Animal Tracks: 11-12
Animal Tracks: 11-12
Embedded Files
Class Discussion:
What are some animals that can be found in our wetlands?
This is a long list! Various birds, fish, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, salamanders, deer, coyote, opossum, fox, bobcat, rabbit, turtles, mice, insects, etc.
** No crocodiles, alligators, or bears live in our wetlands.
In your own words, define biodiversity.
Biodiversity can be defined as the variety of living things in an environment or habitat
"Bio" = life ; "diversity" = variety or a range of different things
Environments that have a high Biodiversity are considered stronger than environments that have a low Biodiversity. Why might this be?
When an environment is confronted with a change (ex. loss of a certain species, a natural disaster), environments that have a high biodiversity are less likely to be affected in a drastic way since there are more species to handle the change
What are some threats to biodiversity?
Major threats to biodiversity include habitat destruction, introduced/invasive species, overexploitation (too much farming, hunting, etc), climate change, and human overpopulation
Class Activity: Habitat Loss
Adapted from Minnesota Science Teachers Education Project
Materials: poker chips or printed flashcards for students ( https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mruYQ6RVrzz9Nb4Mb-It7JtMH_ICS8lgYNTECu8Zdxk/edit#slide=id.g2719875a13_0_12 ), stopwatch or timer (optional)
- Begin the activity by explaining to students that they will be simulating populations of barred owls that live across the United States, mostly in old-growth forests near water (like wetlands!)
- Barred owls nest in cavities that can be found in old-growth trees (younger trees do not have the type of nesting holes that old growth trees do)
- Old growth trees are also prized by lumber companies due to the amount and quality of lumber that can be harvested
- Lumber companies will cut down younger trees if old-growth forests are not available or are protected
- Barred owls eat rodents to survive
- The Instructor will secretly/randomly assign roles by giving each student a printed flashcard or poker chip (students should NOT share their flashcard with other students)
- Male Barred Owls: 2-3 students / white paper with spots
- Female Barred Owls: 1-2 students / yellow paper with spots
- Old-growth trees without nesting holes: 4-5 students / red paper
- Old-growth trees with nesting holes: 2-3 students / red paper with circle
- New-growth (young) trees: 3-4 students / green paper
- Loggers: 1-2 students / blue paper
- Environmental Activist: 1-2 students / multi-colored paper
- Rodents: 4-5 students/ brown paper
- Instructor will call a Start to gameplay-- students will repeatedly form new pairs and discreetly show their cards to each other; certain pairs may trigger actions:
- **If the action results in one student being 'out,' the 'winner' of that round will hold on to the other student's card (ex. a logger will collect cards for trees they fell)
- When Male and Female Owls locate one another, the male must win over the female with a 'mating display' (song, dance, joke, etc.) Females can choose to refuse either or all males
- Mating Pairs of owls will search together for a suitable tree with a nesting hole
- Once a mating pair of owls has found a tree, they must stick with their tree
- Mating pair of owls will take turns leaving the tree to hunt for rodents and returning
- If a rodent meets an owl, they may escape by winning 1 round of 'Rock Paper Scissors'
- Rodents that are eaten by owls give their brown card to the owl
- Loggers may cut down any tree they meet, but only one tree every 3 minutes
- Environmental Activists may decide to protect any tree they meet, but can only protect one tree at a time by giving that tree their card (they must retrieve the card from that tree later if they wish to change protection)
- No Actions (keep searching!): trees meeting each other, trees meeting rodents, rodents meeting each other, loggers meeting activists, activists or loggers meeting owls
- Conclude the game once all rodents are eaten, or after about 10 mins
- Follow-up Questions:
- Were any owls able to form mating pairs?
- How long did it require a mating pair of owls to locate a suitable nesting tree?
- How many suitable nesting trees were available while the owls were attempting to find a nest?
- How successful was the logger? How successful was the environmental activist?
- Was it easy for the owls to survive?
Class Discussion: Habitat Loss
- The Habitat Loss activity highlights how habitat loss due is a major threat to biodiversity
- Habitat fragmentation is a term used to describe how wildlife habitat has become fragmented across the world
- Destroying large sections of habitat creates habitat 'islands' where species may have a difficult time surviving as they may be cut off from other populations
- Wildlife corridors are protected areas between these habitat islands that help species travel safely within a larger habitat to improve biodiversity (see image below)
Habitat Fragmentation can be very detrimental to biodiversity. Habitat islands can not support a large amount of species, and genetic diversity among species in these islands will decrease.
Station 4: Animal Tracks
Station 4: Animal Tracks
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