Standard 6b Preknowledge
6b) Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size.
CALIFORNIA FRAMEWORKS SUMMARY:
Analysis of change can help people to describe and understand what is happening in a natural system and, to some extent, to control or influence that system. Understanding different kinds of change can help to improve predictions of what will happen next. Changes in ecosystems often manifest themselves in predictable patterns of climate, seasonal reproductive cycles, population cycles, and migrations. However, unexpected disturbances caused by human intervention or the introduction of a new species, for example, may destabilize the often complex and delicate balance in an ecosystem.
Analyzing changes in an ecosystem can require complex methods and techniques because variation is not necessarily simple and may be interrelated with changes or trends in other factors. Rates and patterns of change, including trends, cycles, and irregularities, are essential features of the living world and are useful indicators of change that can provide data for analysis. Often it is important to analyze change over time, a process called longitudinal analysis.