Ecology Virtual Lab - APES



Ecology Virtual Lab Name __________________________

“Assessing Water Quality” (and the Effects of Acid Rain)

Go to this website: (OR: Google: McGraw-Hill Virtual Labs, then choose a link from Google)



Select “Assessing Water Quality” (about midway down the list of virtual labs)

What is the Question you are trying to answer in this lab?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read the Purpose, Objective, Information and Procedure sections, and answer these questions:

1. What organism(s) is/are being used to test the quality of the water?

2. In this model ecosystem, what are you testing the effects of?

3. Acid rain results from the release of ________________ in the air.

4. The pollutants come from ______________ _________such as gasoline, oil, and coal being burned by automobiles, factories, and power plants.

5. When the fossil fuels are burned, they release ___________ _______________ and ____________ ____________. These pollutants can combine with __________ and other chemicals to form _________ _______ and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere.

6. When the water falls to Earth as rain, snow, sleet, fog, or dew, it is called__________ _______________.

7. The ____________ _________ used in this Investigation represents acid rain.

8. The strength of acid rain is determined by reading a pH scale.

The lower the pH, the more _________ the solution.

9. On the pH scale a change of one unit is actually a ___________ change. For example, pure distilled water is neutral at pH 7. A solution at pH 6 is ten times more acidic than pure water, and a solution at pH 5 is 100 times more acidic than pure water.

10. All rain naturally has some amount of acid in it. Unpolluted rain has a pH of 5.0 - 5.6. By contrast, acid rain has a pH range of ______________.

11. In highly ____________________ regions, acid rain can be extremely acidic. With pH readings below 4.0, the acid rain in these areas can be as strong as _______________ (3.3) and sometimes even as strong as

__________ ____________ (2.3).

12. When acid rain falls, it can produce many problems for the environment, particularly for forest and aquatic habitats because _______________________________________________________________________.

13. What is an indicator species? _____________________________________________________________

List 3 ecological variables that influence their population size:

14. The 3 aquatic invertebrates that were chosen by the computer for me to start with were:

_______________________, ________________________, and _________________.

Data Table:

Populations of Aquatic Invertebrates at Various pH Levels

Graph of Data

ANALYSIS QUESTIONS:

1. What are the names of the species used in this experiment? Which of these species was the most tolerant of increased acidity in the aquarium? Which species was the least tolerant?

2. Describe how acid precipitation affects ecosystems.

3. What is an indicator species? How are indicator species used to assess pollution levels in the environment?

4. Suppose you are an ecologist studying the effects of acid precipitation on plant life. Describe an experiment you would perform in order to determine which plant species would be a useful indicator species for acid rain pollution.

5. How do the data represented on the Population Bar Graph compare to the data represented in the line graph titled Populations of Aquatic Invertebrates at Various pH Levels?

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