Expedition: Healthy Streams & Ecosystems

Students investigate at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education

EXPEDITION OVERVIEW

During our study of Healthy Streams and Ecosystems students will explore ecosystems, food webs, and related issues. Also, they will conduct fieldwork to collect and analyze stream data. Students will write a research paper and teach an environmental education workshop to their peers during the end of year Joyce Kilmer camping trip. Along the way, we may catch our first mud puppy, diagram a damselfly or identify trout lilies.

Guiding Questions:

1. What factors determine the characteristics of an ecosystem?

2. How are communities of organisms interdependent?

3. In what way can humans have both a positive and negative impact on earth's ecosystems?

4. How do macro invertebrates indicate water quality of a stream?

Students use their dichotomous key to identify creatures from the stream.

Fieldwork Guidelines:

For all of our upcoming fieldwork out in the cold NC streams, we need to make sure that our students are well prepared so they can have an enjoyable and educational experience. Here is our checklist for all the fieldwork this expedition:

Students should wear to school:

• Clothes that can get wet and provide warmth (NO JEANS!)
• Socks (wool is best)
• Closed-toed shoes that can get wet (Keens or old tennis shoes, NOT open Teva or Chaco sandals)

Students should bring:

• Towel
• Bag for wet clothes
• COMPLETE change of clothing (including a second pair of shoes)
• Lunch and water bottle

WEB RESOURCES

Ecosystems

BrainPop video on the food chain

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0309/quickflicks/index.html

Earth Floor - general information about biomes

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/biomes.html

World Biomes

http://www.worldbiomes.com

UC Berkeley - information about the world's biomes

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/index.html

The Wild Classroom - Biomes of the World

http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biomes/grasslands.html

Missouri Botanical Garden - Biomes of the World

http://mbgnet.net/

Biomes, World Locations and Climate Information

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.htm

NASA Earth Observatory - games related to biomes and plants

http://http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/

http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/plantindex.php

Enchanted Learning - black line drawing of animals and plants by biome

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/

Oregon Public Education Network - student studies about biomes

http://ths.sps.lane.edu/biomes/index1.html

Video - The Desert Food Chain

http://www.desertusa.com/video_pages/food_movie.html

Photosynthesis

Video: The Process of Photosynthesis

http://www.neok12.com/php/watch.php?v=zX5f4866425a444c725f6045&t=Photosynthesis

Water Cycle

Video: An EPA video about the water cycle

http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html

USGS - an interactive diagram about the water cycle

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

Water Conservation

Virtual Field Trip - Water Conservation

http://www.spokaneaquifer.org/kids/wces/

Environmental and Conservation Organization - stream preservation group in Henderson County, NC

http://eco-wnc.org/water-quality/biomonitoring/biomonitoring/

Landforms

NOVA Video: The Formation of the Grand Canyon

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.canyon/

Weathering and Erosion

Video: Land and Water Weathering and Erosion

http://www.videopediaworld.com/video/17559/Land-and-water-weathering-and-erosion

Video: Chemical Weathering

http://wn.com/chemical_weathering