Linh's+science+thingy

This term in integrated project we are researching about the city of Maribyrnong. We have to do a project for English, SOSE, Maths and Science. In science we have to choose an ecosystem near the Maribyrnong River. After the ecosystem is chosen we then have to research two plants and seven animals that live in the ecosystem. The people in my group are Courtney, Dianne, Melanie, Samantha and me. Our group chose Iramoo grassland. Grasslands are mainly covered in grass and herbs. It is a flat open habitat with many different types of grass with wildflowers, trees and shrubs. They receive less rainfall then a rainforest but more then a desert, with hot winter and harsh summers. Grasslands can be found in other part of the world, they are called Steppes in Asia, Pampas in America, Prairies in North America and Savannahs in Africa. We chose trees and Wallaby Grass for the two plants. The seven animals are Striped Legless Lizards, Eastern Barred Bandicoots, Tiger Snakes, Plain Wanderers, Golden Sun Moths, Dingoes and Ants. __ FOOD CHAINS __ Wallaby Grass à Golden Sun Moth à Plains Wanderer à Tiger Snake Trees à Ants à Striped Legless Lizard à Tiger Snake Wallaby Grass à Golden Sun Moth à Plains Wanderer à Dingo Trees à Ants à Eastern Barred Bandicoot à Tiger Snake Trees à Ants à Eastern Barred Bandicoot à Dingo



1st Consumer || 2nd Consumer || 3rd Consumer ||
 * Ants || Plains Wanderer || Dingo ||
 * Golden Sun Moth || Striped Legless Lizard || Tiger Snake ||
 * Plains Wanderer || Eastern Barred Bandicoot || - ||
 * Omnivores || Herbivores || Carnivores ||
 * Ants || Golden Sun Moth || Striped Legless Lizard ||
 * Plains Wanderer || - || Eastern Barred Bandicoot ||
 * - || - || Tiger Snake ||
 * - || - || Dingo ||

There are two organisms that are producers; they are the trees and the wallaby grass. There are two organisms that are predators; they are the dingo and the tiger snake. There are eight organisms that are preys; they are the plains wanderer, ants, golden sun moth, striped legless lizard, eastern barred bandicoot, tiger snake and the dingo. Competitor= Plains Wanderer & Ants competes for trees Plains Wanderer & Golden Sun Moth competes for Wallaby Grass Striped Legless Lizard & Eastern Barred Bandicoot competes for Ants Tiger Snake & Dingo competes for Plains Wanderer What happen to the producer/s if the number of first-order consumers... i) Increases ii) Decreases i) There won’t be many producers left; it will take a long time to produce more. Slowly the first consumer will starve to death, and so will the other consumers. ii) Because there won’t be many first-order consumers left to eat the producers, they will over take the ecosystem. If the second-order consumer becomes extinct the third-order consumer would have less variety of food, it would also be harder for them to find food and will slowly die of starvation. The first-order consumer would over populate the ecosystem and then move to another ecosystem and will become unwanted. There is only one species of decomposer in Iramoo grasslands and they are the ants. PLAINS WANDERER If they decrease they will effect the whole food web, because there will be; more wallaby grass for the golden sun moth, more trees for the ants, more golden sun moth for the striped legless lizard, more ants for the eastern barred bandicoot and less food for the dingo and the tiger snake. An introduced species are species introduced from one ecosystem to another. The dingo is the only introduced specie in Iramoo grassland. Biological control is the reduction in the number of problem plants and animals by using other plants and animals. There are no biological controls in our grassland ecosystem. In conclusion doing this project helped me learn a lot of thing about the things that live in Iramoo grasslands. I also learnt that every single animal in an ecosystem is important. Every one of them has a roll to play, they are there to keep a balance in the ecosystem, to not let any other species over populate or become extinct.