Value of Beaver
Submitted by mccukay2 on Tue, 2015-06-09 00:00
The paper by EcoNorthwest that Mike Settel was talking about that compiled data about the value of beavers for ecosystem services is posted to the Teacher Resources tab.
Lets have people braistorm different activities from different disciplines. What type of activities could be done with data like this? Can we design our own data collection activites for students for another species?
Comments
So today, you looked at how
So today, you looked at how the beavers can help ecosystems and looked over data that gave you specific numbers. I'm sure there are a lot of species out there that we could do the same for and find ecological benefits. Something else we could look into are invasive species, and gather data on some of the harm those are doing to our SES. We could look into what they are doing to other native species as well as how much money we are spending on controlling them. For example, the European Starling or the Brown Tree Snake.
WANTED
I agree Jessica, I think it would be a great interdisciplinary lesson to have students determine and compute the economic value for a species. I also think it is a cool idea to look at the reverse side of this: how much are invasive species or certain practices costing us. A fun way to present this information can be to have students make "WANTED" posters for different invasive species.
http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/BForsythe/files/invasive%20species%20wanted%20poster.pdf
WOW that is a great idea for
WOW that is a great idea for a lesson. I love that. It would be something that the students could grapple with socially, scientifically, and mathematically.
What great experiences you are having.
Wanted
Rachel, that is such an exciting idea with the wanted posters. I would love to use these in my classroom next year. Great idea!
I really like this
Students often do not realize the problems associated with invasive species and so many times they, the invasive species, were introduced by humans with good intentions. The consequences are sometimes not realized until much later. This would be a fantastic project, looking at a few different invasive species and their impact on the ecosystem.
How about the little guys?
Aquatic invertebrates could also be interesting to look at. They can be indicators of stream health, and they are an important part of the food chain. Most students (and adults) don't even know these organisms exist, unless, maybe, they go fly-fishing. It's pretty easy to go out and collect insect larvae, worms, snails, etc. from different spots on the same stream or from different bodies of water, and sort and identify them in class. Students can then correlate the species composition with water conditions. There are even "biota indices" that are pretty easy to calculate, describing stream health based on the organisms found there.
Little guys can be fun too.
Each time I have had my classes out and in the water we have done a kick net collection of invertebrates. It is by far one of their favorite activities, there is so much we can learn from the "little guys." The wanted poster idea looks fun.
Macroinvertebrates
Studying macroinvertebrates with students is a great way for them to "see" what the water quality is like without having to test. I love the idea of using the scientific process with kids to categorize macroinvertebrates found within a specific section of the river. I have done this by creating leaf packets that the kids fill and then leave alone for a set amount of time. When we return the students then look at and categorize the macros they found. We make a lot of inferences about the health of the river (or stream) and then test it to see if we were right. The kids LOVE it!
Here is a lesson idea that looks like it has potential!
http://www.globalwatershed.mtu.edu/docs/watershed_connections/Watershed_...
Water Budget
One of the things I tried with students was to create an energy budget for certain systems, using earth as an example. After discussing an energy budget for the earth, (using the image as an example) I have students create a simplified budget for their house or even just their bedroom. A similar activity could be done with a water budget, measuring exactly how much water goes where for their use. Like many other places, Idaho faces an increased demand for water with a relatively static supply.
I love this idea too! What a
I love this idea too! What a great interdisciplinary way to study the closed-system of the world we live in and on. I liked the image you attached to. What a great visual.