South Carolina ETV

Who Eats Whom in the Salt Marsh? (Grade 7)

Master Teacher

Doug Smith

Time Allotment

Three 45-minute classes

Overview

Utilizing a virtual salt marsh tour, students will observe and identify a variety of salt marsh animals. They will create a food web that categorizes these animals by their role in the ecosystem as well as their place in predator/prey relationships.

Subject Matter

Science; Life Science; Ecology

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Identify a variety of salt marsh organisms;
  • Identify survival adaptations- camouflage, defense, etc.;
  • Categorize the function of each animal-producer, consumer or decomposer;
  • Determine predator/prey relationships;
  • Develop a food web of the salt marsh ecosystem.

South Carolina Standards

Visit the SC Science Standards Web site

Grade 7

II. Life Science Unit of Study: Ecology - The Biotic Environment

D. Populations and Ecosystems

1. A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.

2. Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain food by eating other organisms. Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food.  Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.

a. Analyze the role of producers, consumers and decomposers in an ecosystem.

b.Identify kinds of relationships organisms have with each other (predator/prey, competition).

Media Components

Web Sites

The Balance of Nature: Food Chains and Food Webs. This Web site provides students with an overview of food chains and food webs and predator/prey relationships.

SC Life-The Salt Marsh provides a virtual tour of a salt marsh and describes many animals and their roles in the marsh ecosystem.

Materials

poster board and pencil/pen

Equipment

  • computers with Internet connections
  • data projector or large screen monitor or TV data exchange (Averkey etc)

Prep for Teachers

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer. Load any necessary plugs ins like Quick Time, which can be found at http://www.apple.com/quicktime

Preview the Web sites, watching all video and opening all links, to familiarize yourself with the sites.

When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by asking them to read through The Balance of Nature: Food Chains and Food Webs Web site and look for 5 facts about food chains and webs.

Step 2: After your students have read the information, ask them what facts they found.

Learning Activity (Days 1 and 2)

Step 1: Direct your students to the SC Life-The Salt MarshWeb site and tell them they are going to read the Welcome and then view the QuickTime view of the marsh.

Step 2: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by asking them to look for characteristics of the marsh from this observation.

Step 3: Demonstrate how the site works by clicking on #1 and viewing QuickTime and going through the text and clicking on the blue links.

Step 4: Have your students go through numbers 2-15 and make notes about the animals they see.

Instruct them to remember what they learned from reading The Balance of Nature: Food Chains and Food Websabout food chains and webs. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by having them note whether the animals are decomposers, producers or consumers and predator or prey. Also, what they feed on (if it is noted).

Culminating Activity (Day 3)

Step 1: Define food web for your students:

"A community of living things may contain hundreds or even thousands of different species. Each species is usually involved in several different food chains. Therefore different food chains often interconnect to form a large network, called a food web. Even in a small ecosystem, such as a pond, food webs can be extremely complicated."

As defined at The Balance of Nature: Food Chains and Food Webs

Step 2: Have your students take their notes on the different animals they found on their virtual tour and construct a food web. Instruct them to identify each animal as to its function (decomposer, producer, consumer) and its predator/prey relationships. Remind them that a predator may be another animal's prey.

Assessment

The food web is the assessment.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Language Arts: Have your students write a report about a particular animal of the salt marsh.

Social Studies: Look at a detailed map of South Carolina. How much marsh is in our state?

Community Connections

  • Have students research how much the salt marsh contributes to South Carolina's economy?
  • Invite someone from Department of Natural Resources to tell first hand about the marsh.
  • Take a field trip to the marsh.
  • If your class is in the coastal area invite someone to the class who makes their living from the marsh. How do they see the marsh?
NTTI

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545