Biome Productivity Exercise
The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER)
The Assignment
1.
2.
3.
4.
You have been assigned to a random group of 4 students
Read the first section of Knapp et al. (2004).
Your group has been assigned 2 LTER sites from the LTER
Primary Productivity database on the MS Excel file named: LTER
anpp-precip.xls
Additional information can be obtained from the following web
sites:
a.
b.
5.
http://www.lternet.edu/
http://intranet.lternet.edu/cgi-bin/anpp.pl
Search for patterns that describe the effect of precipitation and
temperature on primary productivity
a.
b.
Approximately 25 years worth of data are available for exploration and
for plotting graphs
Construct a scatter plot using Excel and copy and paste it into into
PowerPoint
What to turn in.
1. A statement of the ecological rule rule you think supports your
data (e.g., as temp. increases, NPP decreases)
2. Two graphs based on the data (Excel imported into a
PowerPoint)
3. Test the rule by comparing the figures from your LTER sites to
those constructed using data from two different LTER sites
4. Use what you know about biomes and the factors affecting
primary productivity from the lecture, the web sites listed
previously and the text to answer the question below.
a. “Is the rule supported?”.
i. If it is not supported, propose one or two reasons that could
explain why not
ii. If it is supported, propose one or two other factors that were
not measured or included in the database that might alter the
patterns you observed in the first two LTER sites.
Deadline
• Create a PowerPoint presentation with no more than
three slides of data on your assigned LTER Sites (be
sure to include units on your graphics).
• Go to D2L and put them in the drop box labeled
“Ecology Homework Assignment” by Thursday, Feb.
9th at 7:00 a.m.
• In class we will do the following:
– I will select a few examples, which will be presented in class
and used for discussion.
– We will examine how “ecological rules” are used to describe
the behavior of ecosystems given certain boundaries.
– This is worth 10 points.
LTER
Locations
TL
CC
HB
Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Sites
Number
Site
Abrev
Veg
Code
Vegetation Type
1
Bonanza, AK
BNZ
a
Balsam poplar forest
2
Cedar Creek, MN
CC
b
Oak savanna grassland
3
Harvard Forest, MA
HF
c
Mixed deciduous forest
4
Hubbard Brook, NH
HB
d
Mixed deciduous forest
5
Jornada, NM
JOR
e
Black gramma grassland
6
Kellogg, MI
KG
f
Successional field
(annually tilled)
7
Konza Prairie, KS
KNZ
g
Tall grass prairie (annually
burned)
8
Niwot Ridge, CO
NWT
h
Moist alpine meadow
9
Sevilleta, NM
SEV
i
Mixed desert grassland
10
Short grass Steppe, CO
SG
j
Short grass steppe (swale)
11
Arctic Tundra, AK
TL
k
Arctic tundra
LTER Assignment Combinations
• Find your group number. It will indicate which two sites you
are to compare in generating your ecological rule.
• Test your rule by examining the data from two different sites,
and explain whether or not these sites fit the rule.
BNZ
BNZ
CC
HF
HB
JOR
KG
KNZ
KNZ
NWT
SEV
TL
CC
HF
1
HB
JOR
2
6
KG
KNZ
3
7
13
8
18
SEV
4
14
17
NWT
9
24
20
10
11
12
16
21
25
27
TL
5
15
19
SG
22
23
26
28
30
29
31
32
33
34
35