Population: Fishing for Answers

Today, students learned all about populations. We began by discussing world population and how it has increased from 1 billion to 7 billion people in just over 200 years. Students correctly identified China (1.3 billion) and India (1.2 billion) as the most populous countries in the world.  Students learned about two major concepts in population ecology – carrying capacity and the Tragedy of the Commons.  Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals that an area can support without exhausting or depleting the available resources.

We also explored the Tragedy of the Commons in a game where students grouped together in villages that survived by fishing. Inevitably, villagers who caught the maximum number of fish allowed each year ended up not leaving enough fish in the pond to reproduce to provide food for the next year. Villagers starved and villages collapsed until some students realized that if they fished enough to survive, but not enough to deplete the fish resource, the game could continue indefinitely – or as we say in ecology – sustainably – for many generations.

Additional Information:

We watched a great video about population that you can review here. http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion

Watch this short video to find out more about Tragedy of the Commons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZDjPnzoge0

 

Ecología de Poblaciones: La Pesca de Respuestas

Hoy los estudiantes aprendieron sobre la Ecología de Poblaciones. La clase comenzó con una discusión de cómo la población mundial ha aumentado de mil millones a siete mil millones en solo 200 años. Los estudiantes identificaron que China (mil trescientos millones) e India (mil doscientos millones) son los países del mundo con la mayor cantidad de población.

Los alumnos también aprendieron sobre dos conceptos importantes: la capacidad de carga y la Tragedia de los Comunes. La capacidad de carga es el número máximo de individuos que un área puede soportar sin agotar los recursos disponibles.  Aprendimos sobre la Tragedia de los Comunes a través de un juego donde los estudiantes formaron grupos que representaban aldeas que viven de la pesca. De manera inevitable, los aldeanos que pescaron el número máximo  permitido de peces cada año, no dejaron suficientes peces en la laguna para que éstos se pudieran reproducir y por tanto se quedaron sin peces para el año siguiente. Los aldeanos se murieron de hambre y las aldeas colapsaron; hasta que algunos estudiantes se dieron cuenta que si pescaban con el fin de sobrevivir, sin agotar los recursos pesqueros, el juego podía continuar indefinidamente. Este concepto en ecología se conoce como sustentabilidad.

Información adicional:

Vimos un gran video sobre la población, el cual Usted puede mirar aquí:

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion

Revisa este corto para informarte sobre la Tragedia de los Comunes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZDjPnzoge0

 

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Author

Lauren Koppel

Lauren earned a Bachelor’s degree with a double major of Biology and Psychology from Clark University, and a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. During her undergraduate years, she worked in a evolutionary neurobiology lab that studied the neural development of annelids (marine worms), with a focus on the sox family of genes. Lauren loves learning about how the world works (including everything from biology to chemistry to engineering), and is passionate about sharing that knowledge and enthusiasm with others. In the past, she has interned at the Museum of Science, where she educated learners of all ages through hands-on activities, games, and experiments. Other science education organizations with which Lauren has worked include The People’s Science, EurekaFest, and Eureka! of Girls Inc. of Worcester. Currently she lives in Boston, where devotes her free time to playing Quidditch, reading sci-fi novels, playing her ukulele, and enjoying all the culinary delights the city has to offer.

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