Investigate a pattern in an ecological community, with supervision
NZQA suppresses grade rates for low-cohort standards.
You need to plan and carry out an investigation to find a pattern in a natural community of plants and animals—like how plants are arranged on a rocky shore, or how different animals live at different heights in a forest. You'll describe what you observe, figure out what environmental factor (like light, water, or temperature) is causing the pattern, and explain how that factor affects the living things there.
You describe what you observe in the community, name a pattern and an environmental factor affecting it, and explain in basic terms how that factor influences the species.
You go further by explaining the biology—the specific adaptations or behaviours—of at least one species that relate to the pattern, and how it interacts with another species (like competing for food or space).
You use your understanding of how multiple species are biologically adapted and how they interact with each other to give a full explanation of why the pattern exists, showing you can compare, analyse, and justify the connections between the environment, the organisms, and the pattern.
Standards typically taken alongside or after this one. Same subject, grouped by level.