Dear ECOLOGGERS: I'm trying to put together a lab activity illustrating principles of food webs and/or energy flow in ecosystems. The class is an introductory biology course for non-majors (many of whom have very little science training) at an urban community college. I'd like to illustrate at least several of the following concepts: trophic cascade, why top predators are rare (energy limitations), how energy transfers limit the length of food chains, effects of redundancy within trophic levels, etc.
Does anyone have a lab activity that illustrates some of these points well? I'm thinking about some kind of game (maybe having students role-play as different species in a food web) that illustrates the importance of connections between species, the effects of removal of a species, and the effects of energy limitations on food chain length. Any ideas, web page links, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Mark Dixon Phoenix College and Arizona State University
