Biology Ecology Project
Biology: Ecology Project
The library faculty has created this page for you to use as you work on your project. We also encourage you to come to the library for help at any point of your research. We love assisting our students!
General Resources For Your Ecosystems
Howard Hughes Medical Institute "Exploring Trophic Cascades." You have already completed this activity, but feel free to use the page as a reference.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Biome Viewer." Use this interactive webpage or download the free app.
Marietta College's Biomes of the World site. Use the map to find out more specifics for your particular biome, including species and characteristics. Also, try the index to help you find even more specific information.
Radford University's Biomes of the World site.
Lake Ecosystem
Species to consider: Largemouth Bass, Redbelly Dace, Daphnia, Chlorella (freshwater green algae)
Helpful resources:
West Virginia Conservation Agency, "Pond and Lake Ecosystems"
River Ecosystem
Species to consider: Steelhead, Damselfly, Tuft-weaving Midge, Green Algae (Cladophora)
Helpful resources:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Riverine Food Webs--How Flow Rates Affect Biomass"
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Trophic Cascades in Rivers"
Arctic Island (Tundra) Ecosystem
Species to consider: Arctic grass, Puffins, Arctic Fox
Helpful resources:
Use the Tundra resources on the site from Marietta College or Radford College or use BiomeViewer, all listed above.
African Savanna Ecosystem
Species to consider: Grass (Panicum maximum), Wildebeests
Helpful resources:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Africa's Savanna Ecosystems"
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Niche Partitioning"
Kelp Forest Ecosystem
Species to consider: Kelp, Sea Otters, Sea Urchins
Helpful resources:
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Animal Guide (Make sure to find organisms that are in the kelp forests, not other organisms.)
Salt Marsh Ecosystem
Species to consider: Blue Crab, Periwinkle Snails, Marsh Grass (Spartina)
Helpful resources:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Trophic Cascades in Salt Marsh Ecosystems"
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Untangling Salt Marsh Food Webs"
Jungle (Tropical Rainforest) Ecosystem
Species to consider: Jaguar (Panthera onca), Green Iguana
Helpful resources:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, "Modeling Food Webs in Darien, Panama." You will need to search around on this page to find helpful information, but it's there!
Use the Tropical Rainforest resources on the site from Marietta College or Radford College or use BiomeViewer, all listed above.
Citing Your Sources
Unlike projects in which you use our school subscription databases, you will not have a citation built for you automatically on any of the sources above. So, you'll need to create the citation you use on your Works Cited page. To do this, I'm going to show you how to thoughtfully use EasyBib. Thoughtless use of EasyBib will result in disaster; thoughtful use of EasyBib can help you create the documentation you need.
Basic steps to citing sources for this project:
1) Only cite the sources you use. Don't cite sources you just looked at, but didn't use information from.
2) Open EasyBib.
3) Choose the most specific resource type you can find. Click on All 59 Options, if necessary.
4) Fill in the blanks as well as you can. Really investigate. Dig for information! Just plugging in the URL will give you an incomplete citation, so you will have to do the legwork here. You may need to leave the exact page on which you found the information in order determine author or publisher.
5) Copy and paste the generated entry onto your Works Cited. Make sure your Works Cited is in alphabetical order by first term of the generated entries. You will attach your Works Cited page to the back of your poster.
6) For this project only (this is non-standard formatting), assign each generated entry a number. Your poster should have a number in parentheses immediately next to or under the image, chart, or information that corresponds to the source in which you found it.
Note: If you'd prefer to walk through the steps yourself for citation, the basic steps are here at the MLA Style Center.