Ecosystem simulator

Read the Overview and launch this ecolosystem simulator. Familiarize yourself with the simulator interface. Notice that you can control which species are present in your environment initially and what the diets of each species are. The types of species possible in the program are Plants (A,B,C), Herbivores (A,B,C), Omnivores (A,B) and one top Predator. You can control the diet of each by indicating what they feed on. By setting up different starting configurations you can investigate the evolution of this simulated ecological system. 
•   A. In a couple of sentences describe what happens when you start with only plants (A & B) and then all species of plants present.
•   B. Describe how many herbivores and omnivores you added (and what they eat) in order to create an ecosystem in which all three plant species can coexist. (if you cannot accomplish the survival of Plant C describe your best configuration. Describe your ecologies by identifying the species present and their diet, for instance: 
Omnivore A eats Herbivore A, Herbivore A eats plant A and plant B, Herbivore B eats plant A, All plants present.
•   C. If you can accomplish part B., see if you can get all of the species to coexist. (limit your time on this entire experiment to 90 minutes)
•   D. If we assume that this simulation is a reasonable oversimplification of a typical ecosystems food web what does it tell us about biodiversity and ecology- are they robust or fragile? In general is an ecosystem’s biodiversity preserved as it responds to change?

Supplemental
Food webs

Supplemental
Natural Selection simulator 1
Natural Selection Simulator 2
Alternative to Lab 6: Experiments in Evolution
Alternative Lab writeup for 6

1. Earth worm 
•  Identify items 1 & 2 on the external dorsal surface of the worm. 
•   Identify items 3, 4, & 5 on the external ventral surface of the worm. 
•   Identify item 2 in the internal morphology w/o the digestive tract. 
•   Do worms have sex? 

2. Fetal Pig
•   Use the Anatomical References guide. To what region of the body does dorsal, ventral, anterior, and posterior refer to? 
•  Investigate the Nervous system. Name four large regions (lobes) of the brain and indicate roughly where they are located in the brain and their associated functions. 

B. Comparative Anatomy and the fossil evidence of human evolution 
•   Compare the the skull casts of a chimp, Australopithicus, Homo erectus,neanderthal, and modern Homo sapiens. Be sure to use the lateral view. 
•  Describe features that are common and different between the cranial structure of these creatures. What patterns do you see? 
•   Describe the basic time-line and sequence of evolution for the creatures listed above. 

Supplemental:
The Human Brain 1, 2
Cat dissection 1, 2 
Alternative lab for Comparative Anatomy 

B. Carbon footprint: 1. UK Government, 2. Terrapass , 3. C Footprint Ltd 
•   Describe what has happened to atmospheric CO2 over the last 100,000 years and how this is thought to be impacting the climate. 
•   Describe what the carbon footprint is and how it is estimated. 
•   Report at least two estimates of your carbon footprint 
     (and the calculator(s) that you used). 
•   Describe two ways that you could reduce your carbon footprint.
•   Describe two approaches to lowering our carbon footprint as a nation that you would advocate we adapt society wide. 

Supplementals:
The Water cycle, Water crisis. 
International comparison Carbon Footprints 
Atmospheric CO2 levels- historical timeline
Ecological Footprint estimator 1 , 2 
The human footprint over time