Secretary of the Future
For this project we worked in groups of four to make a proposal for a policy change. As a group we searched for areas in Novato that were bigger than a football field and did not have any man made changes already. The area that my group chose was Aberdeen field in Hamilton field. We chose this area because it was already relatively flat and even which we decided would make it easier to create a policy change. This area is also already owned by the city of Novato which reduced our cost.
Next we came up with different ideas for a policy change we wanted to change about this field. This change could include placing new animals into the area, taking animals away, or building something. My group decided that it would work best if we built something because the area did not seem to be able to sustain any more animal activity. As we thought about what we could do we came up with the idea of placing solar panels. We decided to do this because the solar panels would not disturb the environment for a long time and it would help the entire city save money on energy.
We estimated the cost to be $10.5 million. This includes the solar panels and installation. Although this may seem like a lot of money we found that the solar panels will have payed themselves off after only 10 years.
Next we came up with different ideas for a policy change we wanted to change about this field. This change could include placing new animals into the area, taking animals away, or building something. My group decided that it would work best if we built something because the area did not seem to be able to sustain any more animal activity. As we thought about what we could do we came up with the idea of placing solar panels. We decided to do this because the solar panels would not disturb the environment for a long time and it would help the entire city save money on energy.
We estimated the cost to be $10.5 million. This includes the solar panels and installation. Although this may seem like a lot of money we found that the solar panels will have payed themselves off after only 10 years.
Concepts for this project
Biotic- living (ex: animal)
Abiotic- non-living (ex: rock)
Biology- science that seeks t understand the living world
Ecology- study of the interactions between living things and their environments
Individual- single living organism
Population- a group of homogeneous individual species that live in the same habitat
Community- populations of different species interacting with each other
Ecosystem- how the communities interact with their environment
Biome- group of ecosystem that have the same climate and similar dominant communities
Biosphere-where all of life exists in the world
Autotroph- use energy from the sun to create their food
Heterotroph- rely on other organisms for energy/ food supply (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore)
Producer- producers are at the bottom of the food chain. Use sunlight or chemicals to create energy
Consumer- eat the level below themselves to gain energy
Trophic level- each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem
Detritivores- animal that feeds on dead organic matter
Decomposer- decomposes organic material (ex: bacteria, fungi)
Food web- system of interlocking and independent food chains
Ecological pyramid- graphical representation to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level
Nutrient cycle- movements and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter
Carbon cycle- series of processes by which carbon compounds are inter-converted in the environment
Nitrogen cycle- series of process by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconvertwd in the envirornment and in living organisms
Water cycle- journey that water takes as it circulates from land to sky to land
Weather- day to day condition of the earths atmosphere
Climate- the average year after year conditions of temp and precipitation in a particular region
Greenhouse effect- heat is retained near the earth by a layer of gases in the atmosphere
Niche- the way of life of a species, or its role in an ecological community
Symboisis- "to live together". Happens when two species have a close relationship
Parasitism/ Predation/ Herbivory- interaction harms one species and benefits the other
Competition- interaction harms both species
Mutalism- interaction benefits both species
Commensalism- interaction benefits one species and doesn't affect the other
Ecological succession- ecosystems are constantly changing in response to natural and human disturbances. Old organisms die and new organisms grow
Primary succession- succession takes place on surface where no soil exists
Pioneer species- first species to appear in succession
Secondary succession- disturbance changes existing community without removing soil (ex: fire)
Bio diversity- diversity of life in a given area
Carrying capacity- how many organisms a certain area can support
Renewable resources- resources we can reuse (ex: trees)
Non-renewable resources- resources we can't reuse (ex: oil)
Resources- things that we use to stay alive (ex: water)
Abiotic- non-living (ex: rock)
Biology- science that seeks t understand the living world
Ecology- study of the interactions between living things and their environments
Individual- single living organism
Population- a group of homogeneous individual species that live in the same habitat
Community- populations of different species interacting with each other
Ecosystem- how the communities interact with their environment
Biome- group of ecosystem that have the same climate and similar dominant communities
Biosphere-where all of life exists in the world
Autotroph- use energy from the sun to create their food
Heterotroph- rely on other organisms for energy/ food supply (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore)
Producer- producers are at the bottom of the food chain. Use sunlight or chemicals to create energy
Consumer- eat the level below themselves to gain energy
Trophic level- each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem
Detritivores- animal that feeds on dead organic matter
Decomposer- decomposes organic material (ex: bacteria, fungi)
Food web- system of interlocking and independent food chains
Ecological pyramid- graphical representation to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level
Nutrient cycle- movements and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter
Carbon cycle- series of processes by which carbon compounds are inter-converted in the environment
Nitrogen cycle- series of process by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconvertwd in the envirornment and in living organisms
Water cycle- journey that water takes as it circulates from land to sky to land
Weather- day to day condition of the earths atmosphere
Climate- the average year after year conditions of temp and precipitation in a particular region
Greenhouse effect- heat is retained near the earth by a layer of gases in the atmosphere
Niche- the way of life of a species, or its role in an ecological community
Symboisis- "to live together". Happens when two species have a close relationship
Parasitism/ Predation/ Herbivory- interaction harms one species and benefits the other
Competition- interaction harms both species
Mutalism- interaction benefits both species
Commensalism- interaction benefits one species and doesn't affect the other
Ecological succession- ecosystems are constantly changing in response to natural and human disturbances. Old organisms die and new organisms grow
Primary succession- succession takes place on surface where no soil exists
Pioneer species- first species to appear in succession
Secondary succession- disturbance changes existing community without removing soil (ex: fire)
Bio diversity- diversity of life in a given area
Carrying capacity- how many organisms a certain area can support
Renewable resources- resources we can reuse (ex: trees)
Non-renewable resources- resources we can't reuse (ex: oil)
Resources- things that we use to stay alive (ex: water)
Predictions: Best Case Scenario
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Predictions : Worst Case Scenario
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This project went very well. My group stayed on task most of the time and we finished a few days before the other groups in our class. After finishing everything we needed to do all we had left was to make everything better. While fixing our presentation we could have stayed more on task. While working on this project I leaned more about solar panels and how relevant they will really be in our future.