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Choosing a Rainforest Fruit-Return Design

Compare rainforest fruit-return baskets using test data, then model matter moving among plants, bats, decomposers, air, and soil.

Grade 5ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to5-LS2-1

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
14 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 5
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students model matter moving among papaya plants, bats, decomposers, and the environment.
Students compare basket designs using evidence about water delivery and fruit retention.
Students distinguish matter cycling through an ecosystem from sunlight supplying energy.

How to use

Read the report and graph together. Have students judge the designs, then label each arrow in their ecosystem models with the matter being transferred.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

5-LS2-1

Model how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.

Preview

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Name Date

Choosing a Rainforest Fruit-Return Design

Compare designs and model where matter goes.

Compare the Basket Designs

Read the report and graph. Judge each design using both test goals.

A Fruit-Return Trial in a Rainforest Clearing

At a rainforest restoration clearing, researchers grow papaya plants. Fruit-eating bats visit at night. Cameras record bats taking bites of ripe fruit. Researchers also find fallen fruit with patches of fungi. They want to design baskets that hold fallen fruit above the soil near plant roots. Rain can pass through the baskets, while decomposers can reach the fruit.

The researchers' ecosystem notes explain that plants use matter from air and water to make food. Roots take in water and small amounts of nutrients from soil. Animals use food matter to grow and keep their bodies working. Their waste still contains matter. Fungi and bacteria use dead material and waste as food. As they grow, some food matter becomes part of their bodies. They also release matter into soil and air. Plants and animals release some matter into air, too. Sunlight supplies energy, not matter.

The team compares three basket bases: a solid base, wide slots, and fine mesh. The design must deliver at least 200 milliliters of water to the soil below during a test. It must also keep the fruit chunks inside, where decomposers can continue using them. These are separate goals: holding chunks does not show how much water reaches the soil.

Adult researchers prepare the baskets. Each receives the same mass of partly decomposed papaya fruit, divided into ten similar chunks. Each basket is placed above an identical soil tray that represents a root bed. No seedlings are used in this test. The researchers pour 400 milliliters of water onto each basket at the same rate, in the same place. They change the basket base and measure the water reaching each soil tray. A separate screen catches escaping chunks for counting.

The graph shows water delivered during this test. The solid base lets zero fruit chunks escape, the wide slots let six escape, and the fine mesh lets zero escape. Samples of water draining through the wide slots and fine mesh contain dissolved nutrients from the decaying material. The researchers do not measure the amount of those nutrients, plant growth, decomposer mass, or matter released into air. They must use the results to compare designs without claiming more than the test shows.