand about the theory of plate tectonics to the design of structures for earthquake-resistance. A worksheet serves as a student guide for the activity.
This engineering curriculum meets Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Engineering Connection

Understanding the processes that shape the Earth helps engineers design the structures in our communities to withstand powerful natural events such as earthquakes. For construction projects, especially those near active faults and coastlines, engineers consider the effects of plate tectonics. If one tectonic plate suddenly slips with respect to another plate, the release of energy can cause earthquakes that impact structures. To design adequate foundations, engineers must first understand the properties and behavior of ground and subsurface materials. They design structures with added factors of safety to account for the anticipated magnitude of earthquakes and volcanic activity in certain areas.

Scientists and engineers around the globe gather data through observation and experimentation and use it to describe and understand how the world works. The Earthquakes Living Lab gives students the chance to track earthquakes across the planet and examine where, why and how they are occurring. Using the real-world data in the living lab enables students and teachers to practice analyzing data to solve problems and answer questions, in much the same way that scientists and engineers do every day.

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

Identify evidence of continental movement and explain continental drift.

Explain plate movement and the consequences of that movement on landforms.

Describe how engineers design buildings for earthquake-prone areas.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

Suggest an alignment not listed above

Materials List

Each group needs:

Introduction/Motivation

(It is helpful to have a world map handy to show students the continents of the Earth.) Have you ever noticed how the continents of Africa and South America could fit together-almost like puzzle pieces? Scientists first noticed this in the early 20th century, and after decades of research, arrived at the theory of plate tectonics.

According to the theory of plate tectonics, the Earth's crust is divided into plates that are continually moving either towards or away from each other. An earthquake is what happens when two tectonic plates suddenly slip past one another. The slipping causes shaking, or vibration in the form of surface and body waves. The waves travelling through the Earth can damage the human-made structures that compose our communities, such as buildings, bridges, roadways, pipelines, schools and homes. Knowing that this might happen, engineers design structures that are better able to resist or withstand the forces generated by earthquakes. Some structures are engineered to be stronger or stiffer, while other structures are engineered to be more flexible and react to earthquake forces by bending.

Vocabulary/Definitions

continental drift: The gradual movement of the continents across the Earth's surface through geological time.

earthquake: When two tectonic plates suddenly slip past one another, creating seismic waves.

lithosphere: The outer part of the Earth's sub-surface, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Pangaea: The hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined, from about 300 to 200 million years ago.

tectonic plates: Large sections of the Earth's crust (lithosphere) that move, float and sometimes fracture and whose interaction causes much of the planet's seismic activity as well as continental drift, earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains and oceanic trenches.

Procedure

Before the Activity

Make copies of The Theory of Plate Tectonics Worksheet, one per student.

Make arrangements so that each student group has a computer with Internet access.

Decide whether to have students pairs work together in one journal or keep individual journals.

With the Students

1. Divide the class into student pairs, and have them assemble at their computers with journals/paper and writing instruments.

2. Hand out worksheets to the groups and direct them to read through the instructions. Encourage them to explore all of the Earthquakes Living Lab, especially if they need more information to complete the worksheet.

3. Before looking at the Earthquakes Living Lab, have pairs complete the Engage section of the worksheet: What continent do you live on? Can you think of any ways the continent has changed over time?

4. Guide the teams to the Earthquakes Living Lab via the living lab website at http://www.teachengineering.org/livinglabs/index.php. Have them scroll down to the Earthquakes Living Lab section (see Figure 2). Tell students that this activity is designed around the Earthquakes Living Lab, a resource and online interface that uses real-time, real-world seismic data gathered from around the world.

Figure 2. The entry web page for the Earthquakes Living Lab.

5. Have students select the Earthquakes Living Lab hyperlink in the top left or right in the earthquakes section. Now, on the main page of the Earthquakes Living Lab website (see Figure 3), note the focus on four active seismic areas, each based on one of four historic earthquakes. Let students explore the living lab before they move on.

Figure 3. The main page of the Earthquakes Living Lab website. Note the Southern California box.

6. Have students move on to the Explore section: For this activity, select the second option, the "Southern California" box shown in Figure 3.Then click the third link on the right side of the page titled, "How have the Earth's continents changed over time?" at http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/anim1.html.

7. Have students compare the real-time earthquake map with the map of the tectonic plates (see Figure 1). Ask the students: Do you see any correlations? Why do earthquakes occur along the plate boundaries in the Pacific but not in the Atlantic? (Answer: The plates in the Pacific are moving against each other [subduction], while the plates in the Atlantic are moving away from each other-an example of sea floor spreading.)

8. Compare the map of the world today (such as the real-time earthquake map at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/) to a map of the world 250 million years ago (called Pangaea). Use the interactive continental drift map to watch the change in the Earth's landforms over millions of years:

As you watch the animation, record at least three examples of how the continents have changed their positions over time.

If the plates continue to move in this pattern, draw a sketch of what the world might look like 250 million years in the future.

Guide students to the Explain section: Navigate back to the Earthquakes Living Lab main page and click on the second and fourth links titled, "What is the theory of plate tectonics? What evidence supports the theory of plate tectonics?" and general information on plate tectonics. (locations: http://weloveteaching.com/0sci208/lectures/earth/plate_tectonics.html and http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/index.html) Explore more about the theory. Read the background information and answer the following questions:

What might have caused the continents to move? (Hint: What is the name of this theory?)

Describe some important information related to this theory.

Have students move on to the Elaborate section: Find and record evidence used to explain how the continents have moved over time. In addition to the links you have already opened (for the Explain section), explore the following links listed on the worksheet to identify explanations and examples of evidence. You may also use any of the other links found on the Earthquakes Living Lab. Record your ideas in the graphic organizer on the worksheet to keep track of evidence examples and explanations found in the study of sea floor spreading, fossils, earthquakes and volcanoes.

1. Review the information compiled in your chart and explain one way the theory of plate tectonics can relate to engineering.

2. Have students complete the worksheet Evaluate section: In the early 1900s, Alfred Wegener proposed the continents were "drifting." The scientific community did not support his theory due to a lack of scientific evidence. Using what you learned in this activity, would you support Wegener's hypothesis or not? Write a two-paragraph essay that explains your position.

Attachments

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Intro Questions: Before student pairs look at the Earthquakes Living Lab, have them complete the Engage section of the The Theory of Plate Tectonics Worksheet, which asks them which continent they live on and to think of any ways the continent has changed over time. Review their answers to assess their base knowledge of the topic.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Exploring the Theory of Plate Tectonics: Have students use the living lab resources to complete the worksheet research, filling in the graphic organizer chart and sketching future continental movement. Expect students to be convinced of the theory of plate tectonics, but it is okay for them to disagree, as long as they have good reasons. Specifically, expect students to address the problems the scientific community had with Wegener's hypothesis, and whether those concerns have been answered.

Post-Activity Assessment

Evidence: To complete the worksheet,students consider tectonic plate movements along with their compiled examples and explanations in order to draw their own conclusions from the evidence presented for the theory of plate tectonics. They also suggest how what they have learned in their research might relate to engineering. Review their answers for comprehension and completeness.

Homework: As a summary assessment, assign the worksheet Evaluate section as homework. Students are asked to apply what they have learned to either support or disprove Alfred Wegener's original 1915 hypothesis that the continents are "drifting," in the form of a two-paragraph essay that explains their positions. Review students' answers for the logical use of scientific evidence as well as thoroughness and thoughtfulness.

Activity Extensions

Have students explore the other two regions in the Earthquakes Living Lab (Japan and Mexico). Assign students to research and report on historical earthquakes or buildings and structures designed specifically to withstand earthquakes.

Activity Scaling

For lower grades, skip the essay in the Elaborate worksheet section and/or conduct the activity as a class or in larger groups of three or four students each.

For upper grades, have students work individually and/or have them classify each plate boundary as transform, divergent or convergent, asking them: Which types of plate boundaries are the most concerning to people?

Other Related Information

This activity is designed around the Earthquakes Living Lab, a resource and online interface that uses real-time U.S. Geological Survey seismic data from around the world. The living lab presents earthquake information through a focus on four active seismic areas and historic earthquakes in those areas. The real-world earthquake data is viewable via a graphical interface using a scaling map.

Contributors Mike Mooney; Minal Parekh; Scott Schankweiler; Jessica Noffsinger; Karen Johnson; Jonathan Knudtsen

Copyright © 2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original 2013 Colorado School of Mines

Supporting Program Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines

Last modified: January 19, 2018

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Earthquakes Living Lab: The Theory of Plate Tectonics - Activity

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Students gather evidence to explain the theory of plate tectonics. Using the online resources at the Earthquakes Living Lab, students examine information and gather evidence supporting the theory. They also look at how volcanoes and earthquakes are explained by tectonic plate movement, and how engineers use this information.

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This teaching box focuses on mountain building as a tool for teaching some of the essential concepts typically covered in middle and high school Earth science curricula: mountain formation, erosion, rocks, minerals, the rock cycle, faulting, folding and deformation of the crust, as well as plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes.

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Program. MapMaker Kits offer K-12 students the opportunity to work with key mapping concepts at a variety of scales and to see the world in new ways. Each kit enables the user to download, print, and assemble maps of the world, individual continents, and the United States in a variety of sizes.

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Performance Assessment (Multiple Choice) (G)

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Performance Assessment (Multiple Choice) (G)

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Natural Hazards MC Items MS-ESS3-2 (Student Version).pdf

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A View From Below - Student Version (MS ESS).pdf

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Deer Populations SPA-- (MS Life Science) Student Version.pdf

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Unit Details - California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI)

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Unit Details - California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI)

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EEI Made From Earth - Natural Resources (G)

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EEI Made From Earth - Natural Resources (G)

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Unit Details - California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI)

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EEI Resources - Renewable Non-renewable (G)

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EEI Resources - Renewable Non-renewable (G)

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Unit Details - California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI)

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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The NSTA Next Generation Science Standards Hub offers information, resources, news, professional learning opportunities, and expert advice in understanding and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards - NGSS

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A Middle School Unit

A composite of lessons directed towards 6-8th grade students to dive into the subject of biodiversity. Students will participate in the scientific process, go on field trips and gain a depth of information on local biodiversity.

Essential Question

How do interactions between abiotic and biotic factors in ecosystems affect the biodiversity of those ecosystems?

Processes and Skills

At the end of this unit:

Students will understand how the cycling of materials such as carbon, water and nitrogen affect populations of organisms.

Students will investigate predatory relationships, competitive relationships, dispersal, disturbance, organism identification, food webs and human impacts on biodiversity.

Students will have gone through the scientific process of asking questions, making a hypothesis, collecting and analyzing data to present their information on a specific species and a local ecosystem.

Assessment opportunities:

Students will create a prairie poster.

Students will reflect on their field trip and be able to define biodiversity.

Students will be able to articulate relationships in ecosystems, disturbances on ecosystems, changes in local biodiversity and impacts of invasive species to a system.

Students will complete a field guide entry through a detailed species account.

Students will enter observations into a citizen science database, such as WyoBio website.

Performance Expectations: Next Generation Science Standards

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Construct and explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organsims across multiple ecocystems.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Construct an argument supported by emperical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodviersity and ecosystem services.

Disciplinary Core Ideas: Next Generation Science Standards
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1)

In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constraints their growth and reproduction. (MS-LS2-1)

Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resource. (MS-LS2-1)

Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared. (MS-LS2-2)

LS2.B Cycle of Matter and Energy Transformation in Ecosystems

Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. (MS-LS2-3)
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience LS2.D: Biodiversity and Humans

Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)

Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth's terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem's biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. (MS-LS2-5)

LS2.E: Developing Possible Solutions

Changes in biodiversity can influence humans' resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on- for example water purification and recycling. (MS-LS2-5)

There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. (MS-LS2-5)
SC8.1.4 Diversity of Organisms
Wyoming State Standards

Students investigate the interconnectedness of organisms, identifying similarity and diversity of organisms through classification system of hierarchal relationships among producers, consumers and decomposersS.

SC8.1.5 Behavior and Adaptations
SC8.1.6 Interrelationships of Populations and Ecosystems

Students recognize behavior as a response of an organism to an internal or environmental stimulus to connect the characteristics and behaviors of an organism to biological adaptation.

Students illustrate populations of organisms and their interconnection within an ecosystem, identifying relationships among producers, consumers and decomposers.

Contributors

Unit Creation: Deb Freitas

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A composite of lessons directed towards 6-8th grade students to dive into the subject of biodiversity. Students will participate in the scientific process, go on field trips and gain a depth of information on local biodiversity.

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Answer the question: What's It Like Where You Live? Learn about terrestrial biomes and aquatic ecosystems. Follow link to site about plants.

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This is the home of "Discovering Plate Boundaries," a data rich exercise to help students discover the processes that occur at plate tectonic boundaries. I have used DPB with students from 5th grade to Earth Science Majors at Rice University. It works well over this wide range because it requires the students to observe and classify data.

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Musical Plates: A Study of Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics.

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Volcanoes, Earthquakes & Plate Boundaries Computer Lab Model (G)

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Volcanoes, Earthquakes & Plate Boundaries Computer Lab Model (G)

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New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources

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This exercise gives students a visual representation of how volcanoes and earthquakes are related to plate boundaries and gets students working with real data. This lab also introduces students to the concept of vectors in the form of GPS data showing plate motion. In this lab, students use UNAVCO's EarthScope Voyager Jr.

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Explore how plates move on the surface of the earth. Change temperature, composition, and thickness of plates. Discover how to create new mountains, volcanoes, or oceans!

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A Middle School Unit

A composite of lessons directed towards 6-8th grade students to dive into the subject of biodiversity. Students will participate in the scientific process, go on field trips and gain a depth of information on local biodiversity.

Essential Question

How do interactions between abiotic and biotic factors in ecosystems affect the biodiversity of those ecosystems?

Processes and Skills

At the end of this unit:

Students will understand how the cycling of materials such as carbon, water and nitrogen affect populations of organisms.

Students will investigate predatory relationships, competitive relationships, dispersal, disturbance, organism identification, food webs and human impacts on biodiversity.

Students will have gone through the scientific process of asking questions, making a hypothesis, collecting and analyzing data to present their information on a specific species and a local ecosystem.

Assessment opportunities:

Students will create a prairie poster.

Students will reflect on their field trip and be able to define biodiversity.

Students will be able to articulate relationships in ecosystems, disturbances on ecosystems, changes in local biodiversity and impacts of invasive species to a system.

Students will complete a field guide entry through a detailed species account.

Students will enter observations into a citizen science database, such as WyoBio website.

Performance Expectations: Next Generation Science Standards

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Construct and explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organsims across multiple ecocystems.

Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Construct an argument supported by emperical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodviersity and ecosystem services.

Disciplinary Core Ideas: Next Generation Science Standards
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1)

In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constraints their growth and reproduction. (MS-LS2-1)

Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resource. (MS-LS2-1)

Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared. (MS-LS2-2)

LS2.B Cycle of Matter and Energy Transformation in Ecosystems

Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. (MS-LS2-3)
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience LS2.D: Biodiversity and Humans

Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)

Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth's terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem's biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. (MS-LS2-5)

LS2.E: Developing Possible Solutions

Changes in biodiversity can influence humans' resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on- for example water purification and recycling. (MS-LS2-5)

There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. (MS-LS2-5)
SC8.1.4 Diversity of Organisms
Wyoming State Standards

Students investigate the interconnectedness of organisms, identifying similarity and diversity of organisms through classification system of hierarchal relationships among producers, consumers and decomposersS.

SC8.1.5 Behavior and Adaptations
SC8.1.6 Interrelationships of Populations and Ecosystems

Students recognize behavior as a response of an organism to an internal or environmental stimulus to connect the characteristics and behaviors of an organism to biological adaptation.

Students illustrate populations of organisms and their interconnection within an ecosystem, identifying relationships among producers, consumers and decomposers.

Contributors

Unit Creation: Deb Freitas

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A composite of lessons directed towards 6-8th grade students to dive into the subject of biodiversity. Students will participate in the scientific process, go on field trips and gain a depth of information on local biodiversity.

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Click and drag any continent to a new location.

They can also be rotated with therotation wheel. The Pangea On button turns on an underlayer that outlines the ancient continent of Pangea. TheReset to Modern Day will reset all the continents to their present day locations.

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Click and drag any continent to a new location. They can also be rotated with therotation wheel . The Pangea On button turns on an underlayer that outlines the ancient continent of Pangea. TheReset to Modern Day will reset all the continents to their present day locations.

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Biomes are regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature) animals and plants. There are
Aquatic Biomes | Terrestrial Biomes | What are biomes? GAMES! terrestrial biomes (land) and
aquatic biomes , both freshwater and marine.

Would you like to know what the weather is like in different biomes around the world? How about the types of plants and animals that live in these biomes? Here you will find all sorts of information about the world's biomes.
Games
How many biomes are there? There is really no completely right answer to this question. Some people say there are only 5 major types of biomes: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland, and tundra. Others split biomes further. Forests are separated into rainforest, temperate forest, chaparral, and taiga; grasslands are divided into savanna and temperate grasslands; and the aquatic biome is split into freshwater and marine.
Kids Konnect: Biomes Enchanted Learning: Biomes ThinkQuest: Biomes Major Biomes of the World NASA - Mission: Biomes World Biomes
Links to more information:
Back to Biomes Index

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Biomes are regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature) animals and plants. There are Aquatic Biomes | Terrestrial Biomes | What are biomes? GAMES! terrestrial biomes (land) and aquatic biomes , both freshwater and marine. Would you like to know what the weather is like in different biomes around the world?