Science (2015) Grade(s): 09-12 - Environmental Science

SC15.ES.4

Engage in argument from evidence to evaluate how biological or physical changes within ecosystems (e.g., ecological succession, seasonal flooding, volcanic eruptions) affect the number and types of organisms, and that changing conditions may result in a new or altered ecosystem.

Unpacked Content

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The components of a scientific argument including the claim, alternative claim, evidence, justification, and the challenge to the alternative claim.
  • Factors that affect biodiversity.
  • The relationships between species and the physical environment in an ecosystem.
  • Examples of biological changes (e.g., ecological succession, disease) and physical changes (e.g., volcanic activity, desertification) that affect the number and types of organisms, and that may result in a new or altered ecosystem.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use additional relevant evidence to assess the validity and reliability of the given evidence and its ability to support the proposed argument.
  • Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the given claim in accurately explaining a particular response of the ecosystem to a changing condition, based on an understanding of factors that affect biodiversity and the relationships between species and the physical environment.
  • Assess the logic of the reasoning, including the relationship between degree of change and stability in ecosystems, and the utility of the reasoning in supporting the explanation.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions.
  • When modest biological or physical disturbances occur in an ecosystem, it returns more or less to its original status (i.e., it is resilient).
  • Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of an ecosystem in terms of resources and habitat availability, and can even result in a new ecosystem.

Vocabulary

  • ecological succession
  • seasonal flooding
  • volcanic eruptions
  • ecosystem
  • biological changes
  • physical changes
  • keystone species
  • pioneer species
  • habitat alteration
  • density-dependent limiting factors
  • density-independent limiting factors
  • primary succession
  • secondary succession
  • remediation/bioremediation
  • symbiosis
  • abiotic factors
  • biotic factors
  • food chain
  • food web
  • energy pyramid
  • energy flow
  • bioaccumulation
  • ecological system
  • ecosystem services
  • deforestation
  • organism
  • species
  • population
  • community
  • ecosystem
  • biome
  • biosphere
  • desertification
  • overharvesting
  • overgrazing
  • pathogen
  • climax community
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