Biodiversity Planning Lab ideas
Plan a lab with a valid Research Question, Independent Variable,
Dependent Variable and Control Variables that help measure the extent of
biodiversity in an ecosystem. Follow the IB Planning lab rubric to present
your design.
Your plan should include a brief background on the filed of your investigation, a
justification for the independent variable selection, how you would go about
controlling each if the variables during the investigation. And, of course, how you
would measure the differences in the dependent variable.
Note: All planning labs should present a blank data table or data collection
mechanism that is relevant and is able to generate sufficient data for drawing a
conclusion by the investigator should the experiment is actually carried out.
Keep in mind each of the three aspects (A1, A2 and A3) of the planning lab
criteria while presetting your report. Refer to the Guide on ESS lab reports
you received earlier.
Some ideas used in the past, but not limited to, are presented below:
Feel free to refer to section 2.3 (measuring biotic component of a system)
and section 2.7 (measuring changes in the system) in your IB Pearson
book.
 The pH level of the soil in different areas and its effect on plant and
animal life
(Collected large amounts of data about areas in a river in our city.
Variables collected included water pH, temperature, sea grass coverage
(measured by using a transect), wind, wave height, etc. Then we used
large nets to collect sea life in our areas, and identified the species of each
animal before releasing them into the wild. After this, we measured the
biodiversity of the river, and every team was required to send their data
to a massive data pool. We calculated biodiversity as our dependent
variable, and then retroactively chose our dependent variable)
 The amount of Pollutant/Chemical X in an ecosystem, and then measure
it's affect on the biodiversity of Plant life in an ecosystem.
 With biodiversity, the labs are always going to be quite similar, as it's
always going to affect plant and animal life, (unless you decide to focus on
the microscopic) so just try to choose an independent variable that is able
to be measured.
 Abiotic factors such as soil type and soil CEC and biodiversity
Some questions to think about…..
Q. How does biological diversity relate to the characteristics of the abiotic
factors of an ecosystem?
The availability of abiotic factors like light, moisture, mineral salts, heat
and carbon dioxide, more or less conditions the biodiversity of an
ecosystem. Photosynthesis depends on water and light, and plants also
need mineral salts, carbon dioxide and adequate temperature for their
cells to work. In environments where these factors are not restrictive the
synthesis of organic material (by photosynthesis) is at a maximum, plants
and algae can reproduce easier, the population of these beings increase,
potential ecological niches multiply and new species emerge. The large
mass of producers makes viable the appearing of a diversity of consumers
of several orders. In environments with restrictive abiotic factors, like
deserts, the producers exist in small numbers and less diversity, a feature
that thus extends to consumers and conditions fewer ecological niches to
be explored.
Q. How does the vegetal stratification of an ecosystem influence the
biological diversity?
The vegetal stratification of an ecosystem, like the strata of the Amazon
Rainforest, creates vertical layers with peculiar abiotic and biotic factors,
dividing the ecosystem into several different environments. Therefore in
the superior layer near the crowns of big trees the exposition to light, rain
and wind is greater but moisture is lower compared to the inferior layers.
As one goes down the strata the penetration of light diminishes and
moisture increases. Regarding the biotic factors, communities of each
stratum present differ in composition and features, food habits,
reproduction strategies, etc. Such variations in the abiotic and biotic
factors make the selective pressure upon living beings to be also
diversified, there are more ecological niches to be explored and more
varied beings emerge during the evolutionary process.