Caitlin+Connally's+science+project

YEAR 8 HOUSING PROJECT; SCIENCE INTRODUCTION:  **Our community project was to research and find different facts for the city of Maribyrnong. The project was done through all major subjects. For Maths and S.O.S.E we had to choose a house for a certain clientele.** For the science aspect of this project, we had to choose and research a particular eco-system within the City of Maribyrnong. Our group chose to research Altona Coastal Park a salt-water marsh eco-system. We then have to find different plants and animals within our eco-system. Then we had to make food-chains and a food-web, using the animals and plants we had chosen, and answer some questions.

DISCUSSION:  || WHAT ANIMAL EATS THE PLANT? The animals that eat the plant is: fish, snails, mussels, ducks, crabs, worms, shrimps, insects.  ||   || WHAT ANIMALS EATS THE PLANT? The animals that eat the plant is: ducks, geese, birds, deers, and muskrats.  ||  || WHAT DOES IT EAT? This animal eats: molluscs, small fish, frogs (amphibians), worms, insects, tadpoles and dog food (in captivity) WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animals that eat this animal are: crocodiles, wild dogs, water rats, fish (larger fish), and birds. IS IT A HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE? Carnivore.  || || WHAT DOES IT EAT? This animal eats: frogs, lizards, rats, eels, tadpoles, small birds, fish, and mice. WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animals that eat this animal are: birds of prey= kites, hawks, eagles, vultures, and eels. IS IT A HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE? Carnivore  ||  || WHAT DOES IT EAT? This animal eats: algae, lettuce and plants. WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animals that eat this animal are: birds, racoons, toads, fish, and frogs. IS IT A HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE? Herbivore  || This animal eats: birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, mice, and rats. WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animals that eats this animal are: crocodiles, feral dogs, fishers, wolves, bears, snakes, cougars, bobcats, foxes, feral pigs, and large birds. IS IT A HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE? Carnivore  ||  || WHAT DOES IT EAT? This animal eats: fish, shellfish, frogs, aquatic insects, and house mice. WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animals that eat this animal are: eagles, buzzards, kites, and snakes. IS IT A CARNIVORE, HERBIVORE, OMNIVORE? Carnivore  || This animal eats: mosquito’s, small aquatic insects, micro crustaceans, plank tonic organisms. WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animals that eat this animals are: birds, larger fish, and Australian Bass. IS IT A HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE? Carnivore  || || WHAT DOES IT EAT? This animal eats: dead animals, and cats (alive). WHAT ANIMALS EAT IT? The animal that eats this animal is: lions. IS IT A HERBIVORE, CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE? Carnivore  ||
 * <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 114%;">NAME OF ANIMAL/PLANT: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;"> || <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 114%;">DESCRIPTION: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">  ||
 * Algae
 * Salt Water Cordgrass (spartina alteniflora)
 * Common Long-Necked Tortoise (chelodina longicollis)
 * Tiger snake (notechis scutatus)
 * Tadpoles
 * Feral Cat (Felis Catus) [[image:cat.jpg]] || WHAT DOES IT EAT?
 * Water Rats (Hydromys chyrsogaster)
 * Australian Smelt (Retropinna Semoni) [[image:fish.jpg]] || WHAT DOES IT EAT?
 * Vulture

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 114%;">

FOOD CHAINS: ALGAE-FISH ALGAE-FISH-TORTOISE-RAT ALGAE-FISH-SNAKE

ALGAE-FISH-CAT-SNAKE

ALGAE-FISH-RAT-BIRD-CAT-SNAKE

ALGAE-FISH-RAT-SNAKE

ALGAE-FISH-BIRD ALGAE-FISH-BIRD-SNAKE ALGAE-TADPOLE ALGAE-TADPOLE-BIRD

ALGAE-TADPOLE-BIRD-SNAKE

ALGAE-TADDPOLE-BIRD-SNAKE

ALGAE-TADPOLE-FISH-CAT ALGAE-TADPOLE-FISH-TORTOISE-RAT ALGAE-TAPOLE-TORTOISE
 * ALGAE-TADPOLE-FISH-TORTOISE-RAT-CAT-SNAKE-VULTURE**

CORDGRASS-BIRD-SNAKE CORDGRASS-RAT-BIRD-CAT-SNAKE CORDGRASS-RAT-SNAKE

Tiger snake Feral cat Water rats Australian smelt vulture<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 114%;"> || Tadpoles <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 114%;"> || --<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 114%;"> ||
 * CARNIVORE || HERBIVORE || OMNIVORE ||
 * Common long-necked tortoise

The predators in the list of animals are; common long necked tortoise, tiger snake, feral cat, water rat, Australian smelt, vulture. The prey are the plants- algae and salt water cord grass- and the tadpole. The tadpole is the prey because it doesn’t hunt anything, as it is a herbivore. But if you get technical about it all the animals listed are prey because all the animals on the list get eaten by some sort of animal. But in my list all the animals barring the vulture are prey, because they get eaten by at least one thing on the list. The organisms competing for the same food are; tadpole and Australian smelt (algae), common long necked tortoise and water rat (Australian smelt), vulture and water rat (common long necked tortoise), vulture and tiger snake (feral cat). If the first- order consumers (tadpole) decreased in size then the producers (algae and salt-water cordgrass) would increase in size, this result would happen because the first-order consumers eat the producers therefore if the producers have no predators then they will grow in population. If the first-order consumers increased in size, then the producers would decrease in size, because now the consumers have more predators, therefore more of them are eaten. If the second-order consumers (Australian smelt) became extinct, then the third-order consumers would eventually die of starvation for lack of food, and the first-order consumers would begin to overpopulate. Some of the decomposers in our eco-system (Altona Coastal Park) are bacteria, fungi and protozoans, they breakdown dead plant and animals, and the waste left behind from them. If this eco-system didn’t have decomposers then the plants wouldn’t get their essential nutrients, and then dead matter and waste would pile up.

|| If the population **increased** then all the consumers underneath the vulture will decrease in size, because the top-order consumer will eat more, because there is more. If the population **decreased** then all the consumers underneath the vulture will increase in size, because there is less of the top-order consumer therefore they are less likely to be eaten. ||
 * CONSUMER: (top order consumer) || WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE POPULATION CHANGED IN SIZE? (increase/decrease) ||
 * **VULTURE**

An introduced species is a species brought into an environment/ eco-system that was originally from it. Some introduced species from our eco-system is the vulture and sickle grass. Biological control is a method control of pests in agriculture; this may include pests like insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases. There is no biological control in our eco-system (Altona Coastal Park).

<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 114%;"> CONCLUSION:

In conclusion doing this project helped me learn a lot of thing about the things that live in Altona Coastal Park. I also learnt that every single animal in an ecosystem is important. Every one of them has a role to play, they are there to keep a balance in the ecosystem, to not let any other species over populate or become extinct.