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Forest Ecosystems Capstone

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Forest Ecosystems Capstone

A storm has opened gaps in a native forest beside a stream. Your team must use ecosystem evidence to recommend a restoration plan. Read the briefing and study the food web before answering. Use evidence in your explanations.

Field briefing

Kauri Ridge is a fictional New Zealand forest. Its canopy includes mature kauri and tōtara, while native shrubs and ferns grow below. Kererū eat fruit and disperse seeds; native geckos eat insects and are prey for moreporks. Fungi and bacteria break down fallen leaves and dead organisms, returning nutrients to the soil. After a storm, a cleared patch has more sunlight and warmer, drier soil than the shaded forest floor. The stream at the forest edge has become cloudier where bare soil washes in. Rats have been detected near the patch. The restoration team has limited funds and can plant native seedlings, protect the stream bank, and work with neighbours to control pests.

Food web evidence

Arrows show the direction that energy moves: from food to the organism that eats it.

Native plants: kauri, tōtara, ferns

Fruit and leaves → kererū; insects → gecko

Gecko → morepork; dead matter → fungi and bacteria

Analyse the ecosystem

1.Which statement best defines the Kauri Ridge ecosystem?

The trees growing in the forest
The living organisms and non-living conditions interacting in the forest
Only the animals that eat plants
The soil and stream without organisms

2.Select the three abiotic factors described in the briefing.

Sunlight
Rats
Soil moisture
Fungi
Stream water clarity

3.Use the food-web evidence. If gecko numbers fell sharply, predict one likely effect on moreporks and explain the link.

4.Explain how fungi and bacteria help keep nutrients available to plants in this forest.

5.After canopy loss, the patch becomes sunnier and drier. Describe one possible effect on young plants and give a reason.

6.The stream becomes cloudier after bare soil washes in. Identify the likely process and one possible impact on stream life.

Plan and justify restoration

7.Choose two actions from the briefing for the restoration team. Explain how each could benefit the forest ecosystem.

8.The team can fund only one action first. Which would you prioritise: planting seedlings, protecting the stream bank, or controlling rats? State your choice and support it with two pieces of evidence from the briefing.

9.Suggest one measurable way to check whether your chosen restoration action is working. State what you would measure and when or where you would measure it.

10.True or false: Replanting trees alone guarantees that the forest ecosystem will return to its previous condition. Correct the statement if it is false.

TrueFalse