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Mountain Mixer
predation on the remaining primary
consumers. There might also be less pressure
on the plants.)
19. Conclude with the following questions,
presented as either a discussion, small
group discussions/presentations, or as
journal prompts.
Discussion
1. Why might a large variety of herbivores,
or plant-eating consumers such as
marmots and ibex, be beneficial to snow
leopards?
2. How would an ecosystem change if all
predators, or animal-eating consumers,
were absent?
3. If populations of herbivores like hares
and marmots became very large in
number, what would happen to the plants
in their ecosystem? How would that
affect hares and marmots in the future?
How would this affect other animals in
the ecosystem?
4. What species are in the ecosystem where
you live? What roles do you think each of
these species plays in a food web?
5. Do you think it is important to protect
keystone species like the snow leopard?
Why or why not?
6. How could humans negatively impact
biodiversity within the ecosystem? How
could they help to increase biodiversity?
© FACING THE FUTURE www.facingthefuture.org & SNOW LEOPARD TRUST www.snowleopard.org
Wrap Up: Making a Bigger Splash
(5 minutes)
Continue to expand your word splash from
Lesson 1 (“The Cat’s out of the Bag!”), or
start a new word splash, by asking students
to write words related to the snow leopard’s
role in its ecosystem. Possible words to add
might include predator, consumer, carnivore, or
keystone species.
Extension Activity
Make a simple food web with grass, ibex,
marmots, and snow leopards. Assign the
following population values: 30 ibex, 100
marmots, 10 snow leopards. Tell students
that each snow leopard needs 2 ibex and 15
marmots to survive. (Note: These numbers
are fictional.)
• How would marmots be affected by the
ibex population falling to 15, due to ibex
overgrazing the grass?
• How would ibex and marmots be affected
in the short-term by the snow leopard
population falling to 0?
• How would ibex and marmots be affected
in the long-term by removal of the snow
leopard from the food web, keeping in mind
that grass is sparse at high elevations?
KYLE MCCARTHY
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Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard