Challenge: Stop New Invaders
By Katie Larson, Alliance for the Great Lakes, klarson@greatlakes.org
To download a printable version of this lesson plan, click on the image
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By Katie Larson, Alliance for the Great Lakes, klarson@greatlakes.org
To download a printable version of this lesson plan, click on the image
We would greatly appreciate your feedback! Click here to complete a short survey telling us about your experience with this lesson plan.
Lesson Overview
Students model food chains and food webs within the Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems, demonstrating the impact of invasive species, and design methods to prevent their introduction or control or reduce those that are present.
Target Grade & Subject: High School Science
Introduction and Teacher Background
Invasive species are non-native species that have arrived accidentally or have been brought intentionally from their native ecosystem to a new ecosystem and cause harm to the new ecosystem. Hundreds of examples of non-native species (also called exotic species) appearing in new ecosystems are known around the world. When a new species arrives in an ecosystem, the balance among native organisms may be altered, and competition is high until a new balance is achieved. Non-native species are not always invasive: sometimes the new species cannot survive in these new ecosystems; in other cases they cause no harm or may even be beneficial. However, if the new species survives and reproduces well, one or more native species populations can suffer, altering the ecosystem. A non-native species that causes harm to the environment, ecosystem, or people is known as an invasive species. There are hundreds of examples of invasive species (also known as damaging or nuisance exotic or nonnative species) around the world. See student pages for additional information.
According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity about 1.4 trillion dollars a year is spent globally to control invasive species and to help repair the damage they cause. Invasive species may arrive in their new ecosystem by many means: waterborne commerce, organisms in trade, and intentional introductions with unexpected consequences are among the sources. Waterborne commerce moves millions of tons of cargo annually through the Great Lakes. Shipping is an economically efficient method of transporting raw materials, finished goods and agricultural products. However, the ballast water of ships (water in special tanks that help stabilize the ship when it doesn’t have cargo) can accidentally introduce nonnative species when the ballast water is pumped out when taking on cargo. “Organisms in trade” are organisms that are sold for ornamental gardens, pets, food, bait for fishing, and other uses for which live plants or animals are sold to ordinary citizens but may escape or be released into the environment intentionally or non-intentionally. Disease organisms or agricultural pests accompanying these “organisms in trade” can also cause problems for native organisms. Intentional introductions with unexpected consequences include organisms imported for specific commercial or other beneficial purposes (e.g., for aquaculture or pollination) but unexpectedly cause ecosystem problems if they escape into the environment. Examples include Asian carp, which were brought in to benefit aquaculture but which escaped during floods of the fish farms.
Generally, invasive species can cause significant change to their newly adopted ecosystems. Food chains that show feeding relationships in an ecosystem are part of large and complex food webs. By exploring these relationships, students become familiar with the concept of food webs, as well as the different plants and animals that inhabit coastal habitats along the Great Lakes. There are many ways to model a food web. It is important that the information on organisms is accurate. Students may be creative with this project – it might be a two-or three-dimensional model. It may take the shape of a puzzle, a web, a mural, a graphic computer-design, or visual model. Students will use their models to determine how invasive species may affect a Great Lakes ecosystem and to predict the effect of control methods that they may design.
Duration: 2 50-minute class periods, plus time for student presentations
Instructional Setting: Classroom
Advance Preparation:
• Print extra copies of Creature Cards
• Print student pages for each student: coastal habitats, habitat lists, food web worksheet, and invasion pathways
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Michigan Science (or Social Studies) Performance Expectation Addressed:
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.*
SEP: Science & Engineering Practices
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions:
Design, evaluate, and refine a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, student-generated sources of evidence, prioritized criteria, and tradeoff considerations. (HS-LS2-7)
DCI: Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
Anthropogenic changes (induced by human activity) in the environment—including habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change—can disrupt an ecosystem and threaten the survival of some species.
LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans
Biodiversity is increased by the formation of new species (speciation) and decreased by the loss of species (extinction).
Humans depend on the living world for the resources and other benefits provided by biodiversity. But human activity is also having adverse impacts on biodiversity through overpopulation, overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, and climate change. Thus, sustaining biodiversity so that ecosystem functioning and productivity are maintained is essential to supporting and enhancing life on Earth. Sustaining biodiversity also aids humanity by preserving landscapes of recreational or inspirational value.
CCC: Cross-Cutting Concepts
Stability and Change
Much of science deals with constructing explanations of how things change and how they remain stable.
Materials & Quantities Needed per class and per student group
Guiding Question(s):
5E Model
ENGAGE:
EXPLORE:
EXPLAIN:
Discuss the following questions with your students. Help them to be inquisitive and to problem-solve:
ELABORATE:
Student groups each take five minutes to present their issue and the proposed solution to the class.
Supporting students during elaboration: Questions that the teacher could ask to clarify student thinking.
EVALUATE:
New Vocabulary
Sources
Alliance for the Great Lakes. 2012. “Food Web Invasion.” Great Lakes in My World 9-12. Chicago, IL.
United States Department of Agriculture. Pathways. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/subject/pathways
RIPPLE: Reduce Invasive Pet and PLant Escapes: Web site at https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/0,5664,7-324-68000_75850---,00.html
Classroom and Community Resources. Invasive Species Education and Outreach. Website: https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/0,5664,7-324-68000---,00.html
Appendix
Supporting Materials (click on highlighted text to download):
Creature Cards
Creature Cards Habitats List
Coastal Habitat image w/ creatures
Great Lakes Food Chain
Great Lakes Food Web for Teachers
Pathways of introduction
Students model food chains and food webs within the Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems, demonstrating the impact of invasive species, and design methods to prevent their introduction or control or reduce those that are present.
Target Grade & Subject: High School Science
Introduction and Teacher Background
Invasive species are non-native species that have arrived accidentally or have been brought intentionally from their native ecosystem to a new ecosystem and cause harm to the new ecosystem. Hundreds of examples of non-native species (also called exotic species) appearing in new ecosystems are known around the world. When a new species arrives in an ecosystem, the balance among native organisms may be altered, and competition is high until a new balance is achieved. Non-native species are not always invasive: sometimes the new species cannot survive in these new ecosystems; in other cases they cause no harm or may even be beneficial. However, if the new species survives and reproduces well, one or more native species populations can suffer, altering the ecosystem. A non-native species that causes harm to the environment, ecosystem, or people is known as an invasive species. There are hundreds of examples of invasive species (also known as damaging or nuisance exotic or nonnative species) around the world. See student pages for additional information.
According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity about 1.4 trillion dollars a year is spent globally to control invasive species and to help repair the damage they cause. Invasive species may arrive in their new ecosystem by many means: waterborne commerce, organisms in trade, and intentional introductions with unexpected consequences are among the sources. Waterborne commerce moves millions of tons of cargo annually through the Great Lakes. Shipping is an economically efficient method of transporting raw materials, finished goods and agricultural products. However, the ballast water of ships (water in special tanks that help stabilize the ship when it doesn’t have cargo) can accidentally introduce nonnative species when the ballast water is pumped out when taking on cargo. “Organisms in trade” are organisms that are sold for ornamental gardens, pets, food, bait for fishing, and other uses for which live plants or animals are sold to ordinary citizens but may escape or be released into the environment intentionally or non-intentionally. Disease organisms or agricultural pests accompanying these “organisms in trade” can also cause problems for native organisms. Intentional introductions with unexpected consequences include organisms imported for specific commercial or other beneficial purposes (e.g., for aquaculture or pollination) but unexpectedly cause ecosystem problems if they escape into the environment. Examples include Asian carp, which were brought in to benefit aquaculture but which escaped during floods of the fish farms.
Generally, invasive species can cause significant change to their newly adopted ecosystems. Food chains that show feeding relationships in an ecosystem are part of large and complex food webs. By exploring these relationships, students become familiar with the concept of food webs, as well as the different plants and animals that inhabit coastal habitats along the Great Lakes. There are many ways to model a food web. It is important that the information on organisms is accurate. Students may be creative with this project – it might be a two-or three-dimensional model. It may take the shape of a puzzle, a web, a mural, a graphic computer-design, or visual model. Students will use their models to determine how invasive species may affect a Great Lakes ecosystem and to predict the effect of control methods that they may design.
Duration: 2 50-minute class periods, plus time for student presentations
Instructional Setting: Classroom
Advance Preparation:
• Print extra copies of Creature Cards
• Print student pages for each student: coastal habitats, habitat lists, food web worksheet, and invasion pathways
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
- List at least 10 connections between Great Lakes coastal organisms in a food web
- Explain the impacts of changes on a Great Lakes coastal habitat food web
- Design or implement methods for controlling invasive species or preventing their introduction
Michigan Science (or Social Studies) Performance Expectation Addressed:
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.*
SEP: Science & Engineering Practices
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions:
Design, evaluate, and refine a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, student-generated sources of evidence, prioritized criteria, and tradeoff considerations. (HS-LS2-7)
DCI: Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
Anthropogenic changes (induced by human activity) in the environment—including habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change—can disrupt an ecosystem and threaten the survival of some species.
LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans
Biodiversity is increased by the formation of new species (speciation) and decreased by the loss of species (extinction).
Humans depend on the living world for the resources and other benefits provided by biodiversity. But human activity is also having adverse impacts on biodiversity through overpopulation, overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, and climate change. Thus, sustaining biodiversity so that ecosystem functioning and productivity are maintained is essential to supporting and enhancing life on Earth. Sustaining biodiversity also aids humanity by preserving landscapes of recreational or inspirational value.
CCC: Cross-Cutting Concepts
Stability and Change
Much of science deals with constructing explanations of how things change and how they remain stable.
Materials & Quantities Needed per class and per student group
- Creature Cards – see list of Creature Cards with habitats labeled
- Great Lakes food chain and food web images and pathways page
- paper
- pencils
- drawing supplies
Guiding Question(s):
- How can the introduction of invasive species be prevented or when already present, how can they be controlled?
5E Model
ENGAGE:
- Students read the background information and draw a simple food chain on their student page, relying on prior knowledge of any habitat or ecosystem. NOTE: This does not need to be a Great Lakes food web.
- On the student page, students write an initial response to the question about the impact of invasive species.
- Teacher shows the Great Lakes ecosystem food chain and food web without the arrows as models. Discuss and point out the multiple levels. Discuss how energy is transferred throughout the food web.
EXPLORE:
- Assign or have each student select a coastal habitat: sand dune, wetland or prairie. Each student will create a food chain of organisms within that coastal habitat. This food chain should include one autotroph (producer) and at least two heterotrophs (consumers): one primary consumer and one secondary consumer. Students can review the Creature Cards for their habitat to create this food chain.
- Students then form groups based on their habitat to combine each of their food chains to create a food web (e.g. students who created a sand dune food chain gather with other students who created a sand dune food chain). Each group will combine organisms and connections from their food chains to create a food web with at least 10 organisms from their habitat.
- Students then “introduce” an invasive species (from the background information on the student pages) into their habitat’s food web and discuss the impacts in a group. Students should be specific about how their selected invasive species was introduced into their food web (e.g. From ballast water? From someone’s released pet? Seeds blown from a garden? Attached to a boat trailer? Transported on wood carried to a campsite? Other ideas are suggested by the "pathways" cards)
- Then students explore ideas about how the invasive species introduction have been prevented (e.g., not just “don’t release pets” but campaigns designed to convince people in general not to release pets; in other words what prevention or control methods should be explored that might work broadly for society).
- What type of impact does the invasive species have on the habitat’s food web?
- How does it affect other species: Does it eat something that is a food source for another species? occupy the same habitat or niche as another species? or eat other species?
- Is the means by which the invasive organism was introduced something that could be controlled or prevented?
EXPLAIN:
- Each student then re-draws the food web to show the effect that these invasive species could have on other organisms in the habitat. All of the students’ food webs might not look exactly the same, as the invasive species may have different effects on the ecosystem. Students are expected to make predictions based-on learned facts, as scientists do; these should not be considered correct or incorrect, but rather as possible implications to the invasion of a non-native species.
- Students return to their food web groups to research potential prevention or control solutions that might reduce the damage caused by their species.
- Have students research by looking for articles on their species on the following web site: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Programs/glansis/glansis.html or http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/invasive/invasive.html. Each group should read at least two articles on their species and one article on another species.
- After reading the articles and doing additional research as necessary, students should brainstorm a list of potential solutions. Have each group choose one solution from their list on which to expand.
Discuss the following questions with your students. Help them to be inquisitive and to problem-solve:
- What is the difference between the short- and long-term time scales? The imbalance in ecosystems caused by invasive species may be corrected through evolution, but this happens over a very long period of time (thousands of years). In the more immediate future, invasive species may cause considerable damage to an ecosystem.
- What is the answer to problems caused by invasive species? Is it best to let the food web take its own course in finding a new balance or to try to control the invasive species?
- What are the possible ways in which the introduction or spread of aquatic invasive species might be controlled?
- Preventative measures include: washing off a boat so it does not transport invasive species, electric barriers, regulations on shipping ballast water, separation of waterways.
- Measures to reduce existing numbers of invasives in the Great Lakes include selective poisoning, introducing predators and interfering with reproduction.
- What are the possible ways in which invasive species might be controlled on land? Examples of ideas that might be brought up in discussion include: Remove plant seeds and fragments from clothing, hiking boots, and equipment after enjoying outdoor activities. Learn to identify common invasive plants in your backyard and in the natural areas of your neighborhood, and report these plants to the local Department of Natural Resources.
ELABORATE:
Student groups each take five minutes to present their issue and the proposed solution to the class.
Supporting students during elaboration: Questions that the teacher could ask to clarify student thinking.
- What can be done to bring about these proposed solutions?
- What parties (organizations or individuals) in their community or state would be able to affect change?
EVALUATE:
- Students each write a one-page essay explaining the impact of the invasive species they have chosen and a possible solution to the problem.
- EXTENSION: Students can turn their essays into proposal letters to send to the local, state or federal political officials who are in the best positions to affect change. NOTE: If you choose to do this, it is important to first discuss with students that while they are capable of making change, people are not always successful on their first attempt.
- How are the native species that live in and around the Great Lakes connected to and reliant upon each other?
- How important is biodiversity in this ecosystem?
- What negative effects might removing an invasive species cause? How can those negative effects be prevented?
- How have human actions affected these species?
New Vocabulary
- Autotroph: an organism that can synthesize its own food by photosynthesis, usually a green plant; can also be chemosynthetic
- Biodiversity: the number, variety and genetic variation of different organisms found within a specified geographic region
- Decomposer: organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms
- Food Chain: a series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food
- Food Web: the whole group of interacting food chains in a living community
- Heterotroph: consumer; an organism that cannot synthesize its own food and consumes other organisms in a food chain
- Invasive (non-native) species: plant or animal that enters an ecosystem to which it is not native and competes with one or more native species for food, shelter, and/or reproductive opportunities. A non-native species is considered invasive if it causes harm to the environment, to humans, or to the economy.
- Primary Consumer: the organism that eats the producer
- Producer: organisms that synthesize organic materials from inorganic materials
- Quaternary Consumer: an organism that eats tertiary consumers
- Secondary Consumer: the organism that eats or derives nutrients from the first-order consumer
- Tertiary Consumer: an animal that feeds on secondary consumers in a food chain, usually the top predators in an ecosystem or food chain
- Ballast water: Water pumped in and out of special tanks in ships that are used to keep the ship stable and upright with different amounts of cargo
- Organisms in trade: Life plants and animals that ordinary people buy and use for various purposes such as pets, fishing, gardens, etc.
Sources
Alliance for the Great Lakes. 2012. “Food Web Invasion.” Great Lakes in My World 9-12. Chicago, IL.
United States Department of Agriculture. Pathways. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/subject/pathways
RIPPLE: Reduce Invasive Pet and PLant Escapes: Web site at https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/0,5664,7-324-68000_75850---,00.html
Classroom and Community Resources. Invasive Species Education and Outreach. Website: https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/0,5664,7-324-68000---,00.html
Appendix
Supporting Materials (click on highlighted text to download):
Creature Cards
Creature Cards Habitats List
Coastal Habitat image w/ creatures
Great Lakes Food Chain
Great Lakes Food Web for Teachers
Pathways of introduction
New lesson plan ideas are welcome and will be uploaded as they are received and approved.
We especially encourage lesson plans about:
Invasive species,
Science and science careers
For information about submitting new lesson plans, please contact jchadde(at)mtu.edu
Lesson plan ideas from other web sites:
From Pennsylvania Sea Grant: 10 lesson plans about interactions of invasive species, biodiversity, and climate change
Creation of the above page of educational resources was funded in part by the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program through the Departments of Natural Resources, Environmental Quality, and Agricultural and Rural Development.
This material is also based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1614187.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
We especially encourage lesson plans about:
Invasive species,
Science and science careers
For information about submitting new lesson plans, please contact jchadde(at)mtu.edu
Lesson plan ideas from other web sites:
From Pennsylvania Sea Grant: 10 lesson plans about interactions of invasive species, biodiversity, and climate change
Creation of the above page of educational resources was funded in part by the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program through the Departments of Natural Resources, Environmental Quality, and Agricultural and Rural Development.
This material is also based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1614187.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.