Coquí Frog Invasion of Hawai'i
Assessment
In this formative assessment, students act as ecologists investigating a real-world ecological crisis: the explosive population boom of the invasive red-eyed coqui frog on the Big Island of Hawai'i. In this assessment students will manipulate and analyze real field data from 13 distinct microclimates. They will evaluate how abiotic factors (climate, elevation, location) and biotic factors (competition, predation) interact to shape ecosystem carrying capacity. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): 1. Identify and categorize the abiotic and biotic factors that define an organism's niche. 2. Use computational tools to analyze data and determine specific environmental thresholds that limit a population's growth. 3. Predict and quantify how changes in an invasive population's density create a cascading effect that alters the carrying capacity of prey, competitors, and predators in a food web.
Coquí frogs are small frogs from Puerto Rico that are most active at night. In the late 1980s, they were accidentally introduced to Hawaii on imported plants. Since then, the frogs have spread quickly across the islands' different local climates. In this assessment, you will analyze data that scientists gathered from 13 sites on the Big Island. You will track how non-living factors like weather, temperature, and food resources affect the frog population. You will also look at how these frogs impact the other living things in their surrounding communities. Click Next to get started!
Topics and standards: Life Science, LS2.A, HS-LS2-1, Ecosystems, Ecosystem Relationships, Using Mathematics & Computational Thinking, Scale Proportion Quantity, Grades 9-12, 3D Science Tasks, Tuva Assessment Tasks, BIO1-LS1-2, BIO1-LS1-2, Assessment, BIO.1.1, 3.1.9-12.I