Name: __________________________________________ Date: ______________ Period: _______________

Florida Ecosystems Performance

Assessment

Date Assigned: _____________Date Due: April 19, 2016

Introduction

An ecosystem is a particular area where members of a community of organisms (biotic

factors) live together and share natural resources (abiotic factors).
Plants and animals, including humans, interact with each other and share the resources of
their community.
Both human activities and natural disasters can have major impacts on their environment.
Florida has nine different ecosystems. Each ecosystem has unique features, distinctive
wildlife, and plays an important role in the health of our state.
For this assessment you will choose one of Floridas ecosystems. On the back of this sheet is
the list of the minimum requirements for the project.
You will use your textbook, Chapter 8 for natural resources and Chapter 14, pages 475 to
507, to guide you. You may also want to use other resources such as the internet, books,
and/or magazines to find information to complete this assessment.
Please Note: the quality of the work is very important. The project grade equals a test
grade.

Completeness of assignment (all components are present)

Content/Information accuracy
Bibliography; All information must be cited (you tell where you got your information),
list the books or websites you used to find your information. This includes where you
copied pictures.
Neatness- All writing on the poster or book must be neatly written in blue or black
ink or typed
Presentation of information- all information should be neatly and colorfully displayed.

You may present your information in one of the following formats:

PowerPoint Presentation (minimum of 10 slides)
Poster
Cereal box project
Story book
Other presentation format as approved by your teacher prior to the project due
date

Requirements for the assessment are

located on the back of this sheet.
Required components that must be part of this assessment

Please refer to this list often. Before turning in your work, Check off each item as
you have completed it.
Information to find
1
2
3

Name of ecosystem
Description of the ecosystem (type of plants, source of water, type of soil, average temperature,
general climate, etc.)
Map of Florida showing the areas where the ecosystem is located
(Hint: get a blank map from the teacher and color in where the ecosystem is found in Florida)

Identify 5 major organisms found in your selected ecosystem; at least one organism should be
a plant or algae.
For each include the following:
Organism name
What the organism eats
Identify the organism as a producer, consumer, or decomposer (Hint: Read textbook
pages 483-485 to review these terms)

Write 2 adaptations of the organism that helps it survive in the ecosystem

Draw or copy a picture of the organism
Make a food chain using the organisms found in the ecosystem
It must have a producer, primary consumer, and secondary consumer
(Hint: Use pages 483-487 to review food chains)

Make a food web containing a minimum of three food chains using organisms in the ecosystem
The food web must contain producers, primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, as well as a
decomposer (All organisms must be labeled)
(Hint: Use pages 486 to review food webs)

9
10

Choose at least two of the relationships bellow that are present in your ecosystem. Explain the
role of each organism in the relationship.
Predator/prey (Hint: Read textbook pages 494-495)
Mutualism (Hint: read textbook page 497)
Commensalism (Hint: Read textbook page 498)
Parasitism (Hint: Read textbook page 498)
Competition (Hint: Read textbook page 493)
Describe how the following situations affect your ecosystem,
1. Deforestation of an area close to the ecosystem or upstream from the ecosystem
2. Urbanization of an area close to the ecosystem (Hint: read pages 258-259)
3. Air pollution (Hint: Read textbook pages 261-263)
4. Water pollution (Hint: Read textbook pages 282-283)
Pick one of the five organisms from item number 4 and describe what could limit its population
growth in the ecosystem (Hint: read textbook pages 505-506)
Works cited/ Bibliography
You must provide information about the books, magazines, and websites where you found the
information. This includes pictures. See information sheet for how to cite each source.

Information necessary from each source for the bibliography.

Title of the document
Source (Where did the document come
from?) Book Magazine
Newspaper
Website Other
Date Published
Author;

Website is a
Company (.com)
Organization (org)
Government (.org)
Other_________________________
Internet URL is http://

Place Published
(books only)
Edition(if needed)

Publisher
(books only)
Volume, if available.(periodicals or
Encyclopedias)

Internet day of access