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Subject Area - 4:
Environment and Ecology
  • Standard Area - 4.2: Watersheds and Wetlands
  • Grade Level - 4.2.8: GRADE 8
Standard - 4.2.8.A

Describe factors that affect the quality of ground and surface waters.

  • Assessment Anchor - BIO.B.4

    Ecology

    • Anchor Descriptor - BIO.B.4.1

      Describe ecological levels of organization in the biosphere.

      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.1.1 Describe the levels of ecological organization (i.e., organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere).
      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.1.2 Describe characteristic biotic and abiotic components of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
    • Anchor Descriptor - BIO.B.4.2

      Describe interactions and relationships in an ecosystem.

      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.2.1 Describe how energy flows through an ecosystem (e.g., food chains, food webs, energy pyramids).
      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.2.2 Describe biotic interactions in an ecosystem (e.g., competition, predation, symbiosis).
      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.2.3 Describe how matter recycles through an ecosystem (i.e., water cycle, carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle).
      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.2.4 Describe how ecosystems change in response to natural and human disturbances (e.g., climate changes, introduction of nonnative species, pollution, fires).
      • Eligible Content - BIO.B.4.2.5 Describe the effects of limiting factors on population dynamics and potential species extinction.
  • Assessment Anchor - S8.D.1

    Earth Features and Processes that Change Earth and Its Resources

    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.1.1 Describe constructive and destructive natural processes that form different geologic structures and resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.1 Explain the rock cycle as changes in the solid earth and rock types (igneous – granite, basalt, obsidian, pumice; sedimentary – limestone, sandstone, shale, coal; and metamorphic – slate, quartzite, marble, gneiss).
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.2 Describe natural processes that change Earth’s surface (e.g., landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, mountain building, new land being formed, weathering, erosion, sedimentation, soil formation).
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.3 Identify soil types (i.e., humus, topsoil, subsoil, loam, loess, and parent material) and their characteristics (i.e., particle size, porosity, and permeability) found in different biomes and in Pennsylvania, and explain how they formed.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.1.4 Explain how fossils provide evidence about plants and animals that once lived throughout Pennsylvania’s history (e.g., fossils provide evidence of different environments).
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.1.2 Describe the potential impact of humanmade processes on changes to Earth’s resources and how they affect everyday life.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.2.1 Describe a product’s transformation process from production to consumption (e.g., prospecting, propagating, growing, maintaining, adapting, treating, converting, distributing, disposing) and explain the process’s potential impact on Earth’s resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.2.2 Describe potential impacts of humanmade processes (e.g., manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, mining) on Earth’s resources, both nonliving (i.e., air, water, or earth materials) and living (i.e., plants and animals).
    • Anchor Descriptor - S8.D.1.3 Describe characteristic features of Earth’s water systems or their impact on resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.1 Describe the water cycle and the physical processes on which it depends (i.e., evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, runoff, infiltration, energy inputs, and phase changes).
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.2 Compare and contrast characteristics of freshwater and saltwater systems on the basis of their physical characteristics (i.e., composition, density, and electrical conductivity) and their use as natural resources.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.3 Distinguish among different water systems (e.g., wetland systems, ocean systems, river systems, watersheds) and describe their relationships to each other as well as to landforms.
      • Eligible Content - S8.D.1.3.4 Identify the physical characteristics of a stream and how these characteristics determine the types of organisms found within the stream environment (e.g., biological diversity, water quality, flow rate, tributaries, surrounding watershed).
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