Safety and evidence boundary
Use supplied ecological datasets, safe non-contact observation, and paper/digital food-web models. Do not disturb wildlife or reveal sensitive species locations. Energy-flow models are ecosystem approximations and should include units, area/time scales, and uncertainty.
Explicit science instruction
Food webs are networks rather than ladders. A predator can affect prey directly and producers indirectly; omnivory and alternative resources create multiple pathways. Trophic cascades are indirect effects across levels, but strength depends on context.
Worked example with reasoning
In a fictional lake, predator P eats grazer G; G consumes algae A. Reducing P may increase G and reduce A, but if G has alternative predators or switches food, the response can differ. The web supports a prediction, not certainty.
Guided question
Why does removing one species not have a single guaranteed outcome?
Independent work
- Build an eight-node food web.
- Identify three direct and three indirect paths.
- Predict removal effects with one alternative pathway.
- Label documented versus hypothesized links.
Misconception check
Food-web arrows conventionally show energy/matter transfer from resource to consumer, not who “attacks” whom.
Formative understanding check
If A is eaten by B, which direction is the energy-flow arrow?
Worked response
A → B.
Open-book formative practice only; not an official mastery attempt or grade.
Mentor evidence conference
Ask Archaemenes to challenge your model topology, evidence classification, calculation, and stated uncertainty without substituting belief or protected answers for science mastery.
Open ArchaemenesTeacher guidance
Foundation: use labeled relationship cards. Core: defend predictions with pathways. Extended: compare interaction strength and network redundancy.
Preserve learning evidence
Keep models, data work, corrections, source classifications, and limitations in the matching Week 31 evidence field.