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Feeding Time: How Nutrients Drive Phytoplankton Growth, Brianna Stanley
Feeding Time: How Nutrients Drive Phytoplankton Growth, Brianna Stanley
Reports
Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Environmental Science | Oceanography
This lesson plan helps students make the connection between the amount of nutrients present in an ecosystem and the resulting growth of phytoplankton in our coastal waters. This lesson takes this concept a step deeper, by exploring how the proportions of nitrogen and phosphorus in the environment create the ideal conditions for phytoplankton growth. Students will explore the concept of limiting factors and will work on both their graphing skills and their ability to compare ratios.
Isotopes In The Estuary: Conception And Application Of Stable And Radioactive Carbon, Derek Detweiler
Isotopes In The Estuary: Conception And Application Of Stable And Radioactive Carbon, Derek Detweiler
Reports
Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Chemistry | Environmental Science | Oceanography
In this interactive estuary-focused activity, students will examine stable and radioactive isotope data which provide information about the source and age of environmental samples such as plant and soil matter. Students will calculate average isotope ratios from five reference land types (forest, wetland, agriculture, industry, aquatic) and an unknown site within an estuary. Students will graph their calculated ratios and determine the land type that most impacts their estuary based on reference-to-unknown comparisons.
Old Macdonald Had An Aquaculture Farm, Shantelle Landry
Old Macdonald Had An Aquaculture Farm, Shantelle Landry
Reports
Grades: 6 Subjects: Earth Science | Natural Resources
With this activity, students will learn the importance of aquaculture and how it can be used to manage a resource.
Trees Of The Seas, Michelle Woods
Trees Of The Seas, Michelle Woods
Reports
Grades: 6-8 Subjects: Biology | Life Science
What are harmful algal blooms and why do they occur?
In this lesson plan, students will run their own experiments to investigate how eutrophication can cause harmful algal blooms and investigate strategies for preventing them.
What's In The Muck? Benthic Sediment Characterization And Community Structure, Cristin Wright
What's In The Muck? Benthic Sediment Characterization And Community Structure, Cristin Wright
Reports
Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Environmental Science | Oceanography
Sediment classification and grain size can affect the types of organisms that live in the sediment. Some organisms prefer sandier sediment, while others love the fine-grained mud.
In this activity, students will classify sediment samples by grain size and plot their findings on a ternary plot. The students will then further investigate which benthic organisms live in the different sediments and which may be more resilient to a change in sediment classification.
Wave Fever: The Climate Induced Range Expansion Of The Atlantic Marsh Fiddler Crab, Kayla Martinez-Soto
Wave Fever: The Climate Induced Range Expansion Of The Atlantic Marsh Fiddler Crab, Kayla Martinez-Soto
Reports
Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Environmental Science | Oceanography
In 2014, scientists found that the Atlantic marsh fiddler crab had extended its northern limit by ~90 miles to New Hampshire, which is in the Gulf of Maine. Range expanding species can alter salt marsh characteristics such as biodiversity and food webs. In this lesson, students will combine sea surface temperature data from a federal database and fiddler burrow densities from field photos to determine the relationship between ocean warming and range expansions.
Dna Detectives: Protecting Endangered Species, Samantha Askin
Dna Detectives: Protecting Endangered Species, Samantha Askin
Reports
Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Environmental Science | Oceanography
For this lesson, students will be U.S. Fish and Wildlife Biologists. They will be tasked with figuring out which endangered or threatened species they have by identifying a genetic sequence unique to their species. The students will then have to research why their species in endangered or threatened and write a formal report of their findings to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Tiny Killers, Sarah Pease
Tiny Killers, Sarah Pease
Reports
Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Environmental Science | Oceanography
What different methods and new technologies are used to monitor harmful algae and the toxins that they produce?
Students will learn about how harmful algae threaten human health through the processes of bioaccumulation and biomagnification. In small groups, they will design a harmful algae monitoring program based on mock harmful algae data, and then they will test their monitoring program and discover some of the challenges and limitations of any monitoring plan that attempts to measure variable, natural events.