• analyse the components of population growth, and explain the factors that affect the growth of various populations of species; • investigate, analyse, and evaluate populations, their interrelationships within ecosystems, and their effect on the sustainability of life on this planet; • evaluate the carrying capacity of the Earth, and relate the carrying capacity to the growth of populations, their consumption of natural resources, and advances in technology.
Specific Expectations
Understanding basic Concepts;
- Explain the concepts of interaction (e.g., competition, predation, defence mechanisms, symbiotic relationships, parasitic relationships) among different species of animals and plants; - Describe characteristics of a population, such as growth, density, distribution, carrying capacity, minimum/viable size; - Compareand explain the fluctuation of a population of a species of plant, wild animal, and micro-organism, with an emphasis on such factors as carrying capacity, fecundity, and predation; - Use examples of the energy pyramid to explain production, distribution, and use of food resources; - Explain the demographic changes observed over the past ten thousand years (e.g., explain the effect on populations of such factors as epidemics, the rise of agriculture, the Industrial Revolution, and the development of modern medicine); - Explain, using demographic principles, problems related to the rapid growth of human populations and the effects of that growth on future generations (e.g., relate the carrying capacity of the Earth to the growth of populations and their consumption of resources).
Developing Skills of Inquiry and Communication
- Use conceptual and mathematical modelsto determine the growth of populations of various species in an ecosystem (e.g., use the concepts of exponential, sigmoid, and sinusoidal growth to describe and predict various populations); - Determine experimentally the characteristics of population growth of two populations (e.g., examine the population cycles of a predator and a prey, or those of two populations that compete for food); - Using the ecological hierarchy for living things, evaluate how a change in one population can affect the entire hierarchy both physically and economically (e.g.,the effects of the killing off of species of fish by lamprey eels, or the results of the introduction of zebra mussels into the Great Lakes); - Investigate, individually or collaboratively, the effects of human population growth on the environment and the quality of life (e.g., effects on ecosystems, such as the elimination of wildlife, plants, and farmland; causes and effects of ozone depletion or acid rain).
Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment
- Analyse Canadianinvestments in human resources and agricultural technology in a developing country (e.g., investigate Canadian International Development Agency [CIDA]-funded projects in a developing country); - Describe examples of stable food production technologies that nourish a dense and expanding population; - Outline the advances in medical care and technology that have contributed to an increase in life expectancy, and relate these developments to demographic issues.