Topic 3 Activity 3: A Tool for Inquiry - BioQUEST

ASSIGNMENTS:

Readings

1. Review the information about the BASS system in the EDM manual (pp. 23-26) to confirm your understanding of how EDM imports and displays ideas like food chains, hierarchy, and carrying capacity. 2. Please read the section on the FISHING model, pages 26-33, including the section on general symbols for modeling.

Hands-On

First, build the FISHING model. Connect the elements. Add in a Quantity Plotter. Run your model. Vary parameters for sunlight, sunfish, bass, and fishing. The manual provides several ADVANCED QUESTIONS for investigation. What happens if:

fishing sunfish as well as bass is allowed? Try various fishing rates. you add a second population of bass (say, small mouth that does not breed with the other)? you add GAR? (Gar is a voracious predator on sunfish. It is not a "fun" fish to catch, nor do people like to eat it.) Build a model with gar. How is the output of bass effected? You will have to disconnect one of the Quantity Plotter inputs to accept the gar link. Choose one or two of these issues to pursue. Make some conjectures BEFORE you run the model. Draw some graphs you think will be plotted by EDM. Are they different from what the software gives? How? Why?

Then, try using the model to develop recommendations about environmental policy:

What is the effect of over-fishing in your models? Can species be eliminated? What does the final steady state look like? Are there any general patterns you can observe and explain? How might you control the factors you have found that determine and limit carrying capacity? How would your control be translated into real environmental policy? For example: fishing can be controlled in many ways. Which of these controls is easiest to regulate? Which are most effective in reducing over-fishing?

Reflection

While working with the materials take a few minutes to ask yourself: 1. In this activity we tried to build a connection between a modeling tool, a strategic simulation, in the language of the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium, and making meaningful choices about environmental policy. Did you find the model helpful? How "strategic" was this simulation? Did you learn something from it?

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