Year 9, unit 1
Ecosystems
Name: .......................................................................... Class: .......................... Date: ......................
Lesson 2 Change in populations
Extension worksheet
Is your body like an ecosystem?
1. If the human body was to be compared to an ecosystem, would it be open or
closed? Explain.
2. Would there be ‘components’ of the human body equivalent to the following
components of an ecosystem. Justify your choices.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
energy source
decomposers
producers
first order consumers
top order consumer
parasites
scavengers
abiotic factors
3. Conduct internet research to investigate the effects of lead accumulation in the
human body.
You could start with the following websites:
‘NHMRC information paper. Blood lead levels for Australians’, NHMRC website,
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/gp2-lead-infopaper.pdf (August 2009)
For an update on safe lead levels see: ‘NHMRC considering lowering acceptable
blood lead levels in children’, Lab Test Online website,
http://www.labtestsonline.org.au/news/nhmrc-considering-lowering-acceptableblood-lead-levels-in-children./ (9 June 2012)
a) Compare accumulation of lead in the human body to the accumulation of DDT
in the Arctic biome.
b) How is the level of lead in the human body tested? How is a safe level work
determined?
c) Suggest ways in which levels of DDT in the environment could be measured
and tested?
4. Our bodies have active mechanisms to remove harmful materials or to store them
in certain organs. Compare this with the fate of environmental toxins in
ecosystems?
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