Tidepool Diversity

Coastal Ecology—Tidepool Diversity

Summary: This activity uses common data collection methods to introduce students to how scientists study highly dense and diverse rocky intertidal populations. Written for a site near Cape Perpetua, the concepts are highly adaptable to any intertidal area, or even a habitat nearby school. Students can compare data to long term data sets collected along the Central California coast in the LiMPETS program and explore the broader context of their data collection.

Concepts to teach: Population ecology, rocky intertidal communities, vertical zonation, data collection & monitoring

Goals: Students will use standard field monitoring techniques to understand and describe the community of species that live in a rocky intertidal habitat.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives: Students will be able to:

  1. Understand and explain why diversity is important and why long term data sets can help us monitor changes over time due ecological change
  2. Conduct a simple population survey along a transect of a rocky intertidal habitat
  3. Identify and describe the dominant organisms in the rocky intertidal ecosystem and where they occur
  4. Students will understand classic vertical zonation patterns in the rocky intertidal
  5. Students will use critical thinking skills to determine whether their data are consistent with published data.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Tidepool Diversity Sampling – Instructions for sampling in tidepools using transects
  • LiMPETS: Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Learning for Students Created by and for use in California National Marine Sanctuaries, this website provides rocky intertidal monitoring lessons and resources, research protocols and a format for data entry and analysis.
  • Instructions for making quadrats and other field equipment from South Slough NERR
  • Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport offers one hour Rocky Intertidal lab classes for Grade 5 and up. Students interact with live animals and investigate ecological relationships among species and environmental factors.

Assessment:

Assessment ideas in lesson plans include:

  • Summarize data in clean tables.
  • Identify dominant species that occur most frequently along the transect and create 4 line graphs that who the vertical zonation patterns of these species.
  • Present data and conclusions in a report or display.
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Energy Flow

Coastal Ecology—Energy Flow

Summary: Students will construct an energy pyramid and then create a food web of organisms in appropriate trophic levels of the ocean.

Concepts to teach: Food webs, ocean habitats

Goals: Use life history facts to create energy pyramids and food webs. Make connections between energy consumption and ecosystem dynamics in marine environments.

Standards:
H.2L.2

Specific Objectives:

  1. Create energy pyramids based on real life history information.
  2. dentify the interdependence of producers and consumers.
  3. Demonstrate the impact of resource availability changes in natural systems.
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of the effects of outside influences on food webs and ecosystems.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Assess the created food webs on accuracy, neatness, and creativity. The writing assignment can also be graded or extended to require students to investigate marine food webs further. They could also compare them to other systems and explain the similarities and differences among various systems’ food webs.
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Telemetry Tales

Coastal Habitats & Species—Telemetry Tales

Summary: Steller sea lions are disappearing from the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. In this topic guide, students practice using telemetry data from wild sea lions to try to learn more about what is going on with the species’ population.

Concepts to teach: Population ecology, telemetry, science inquiry

Goals: Students use telemetry data to offer evidence-based explanations for biological events.

Standards:
H.3S.3, H.3S.5

Specific Objectives:

  1. Identify how Steller sea lion populations have changed over recent decades.
  2. Use telemetry data to make conclusions about life history events of individual sea lions.
  3. Use telemetry data to explain one factor that may affect Steller sea lion population changes.
  4. Describe the advantages and limitations of using telemetry data to study sea lion ecology.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • The SealTag website from the Pinniped Ecology Applied Research Laboratory (PEARL) provides background on Steller sea lion population and ecology, engineering curriculum, and describes how scientists use telemetry tags to answer questions about sea lion population changes.
  • PEARL is based in the Marine Mammal Institute at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center.
    • The HMSC Visitor Center features an exhibit about the internal telemetry tag being used on the Steller sea lions.
  • See Steller sea lions at the Oregon coast
    • Visit Sea Lion Caves near Florence to see a haul-out area for Steller sea lions.
      You can also usually see Steller sea lions by looking down at the beach from the pull-off area from the South-bound lane of Hwy 101 about 1/4 mile north of the Sea Lion Caves entrance.
    • Visit Simpson Reef Overlook on the Cape Arago Highway in Coos Bay to see a haul-out area for Steller sea lions.

Assessment:

  • Students use data to answer questions posed throughout the SealTag.org website:
    • What can a sea lion’s body temperature tell us?
    • What was the probable cause of Stella’s death?
    • What was the most common cause of mortality in the Steller sea lion telemetry study?
  • Describe both the advantages and limitations of using telemetry data to study sea lion ecology.
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TOPP Predators

Coastal Habitats & Species—TOPP Predators

Summary: Students use satellite tagging data to follow the movement of marine animals over time. Examining satellite maps of sea Surface Temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a data combined with satellite tagging data, students answer questions related to open-ocean animals, their habitats and migratory behaviors.

Concepts to teach: Technology, georeferencing, pelagic predators

Goals: Students will understand that science and technology can be used together to learn about organisms that are not easily accessible to scientists and that many factors are involved when determining the behavior of pelagic predators.

Standards:
H.2L.2; H.2E.4; H.3S.1, H.3S.3, H.3S.5, H.4D.5

Specific Objectives: Students will be able to:

  1. Utilize a satellite tracking data set to illustrate migratory and behavior patterns of pelagic species.
  2. Explain how physical or biological factors influence organism behavior.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Have the students do a self-assessment or have them assess their classmates and how they worked in the group setting (if group-work was used).
  • The reports can be graded for completeness, accuracy, and spelling and grammar.
  • See the lesson plan for other guidelines on assessing the final products.
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Squid Dissection

Coastal Habitats & Species—Squid Dissection

Summary: Students will dissect a squid, learn about squid anatomy and adaptations, and then compare their dissected specimen to an octopus. Students relate the phenotypic traits they observe to the process of biological evolution.

Concepts to teach: Squid anatomy and adaptations, comparative anatomy, evolution, natural selection

Goals: Students will investigate and discuss internal and external squid anatomy. Some features of the squid will be compared to similar features on an octopus.

Standards:
H.2L.4

Specific Objectives:

  1. Observe the external and internal anatomy of a cephalopod
  2. Identify adaptations that allow this organisms to survive in a marine ecosystem
  3. Identify organs and structures associated with major body systems

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Student worksheets included the COSEE and LaRosa guides.
  • Students research a particular squid characteristic (for example, large eye size) and prepare a referenced report that uses scientific evidence to describe how this trait may have evolved.
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Tidepool Inquiry

Introduction—Tidepool Inquiry

Summary: These field activities introduce students of all ages to the intertidal habitats of rocky shores while safely exploring tidepools. Using guided inquiry and structured group investigation, students will observe species living in this diverse habitat to make hypothesis about adaptations and interactions that are occurring in the community.

Concepts to teach: Rocky shores, interactions and change, adaptations and survival, tidal cycles, community interactions, ecosystem balance.

Goals: Students will better understand the inhabitants of Oregon’s Rocky shores, by way of observation and guided exploration.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.3S.1, H.3S.2

Specific Objectives: By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

  1. Explore tidepools in a way that is safe for themselves and the habitat.
  2. Identify the dominant organisms in the tidepool ecosystem.
  3. Explain specific adaptations of species living in the rocky intertidal by making scientific hypothesis based on field observations.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Students create a personal meaning map for tidepools, where they draw and label what they know about tidepools prior to the field visit. After the field visit, students add to their personal meaning maps new information that they learned from the trip. The post-trip contributions can be drawn on the same page as the pre-trip map in a different color pen, or the students may make an entirely new map from scratch. Evaluate pre- and post-trip contributions for detail and accuracy.
  • Create a food web using the animals discovered during the field experience.
  • Choose one intertidal organism and give a written or oral presentation about the unique structural and behavioral adaptations that allow it to thrive in intertidal environments.
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Ocean Observation

Introduction—Ocean Observation

Summary: This activity will help familiarize students with methods scientists use to study the coastal ocean in the Pacific Northwest, and will encourage them to pose and investigate their own questions about the ocean.

Concepts to teach: Physical and Earth Science, Inquiry

Goals: To show students how technology enables scientists to study local and global ocean characteristics.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.5, H.4D.4, H.4D.5

Specific Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to describe the various methods used by NANOOS researchers to study ocean characteristics, events, and ecology
  2. Students apply information found on the NANOOS Web Portal to answer questions.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Assessments included in the NANOOS lesson plan and OCEP summary.
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Biodiversity in an Estuary

Coastal Ecology—Biodiversity in an Estuary

Summary: In this activity, students investigate the incredible biodiversity that exists in estuarine environments. They begin by exploring using Google Earth to explore a National Estuarine Research Reserve in Florida. Students then produce an estuary biodiversity concept map and individual organism profile that becomes part of an estuary wildlife exhibit. This activity can be modified for use with NERRs in the Pacific Northwest.

Concepts to teach: Biodiversity, endangered species, producers, consumers, habitat types, concept map

Goals: Understand the relationships between habitats, characteristics of the habitats, and the species that inhabit the estuary.

Standards:
H.2L.2

Specific Objectives: Students will be able to:

  1. Describe the physical and biological components of habitats that exist as part of an estuary.
  2. Explain the relationships between primary producers, consumers, and secondary consumers.
  3. Describe some adaptations of living organisms to the changing conditions within an estuary.
  4. Explain why biodiversity is important and worth preserving in an estuary.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Descriptions and instructions for student concept maps and wildlife exhibits are included in the Estuary Education lesson plan.
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Tidal Flat Exploration

Coastal Ecology—Tidal Flat Exploration

Summary: This field lesson provides a structured experience for students to investigate the life of the tidal flats of the estuary and explore the relationship between sediments, elevation, and the life beneath surface.

Concepts to teach: Marine and coastal ecosystems, habitats, estuaries, benthic organisms

Goals: Students will collect and use evidence to explain the relationship between abiotic factors and the distribution of organisms in an estuary.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.3S.1, H.3S.2

Specific Objectives: Students will understand that:

  1. The tide flats are covered twice a day by salty estuary water.
  2. The tide flats are made of sediment which may be sand, mud, or gravel.
  3. The type of sediment and the elevation determine what lives where.
  4. Most animals burrow below the mud to stay wet, protected, and to feed on the tidewater.
  5. Different animals have different types of adaptations for life in the mud.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Examine student field journals and data for completeness. Students may present their findings in a PowerPoint presentation or report.
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Eelgrass Communities

Coastal Ecology—Eelgrass Communities

Summary: Students collect transect data in the field to determine the distribution and abundance of life in eelgrass beds. Suitable sampling sites are available at South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve and other locations on the Oregon coast.

Concepts to teach: Sampling protocol, density, diversity

Goals: Students discover the diversity of plants and animals that thrive in eelgrass beds and explore the adaptations of eelgrass to life in the intertidal zone of an estuary.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.3 S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to describe several adaptations that eelgrass plants possess allowing them to thrive within their niche in the estuarine environment.
  2. Students will be able to name several animals and plants that benefit from eelgrass beds and describe the ways in which these plants and animals benefit.
  3. Students will be able to identify several activities which threaten eelgrass beds and suggest possible remedies.
  4. Students will use a simple, widely accepted monitoring technique to assess the relative health of eelgrass beds.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Use data to generate graphs and to make evidence-based conclusions about the patterns in distribution and abundance of organisms found in the sample area.
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