- Use your preferred Internet search engine and browser, and identify at least two rainforest, nature, or ocean webcams.
- Use Microsoft Word or OneNote to create a personalized laboratory notebook in which to record your observations. This document is used to record and organize details about your webcam observations and will be helpful to prepare your final laboratory report.
- Record the following information into your laboratory notebook:
- Time and date of webcam observations.
- Location of webcam (region of the world).
- URL of webcam.
- Make your observations over a 30-minute period of time and include the following:
- Total number of distinct plant species observed within view of the webcam. Total number of distinct insect, bird, or animal species observed.
- Record any environmental conditions that are available: temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc.
- Repeat steps above (beginning with “Record the following…”) by identifying and observing a different webcam.
- Answer the following questions in the discussion section of your final laboratory report using your recently collected observations:
- Describe differences in the patterns and density of biodiversity at the different webcam locations.
- Which factors likely influence biodiversity in the two regions that were part of your observations?
- Based on your current knowledge, what species observed through the webcam are most vulnerable to human influences in each of the ecosystems observed?
- Discuss potential unobservable species that are part of biological life within the two ecosystems observed.
- Include a title page and the following sections in your final laboratory report:
- Brief introduction
- Materials and method
- Results
- Discussion
- Cited references
- Format your paper using West Writing Style Handbookguidelines.
