Assignment: SCIE211 Phase 5 Lab Report Title: Identifying Environmental Hazards

SCIE211 Phase 5 Lab Report: Identifying Environmental Hazards

Institution Affiliation

Student’s Name

· Purpose

To find out why there is increases and decreases in the invasive species population?

To investigate the implications associated with alterations to the ecosystem as a whole?

· Introduction

Invasive species in an ecosystem are the species that consumes others making the extinct. From the principle of interdependence and food chain, some species provide food to others and therefore their continued consumption decreases there number while there is increase in number of the organisms that consume them (Mc Cann, 2012). Due to their reduction in number, the organisms that consume the also reduces in number due to starvation. Once the consumers have reduced in number, the producers on the other hand increases in number (Mc Cann, 2012).

· Hypothesis/Predicted Outcome

The consumers should first increase in number as the producers reduces and later decrease in number as the producers increase in number

· Methods

Sample of the producers and consumer was observed in an enclosed ecosystem in water body. The number of each counted and the data calculated and then recorded. The sampling was done after some period of duration and the data recoded in the table of the results Mc Cann, 2012).

· Results/Outcome

Years	Zebra and Quagga Mussel (density/m2)	Phytoplankton (µg/ml)	Zooplankton (µg/ml)	Cladophora Biomass (g/m2)	Foraging Fish (kilotons)	Lake Trout (kilotons)
0	100	3	2	10	150	15
3	1000	2.5	1	100	100	10
7	2500	2	0.5	200	80	8
10	7500	1.5	0.25	600	50	5
13	15000	1	0.1	700	25	2.5
15	7500	1.5	0.2	243	40	4
20	5000	1.75	0.4	136	60	6

· Discussion/Analysis

From the data achieved in the experiment it can be verified that increase in number of producers would result in increase in number of consumer as the availability of food would increase rate of reproduction in the organisms as well as better immune system to resist diseases. Increase in number of consumers in turn causes population crisis as there is much competition for the inadequately available producers hence leads to starvation and consequently death, this consequently increase number of producers as there is less consumers as shown in the data (Mc Cann, 2012).

Reference

Mc Cann, K. S. (2012). Food webs. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.