6th Year Ecology Study

On Friday the 16th of September, Ms Cavey’s sixth year Biology class headed off to Glendalough on a misty and drizzly morning to complete their Ecology study. They didn’t let the weather dampen their spirits as they arrived at Glendalough’s education centre and split into two groups for the day. Each group set up their own site to investigate and relished the opportunity to use what they had learned in the lab to apply to real life examples. Some of the things that they observed were animals living in the habitat, the soil temperature and ph, the tree types and coverage and the grasses and shrubs growing in the area.

They learned about the food chains in the deciduous woodland and discussed the problem of deer and goat overpopulation due to the elimination of wolves in Ireland. It was great to learn how human intervention has altered nature's patterns and made them question what the landscape would look like if the natural food chain still remained.

Thank you so much to all the staff at Glendalough who made this study possible and to Ms Cavey for her hard work on the day!

Report and Photographs by Matthew Lawless