Workforce Industry Skills Explorations

🎓 Audience

Education: Grade(s) 9, 10, 11, 12, Teacher(s)/Educator(s), Parent, Adult Learners, Homeschool/Family , Learning Pod; Public Library: Library Patrons, Library Staff

 🐾 Topics

Career & Technical Education (CTE), Economics/Business, Health & Physical Education, Industrial Technology, Professional Development, Science, STEM, Technology/Information Science

🗂️ Format

• Introduction and Prior Knowledge - The program opens with an overview of sustainable aquarium conservation and animal husbandry. Participants are invited to share prior knowledge, questions, or interests related to aquariums, marine conservation, food webs, or careers in animal care and applied marine science. Educators are encouraged to connect this discussion to ecology, life cycles, human impacts on ecosystems, or career and technical education pathways.

• Segment 1 - The challenge: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium is advancing innovative animal husbandry methods to sustainably reproduce aquatic animals for educational and conservation purposes. This work helps reduce reliance on wild collection while supporting the needs of aquariums and AZA-accredited institutions around the world.

• Segment 2 - What our scientists are doing: Learners explore the Aquarium Conservation Lab, where scientists operate live culture systems that grow jellyfish, brine shrimp at multiple life stages, and other aquatic organisms. By raising these species in-house, Mote provides a model for sustainable aquarium practices while supporting the nutrition and care of resident animals.

• Segment 3 - Training for the future: Learners explore how hands-on experience with culturing delicate species and producing live food sources builds essential skills in husbandry, observation, and applied research. These experiences prepare learners to contribute to marine conservation efforts, advance sustainable aquarium care, and explore professional pathways in aquarium science.

• Live Q&A and Reflection - The session concludes with participant questions and guided reflection, allowing educators to reinforce key concepts and connect the experience to classroom learning goals.

Segments may vary based on animal needs, veterinary priorities, or field conditions. Every effort is made to deliver the program as outlined, with flexibility to use a combination of live and recorded video when necessary to ensure animal welfare and program quality.

🎯 Objectives

1. Explore how sustainable animal husbandry supports conservation, animal welfare, and ecosystem health.

2. Identify live culture systems and husbandry practices used to raise aquatic species and live food sources in aquariums.

3. Examine how scientists and aquarists reduce impacts on wild populations through in-house breeding and culture programs.

4. Engage in discussions about aquarium conservation careers, applied marine science skills, and workforce pathways.

✏️ Standards this program supports

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

• LS1.B (9–12) –– Growth and Development of Organisms. Learners examine how life stages and environmental conditions influence growth, care, and survival of aquatic species in culture systems.

• LS1.C (9–12) –– Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms. Learners explore how animals obtain, use, and regulate energy and materials to maintain homeostasis.

• LS2.A (9–12) –– Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. Learners explore food webs, live food production, and species interactions that support animal health in aquariums.

• LS2.C (9–12) –– Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience. Learners analyze how reducing wild collection and developing sustainable alternatives supports ecosystem resilience.

• LS4.D (9–12) –– Biodiversity and Humans. Learners investigate how human-managed systems, such as aquariums, can reduce impacts on biodiversity through conservation-focused practices.

• ETS1.B (9–12) –– Developing Possible Solutions. Learners examine how scientists design, test, and refine aquaculture systems used to culture jellyfish, brine shrimp, and other aquatic species. Live culture systems model iterative engineering processes, including evaluating system components, testing variables, and improving performance.

Ocean Literacy Principles

• • Ocean Literacy Principle #5 – The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.

  • Ocean Literacy Principle #6 – The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• • 4 - Quality Education

  • 14 - Life Below Water

  • 15 - Life on Land

Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS)

• SC.912.L.17.C – Human activities and natural events can have profound effects on populations, biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Application: Learners analyze how demand for aquarium animals can impact wild populations and ecosystems. Aquarium Conservation WISE demonstrates how sustainable aquaculture and in-house culture systems reduce pressure on wild collection, mitigate impacts, and support conservation-focused aquarium practices such as the AZA SAFE framework.

• SC.912.N.1.1 – Define a problem based on a specific body of knowledge, and conduct systematic observations to identify variables. Application: Learners observe how scientists identify challenges in culturing aquatic species and design solutions using systematic observation and data collection. Examples include monitoring water quality, growth rates, survival across life stages, and adjusting variables such as temperature, flow, lighting, and nutrition to improve culture success.

• SC.912.L.17.2 – Explain the general distribution of life in aquatic systems as a function of chemistry, geography, light, depth, salinity, and temperature. Application: Learners examine how variables such as light, water flow, salinity, temperature, and water chemistry are controlled to support different species and life stages. By comparing culture conditions for organisms like jellyfish and brine shrimp, participants see how these factors influence distribution, growth, and survival in both natural aquatic ecosystems and engineered aquarium systems.

• aquaculture: The cultivation of aquatic organisms such as fish, invertebrates, and plants under controlled conditions for education, conservation, or food production.

• AZA: Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a nonprofit organization that accredits zoos and aquariums based on rigorous standards for animal care, conservation, education, and sustainability.

• brine shrimp: Small aquatic crustaceans commonly used as live food in aquariums and aquaculture systems, especially for young animals. AKA, sea monkies.

• cnidaria: A phylum of aquatic invertebrates that includes sea jellies, corals, and anemones, characterized by specialized stinging cells called nematocysts.

• culture system: An engineered aquarium or aquaculture setup designed to support the growth and survival of aquatic organisms by controlling environmental conditions.

• ephyra: A juvenile life stage of a sea jelly that develops from the strobila and grows into the adult medusa.

• ecosystem: A community of living organisms interacting with each other and with nonliving factors such as water, light, and nutrients.

• filtration: The process of removing waste and maintaining water quality in aquatic systems.

• internship: A structured learning experience that provides students with hands-on training, mentorship, and real-world exposure to careers in fields such as aquarium science, aquaculture, conservation, and animal husbandry.

• kreisel: A specialized circular aquarium tank designed to keep delicate, drifting organisms like jellyfish suspended without injury.

• medusa: The free-swimming, bell-shaped adult life stage of a sea jelly, with tentacles used for feeding and defense.

• nematocyst: A microscopic stinging structure found in cnidarians, used to capture prey or deter predators.

• planula: A free-swimming larval stage of cnidarians that eventually settles and develops into a polyp.

• plankton: Small organisms that drift in water currents, including microscopic plants and animals that form the base of many aquatic food webs.

• polyp: The attached, non-moving life stage of a cnidarian that can reproduce asexually and give rise to medusae.

• rotifers: Microscopic aquatic animals commonly used as live food in aquaculture and aquarium culture systems, especially for feeding larval and juvenile organisms.

• salinity: The amount of dissolved salt in water, which strongly influences where aquatic organisms can survive.

• strobila: A segmented stage of a jellyfish polyp in which individual sections bud off to form ephyrae.

• surplus: Animals produced through breeding or culture programs that exceed the number needed for care, display, or conservation, requiring responsible management aligned with animal welfare standards.

Play Aquarium WISE Bingo

Play virtual bingo using a computer, smartphone or tablet during your program to focus on key concepts and vocabulary.

• Online

🌐 Websites

• Mote News = "aquarium biologist"

• Mote Aquarium Sciences Apprenticeship Program

• AZA - SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction)

• Sante Fe College - Organizational Management, B.A.S. with a concentration in Zoo and Aquarium Management

📚 Publications

• Brando, S., V. D. L. R. Goulart, H. M. Buchanan-Smith, S. R. Planellas and L. Caes. “The role of self-care in perceptions of satisfaction with life, organizational job satisfaction, and self-efficacy in zoo and aquarium professionals.” Frontiers in Veterinary Science, vol. 12, 2025, Article 1677195, https://bit.ly/46aN4PG.

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• Behind The Scenes | Food Preparation Room

• AZA Hero - Amanda H.