Using Data and Graphics to
Stimulate Student Learning
Student Handouts
Presenter: Linda Sigismondi, Ph.D.
University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, OH 45674
[email protected], www.rio.edu/lindas
Biology of Population Growth
1. A population is a group of organisms of the same species living in the same place. The
number of individuals in the population is the population size (N). Suppose there is a
hypothetical population of the striped corn beetles living on a farm in eastern Ohio. Initially, 10
beetles invade the field. The beetles reproduce quickly so that the population doubles every
week. What will be the population size at the end of 10 weeks?
Week
0
number of
beetles
(N)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2. Graph the numbers you generated above. Put weeks on the horizontal axis and N on the
vertical axis.
N
0
1
2
3
4
5
Weeks
6
7
8
9
10
3. Suppose it has taken the insect population eight weeks to devour one-half of the crop.
How long will it take to devour the second half?
4. What may eventually happen to the beetle population? (List 3 possibilities.)
5. Examine the graphs in the population chapter of your textbook. Which graph best
resembles the one for the beetle population that you graphed?
6. What is the name of the other population growth curve and how does it differ from the
beetle population growth curve that you graphed?
7. What is the carrying capacity (K)?
8. What is meant by environmental resistance? List at least 6 examples of limiting factors
that contribute to environmental resistance.
Human Population Growth
1. What can you tell about human population growth from the graph and the video? Make at
least 8 observations.
2. After observing the graph and video of human population growth, what questions come to
mind?
3. What are some possible hypotheses about this population growth?
4. What are some potential problems from this type of population growth?
Ozone Depletion
1. Examine the diagrams of the ozone concentrations from 1979 thru 2008.
a. What is the unit in which ozone is measured?
b. What area of the earth has the lowest ozone concentrations?
c. Areas with ozone concentrations below 220 are considered “holes.” How has the ozone
hole changed in the last 30 years?
2. Examine the graph of the ozone hole from August through December.
a. During what month did the hole peak in size?
b. What was the size of the 2014 hole at the peak?
c. How does the 2014 ozone depletion compare to previous years?
d. What government agency produces this data and graph?
3. What questions do you have after looking at this data?
Global Climate
In this activity, you will examine global temperatures from 1880 to present to look at trends in
climate.
1. Obtain a copy of the global temperature file. Use the J-D column. (Note the data is in .01
degrees C. Divide by 100 to get degrees C. Also, the data is compared to a date range of
1951-1989 with a global temperature estimated at 14 C.)
•
Of the entire record, what are the 5 warmest years in the record?
•
Of the entire record, what are the 5 coldest?
•
Have we come anywhere close to having one of the coldest years in the record during
your lifetime?
2. Make a plot of annual global temperature vs. time for the years 1950-2015 in 5 year
intervals (i.e. plot 1950,1955,1960, etc.)
What trends do you observe?
3. Choose a volcanic eruptions since 1880 from the list below (each person in a group should
do a different volcano).
1883 Krakatau
1890 Unidentified
1902 Santa Maria
1963 Agung
1982 El Chichon
1991 Pinatubo
Plot a graph of the average annual global temperature from one year prior to the eruption to
five years afterward. (Hint: If temperature is negative, be careful of scale since 0 will not be at
the bottom.)
(a) Looking at your entire group (3-4 graphs), what is the typical magnitude (size) and sign
(warming or cooling) of the effect of volcanoes on global climate?
(b) Looking at your entire group (3-4 graphs), estimate how long a volcanic eruption affects
global temperature based on the years plotted.
4. An El Nino is a prolonged warming of the surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.
Following is a list of El Niño years in recent times:
1951, 1953, 1957, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1997-1998,
2002-2003, 2006-2007
Choose three El Niño events (not ones that occurred during the year of a major volcanic
eruption, shown above in bold).
•
Indicate the average annual global temperature for the El Niño year, for the year
before the El Niño year, and for the year after the El Niño event (no graph needed
here).
•
Does the El Nino affect global temperature and if so how (warming or cooling)?
•
Look at several of the years that had a volcano and an El Nino. What happened to
temperature in the El Nino Year and the years following when both occurred?
Energy Use
Examine the flowchart of US Energy Use for 2014 as estimated from the Department of
Energy.
1. How many BTU’s are used annually?
2. Fossil fuels are fuels that were formed from buried plants and animals after exposure to
millions of years of heat and pressure. Which of the fuel sources on the chart are fossil fuels
and how many BTU’s are used of each?
3. What percentage of US energy use comes from fossil fuels?
4. Non-renewable energy sources are those that are used faster than they are generated.
Renewable energy resources are generated faster than used. Classify the energy sources
on the chart as non-renewable and renewable.
Non-renewable
Renewable
5. What percentage of our fuel use is non-renewable?
Renewable?
6. Electricity is a secondary energy source. It is formed by the transformation of other fuels
sources into electrical current. What primary fuel sources are used to generate electricity in
the US? Circle the largest fuel source for electricity.
7. What are the 4 main energy uses in the US and how many quadrillion BTU’s are used
annually by each?
8. Overall, how much energy is used for energy services and how much is wasted?
9. What is the energy efficiency for electrical generation?
10. What is the energy efficiency for transportation?
Sustainable Fisheries
Consider the following scenario: You have 10 days to catch as many fish as you can. You
can decide to catch 0,1,2, or 3 fish per day. There are also 3 other fisher folk also attempting
to catch as many fish as they can. The lake in which you are fishing can only support 20 fish
(carrying capacity). Every night, the fish that remain after a day of fishing will reproduce.
Each remaining fish produces one new fish. Thus, if there are 5 fish left at the end of the day,
the next morning there will be 10. However, the lake can’t exceed 20 fish. Thus if there are 15
fish left, there will only be 20 the next morning, not 30.
If each person takes 1 fish per day:
a. How many fish will each have after 10 days?
b. How many fish will be left in the lake?
If each person takes 2 fish per day:
a. How many fish will each have after 10 days?
b. How many fish will be left in the lake?
If each person takes 3 fish per day:
a. How many fish will each have after 10 days?
b. How many fish will be left in the lake?
Maximum sustainable yield is the maximum amount that can be taken without harming the
fishery. What is the maximum sustainable yield for this fishery?
How might a government enforce fishing to achieve maximum sustainable yields?