Environmental Literacy Project
Michigan State University
Ecosystems: Lesson 3, Activity 1
The Carbon Dice Game
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Tracing Carbon Atoms
Remember the carbon
pool patterns from the
Sunny Meadows Game?
They showed the
consistent pattern of
large producer pools,
medium herbivore
pools, and small
carnivore pools in
stable ecosystems.
Carnivores
Herbivores
Producers
Now that we know what the pattern is, the next thing we want to
know is WHY it looks that way…
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Why does the organic matter pyramid
have the shape that it does?
To answer this question, we need to think
about the Three Questions at the large scale:
The Carbon Fluxes Question: How are
carbon atoms moving among pools?
The Energy Question: How does energy flow
through environmental systems?
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Why does the organic matter pyramid
have the shape that it does?
To answer the Carbon Fluxes question and the
Energy question, you will play the Carbon Dice
Game and pretend to be carbon atoms cycling
through an ecosystem with 5 carbon pools.
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The Carbon Dice Game
Atmosphere
How to play:
1. Everyone starts at the atmosphere pool as
part of a carbon dioxide molecule, which is a
form of inorganic carbon.
2. Roll the dice and follow the instructions on the
atmosphere pool poster to find out where you
go and what happens to you along the way.
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The Carbon Dice Game
Atmosphere
3. In the atmosphere pool, if you roll a 4-6, you
convert
energy into chemical energy
as you change from inorganic CO2 into an
organic molecule via photosynthesis. The
energy is stored in the bonds of the organic
molecule. Pick up one yellow twist tie to take
with you to represent this energy. You only get
to have 1 twist tie at a time.
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The Carbon Dice Game
Producers
4. Also, if you rolled a 4-6 in the atmosphere
pool, you move to the Producer pool. Here, if
you roll a 1-2, you convert chemical energy
stored in an organic bond into heat energy via
cellular respiration. You must leave your twist
tie in the heat basket.
If you do NOT do cellular respiration (a roll of
3-6), keep the twist tie and move to the next
location. This process repeats at each pool.
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The Carbon Dice Game
5. Keep a record!
Each pool has a Tally
Card. Be sure to
make a tally mark
each time you arrive
at a pool (or if you
stay in a pool after a
dice roll).
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The Carbon Dice Game: Results
6. When you’re done, collect all the Tally Cards from
each station. Count the tallies and enter them into
the spreadsheet to produce a “visitation” graph.
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The Carbon Dice Game: Results
Compare to Mr. Terry’s class sample data
Number of Times One Carbon Atom Visited Each Pool
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Atmosphere
Producers
Herbivores
Carnivores
Soil
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The Carbon Dice Game: Results
7. Write down the class results
on your own worksheet for the
number of times carbon atoms
visited certain pools.
Draw arrows to connect the
pools that exchanged carbon
atoms. What were the processes
that moved carbon atoms from
one pool to another? Label the
arrows with these processes.
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Compare to Mr. Terry’s class sample
data
2
99
Carnivores
organic
carbon
Atmosphere CO2
32
Herbivores
organic
carbon
19
70
Soil
Organic Carbon
Producers
organic
carbon
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The Carbon Dice Game: Results
Use your worksheet to answer the following
questions:
1. How do carbon-transforming processes move
carbon atoms among pools?
2. Why do carbon atoms visit the Producer pool
so frequently?
3. What is the pattern of carbon atom visitations
in different pools? Where have you seen this
pattern before?
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1. How do carbon-transforming processes
move carbon atoms among pools?
Photosynthesis: brings in
“new” carbon atoms to the
Atmosphere
ecosystem
Digestion: transfers carbon
atoms through organisms
Death/defecation: transfers
carbon atoms to the soil
Cellular respiration: removes
carbon atoms from the
organisms back into the air
Carnivores
Herbivores
Soil Carbon
Producers
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2. Why do carbon atoms visit the
Producer pool so frequently?
The Producer pool has so many carbon
atom visits because it is the ONLY pool
that can bring “new” carbon atoms into
the ecosystem. This happens during
photosynthesis when inorganic carbon
(CO2) is converted into organic carbon.
Atmosphere
Photosynthesis
All other organic carbon pools rely on
the carbon that producers bring in.
Producers
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3. What is the pattern of carbon atom
visitations in different pools? Where
have you seen this pattern before?
The pattern of carbon atom visits to
different pools showed the most visits to
the Producer pool, fewer visits to the
Herbivore pool, and the least number of
visits to the Carnivore pool.
This is the same pattern found in the
organic matter pyramid that you
observed in the Sunny Meadows Game.
Carnivores
Herbivores
Producers
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Was the Carbon Dice Game supposed
to be real?
The game you just played is a model of a real
ecosystem, which means that it represents
some parts of an ecosystem, but with
limitations. This means what happened in the
game is not exactly how things happen in a real
ecosystem. With a partner, brainstorm about
ways you noticed that this ecosystem is
different from real ecosystems. When you are
done, share your ideas with the class.
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Here are at least 4 ways that the game differs from real ecosystems. How
many of these did your class mention? Are there any ways you thought of
that are not on this list?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Rabbits don’t only eat grass, and foxes don’t only eat rabbits.
If you go to the soil pool, there is a chance that you will not get
digested for a long time. Some organic material is tough to digest
even for a decomposer. This is why soil is such a large carbon sink!
In rabbits and foxes, carbon atoms are sometimes biosynthesized into
fat. In this case, the fat may be used in cellular respiration and the
carbon atoms will return to the atmosphere after a period of time.
This is not represented in the game.
In a pregnant animal it is possible that a carbon atom is
biosynthesized into a growing fetus in the mother. In this case, the
carbon atom would travel from the parent to the body of the
offspring. Very few carbon atoms get to do this!
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