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Example Snow Leopard Diet Analysis Worksheet
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Snow Leopard Diet Analysis

Scenario: Your snow leopard has eaten 3 small prey and 1 large prey in the last 10 days. You decide which prey that it ate.

Part 1: Diet of Snow Leopard

Prey

Number consumed

Prey biomass (kilograms)

Total biomass*

Percent biomass**

Wild Sheep

1

25 kg

25

86%

Goats

30 kg

Pikas

2

1 kg

2

6%

Hares

1

2 kg

2

6%

Marmots

3 kg

ibex

20 kg

TOTAL Biomass of all organisms consumed:

29

*Total biomass is the number in your sample multiplied by the kilograms.

**Percent biomass is taking the total biomass of one organism and dividing it by the TOTAL biomass of all the organisms added together.  Then multiply by 100 to get percent.  For example, if you got 2 marmots and 1 hare your total biomass is 6 kg (2 marmots) + 2 kilograms (1 hare) =8 total kilograms of biomass.   To determine the percent of hare, take 2/8 = 0.25 which is 25 %.  Marmots would be 6/8=75%.

(5 pts)

Part 2: Construct a bar graph

  1. Make a bar graph in Google Sheets to show the types and amount of prey. Copy and paste it into your doc. (5 pts)

 Video for help making a bar graph.

Part 3: Construct a food web

  1. Construct a food web with the snow leopard at the highest trophic level.  Include the snow leopard and all the prey listed in the data table. Use the internet to help you figure out what each organism eats. Video help for making a food web in google drawings. (5 pts)

  1. How many different trophic levels are represented in your food web? (2 pts)

There are 3 trophic levels.

  1. If a snow leopard needs 20 kg of food per day, how many marmots would it need to capture? Show your work.

1 marmot equals 3 kg so a snow leopard would need about 7 marmots to get 20 kg of food a day. 7*3=21kg

  1. Assume a snow leopard eats 25 1-kg pikas and 1 25-kg wild sheep.  Did the pikas or the wild sheep contribute the most to the snow leopard’s diet?  How does foraging time affect this? (foraging means search/hunting for food)

25*1=25 kg so both the wild sheep and pikas equal the same kg. The snow leopard burned a lot of energy finding 25 pikas so the wild sheep would be better for it to hunt if it needed to get 25 kg.

  1. Using snowleopard.org, answer the following questions.
  1. Where can snow leopards be found?

They are found in Asia near the mountains.

  1. What does their ecosystem look like?

Their ecosystem is freezing and dry. They eat goats, pikas, hares, ibex, and more. They are surrounded by mountains which they can use to blend into their environment.

  1. What would happen to the snow leopard if all of the goats, sheep and ibex suddenly disappeared due to climate change?

If all of those animals suddenly weren’t available for the snow leopards to consume they would likely go extinct since there already aren’t very many snow leopards (there are estimations that the total snow leopard population is only between 3,000-6,000). If they couldn’t eat as much they won’t be able to survive.