WEEK 2: HUMAN INTERACTION AND POLLUTION

UNIT OVERVIEW
1. Students will be able to explain human impact, positive and negative, on ecosystems. 2. Students will identify the theme of a text.

ACTIVITY LIST
Day 1: Human Interaction and Destruction Review what an ecosystem is Complete Anticipation Guide about human impact on ecosystems Watch United Streaming video about destruction of ecosystems Review Anticipation Guide Read Farewell To Shady Glade and complete story maps Day 2: Read books about an ecosystem and become an expert Complete concept maps about different ecosystems Discuss, compare and contrast the various ecosystems read about Brainstorm human interaction and its destruction on some ecosystems

BACKGROUND INFORMATION How have humans affected the ecosystems? 1, 2

We have affected ecosystems in almost every way imaginable! Every time we walk out in the wilderness or bulldoze land for a new parking lot we are drastically altering an ecosystem. We have disrupted the food chain, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the water cycle. Mining minerals also takes its toll on an ecosystem. We need to do our best to not interfere in these ecosystems and let nature take its toll. Because we share the world with many other species of plants and animals, we must consider the consequences of our actions. Over the past several decades, increasing human activity has rapidly destroyed or polluted many ecological habitats throughout the world. It is important to preserve all types of biomes as each houses many unique forms of life. However, the continued heavy exploitation of certain biomes, such as the forest, freshwater, and marine, may have more severe implications. Forests are important as they are home to the most diverse biotic communties in the world. Hidden within these biomes are potential medicines and many thousands of unseen and undiscovered species. Also, forests have a global climate-buffering capacity, so their destruction may cause large-scale changes in global climate. Logging has depleted many old-growth temperate forests. The increased demand for homes, paper, and other wood products have not allowed for much conservation. More recently, people have begun to realize that logging has cleared much of these forests. Wiser use of the

forests and efforts to replant trees have helped to slow down the depletion of these communities. Tropical forests have fallen victim to timber exploitation, slash and burn farming, and clearfelling for industrial use or cattle ranching, particularly in Latin America. Our increasing demand for meat products has spurred these events. For years, this destruction was occuring at a rapid rate. Over half of the world's original tropical forests are already gone. Public attention to this exploitation have helped to alleviate the problem somewhat, though many challenges are still to be faced. The freshwater and marine biomes are probably the most important of all the biomes. Their medium, water, is a major natural resource. Water is the basis of life, it supports life, and countless species live in it for all or part of their lives. Freshwater biomes supply us with our drinking water and water for crop irrigation. The world's oceans have an even greater effect on global climate than forests do. Water has a high capacity for heat, and because the Earth is mostly covered with water, the temperature of the atmosphere is kept fairly constant and able to support life. In addition to this climate-buffering capacity, the oceans contain several billion photosynthetic plankton which account for most of the photosynthesis occuring on Earth. Without these, there might not be enough oxygen to support such a large world population and complex animal life. Freshwater biomes have suffered mainly from pollution. Runoff containing fertilizer and other wastes and industrial dumpings enter into rivers, ponds, and lakes and tend to promote abnormally rapid algae growth. When these algae die, dead organic matter accumulates in the water. This makes the water unusable and it kills many of the organisms living in the habitat. Stricter laws have helped to slow down this thoughtless pollution. Overfishing and pollution have threatened to make oceans into ecological disaster areas. Industrial pollutants that are dumped upstream of estuaries have rendered many marine habitats unsuitable for life. Again, tighter regulations have been used to prevent further destruction of the ocean biomes.

1. 2. 3.

http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/ecosystems.htm http://www.fi.edu/tfi/units/life/habitat/habitat.html: The Worlds Biomes http://pbskids.org/eekoworld/parentsteachers/lesson2_2.html (story templates also)

Water Pollution 4, 5, 6
It covers 71% of the earth's surface and makes up 65 % of our bodies. Everyone wants clean water-- to drink, for recreation, and just to enjoy looking at. If water becomes polluted, its loses its value to us economically and aesthetically, and can become a threat to our health and to the survival of the fish living in it and the wildlife that depends on it.

How does water pollution occur? Although some kinds of water pollution can occur through natural processes, it is mostly a result of human activities. We use water daily in our homes and industries, about 150 gallons per day per person in the United States. The water we use is taken from lakes and rivers, and from underground (groundwater); and after we have used it-- and contaminated it-- most of it returns to these locations. The used water of a community is called wastewater, or sewage. If it is not treated before being discharged into waterways, serious pollution is the result. Historically, it has taken humanity quite a bit of time to come to grips with this problem. Water pollution also occurs when rain water runoff from urban and industrial areas and from agricultural land and mining operations makes its way back to receiving waters (river, lake or ocean) and into the ground. One kind of water pollution, which is usually the most common, is called CONVENTIONAL and is made up of conventional pollutants. Conventional pollutants are solid particles and matter found in our water. Most of the pollution you can see is conventional. Cans, bottles, paper--just about anything--can be a conventional pollutant. Conventional pollutants cause a wide variety of environmental problems. The solids suspended in the water can block the sun's rays, and this blocking disrupts the carbon dioxide/oxygen conversion process. This process is vital to an aquatic food chain. Sometimes the solid pollution is so bad, the water becomes unusable to humans and animals. The best way to remove conventional pollutants is to run the water through a treatment plant. In treatment plants the water is skimmed, run through several filters, and settled. This removes about 60 percent of the pollutants. The remaining pollution is decomposed by tiny pollution-eating microorganisms. Microorganisms are living things that are so tiny you need a microscope to see them. Another type of pollution is called NON-CONVENTIONAL and is made up of non-conventional pollutants. Non-conventional pollutants are more dangerous to the environment than conventional pollutants. Non-conventional pollutants are dissolved metals, both toxic (harmful) and nontoxic (not harmful). Many factories dump these pollutants into the water as byproducts of their production process. The most devastating type of non-conventional pollution is an oil spill. More than 13,000 oil spills occur each year in the United States Non-conventional pollutants are difficult to remove because they are dissolved in the water. Even though you can't see them most of the time, they are dangerous. Microorganisms, like the ones used to eat pollution in water treatment facilities, are the best way to get rid of non-conventional pollution. However, not all pollution can be removed from the water -- even with the most advanced technology. Many causes of pollution including sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. In excess levels, nutrients over stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters. This, in turn, proves very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability or fish and other invertebrates that reside in water.

Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, washoff plowed fields, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks when it rains. Under natural conditions, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies undergo Eutrophication, an aging process that slowly fills in the water body with sediment and organic matter. When these sediments enter various bodies of water, fish respirationbecomes impaired, plant productivity and water depth become reduced, and aquatic organisms and their environments become suffocated. Pollution in the form of organic material enters waterways in many different forms as sewage, as leaves and grass clippings, or as runoff from livestock feedlots and pastures. When natural bacteria and protozoan in the water break down this organic material, they begin to use up the oxygen dissolved in the water. Many types of fish and bottomdwelling animals cannot survive when levels of dissolved oxygen drop below two to five parts per million. When this occurs, it kills aquatic organisms in large numbers which leads to disruptions in the food chain. The major sources of water pollution can be classified as municipal, industrial, and agricultural. Municipal water pollution consists of waste water from homes and commercial establishments. For many years, the main goal of treating municipal wastewater was simply to reduce its content of suspended solids, oxygen-demanding materials, dissolved inorganic compounds, and harmful bacteria. In recent years, however, more stress has been placed on improving means of disposal of the solid residues from the municipal treatment processes. The basic methods of treating municipal wastewater fall into three stages: primary treatment, including grit removal, screening, grinding, and sedimentation; secondary treatment, which entails oxidation of dissolved organic matter by means of using biologically active sludge, which is then filtered off; and tertiary treatment, in which advanced biological methods of nitrogen removal and chemical and physical methods such as granular filtration and activated carbon absorption are employed. The handling and disposal of solid residues can account for 25 to 50 percent of the capital and operational costs of a treatment plant. The characteristics of industrial waste waters can differ considerably both within and among industries. The impact of industrial discharges depends not only on their collective characteristics, such as biochemical oxygen demand and the amount of suspended solids, but also on their content of specific inorganic and organic substances. Three options are available in controlling industrial wastewater. Control can take place at the point of generation in the plant; wastewater can be pretreated for discharge to municipal treatment sources; or wastewater can be treated completely at the plant and either reused or discharged directly into receiving waters.

4. 5.

http://www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/water/h2oindex.shtml

http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution.htm 6. http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/5161/water1.htm

Day 1:

Overview: Students will realize humans and other things impact ecosystems and can change it forever. Objective: Students will complete a story map based on their reading and then write a well formed
paragraph about their learning.

Materials: texts of various ecosystems, Peet, B. Farewell to Shady Glade. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1966, Story map templates, exit slips, pencils, paper, glue, computers, journals, scissors

Teaching time: 90 minutes Teacher Instructions:

A. Before the lesson: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. *6. Gather texts such as Farewell to Shady Glade, various ecosystem texts Copy Anticipation Guides, story maps, and exit slips for students Pull up the United Streaming page on the computer so that it is ready Gather materials such as pencils, glue, scissors Make sure there are enough computers for all pairs. Take temperatures/record in journals. Review what an ecosystem is. Have graph discussion. Students

B. With the students: Discuss how they are different and alike.

Introduce todays topic of how human interaction can destroy/change ecosystems. Watch United Streaming video about human interaction. Review the Anticipation Guide to see how students did with the questions.

complete the anticipation guide asking about this topic.

Exploring the Diversity of Life: Don't Be Part of the Problem. http://www.unitedstreaming.com

Read Bill Peet's book Farewell to Shady Glade aloud to your students. This is a story of

animals in the forest whose home is threatened by development. After you have read the story, use the following questions to lead a discussion:

Can you describe Shady Glade? Have you ever been in a place like Shady Glade? What was making the deep rumbling sound that the animals were afraid of? What did the animals think the bulldozers were? How do you think the animals felt? Why did the raccoon think that the animals should leave Shady Glade? How did the animals leave Shady Glade? Can you describe what they saw when they got to the city? What happened when they got back on the train? Do you think they will be happy in their new home? Do you think it is possible that the same thing that happened in Shady Glade might happen in their new home? What do you think the author's message was?

Tell the students that although Farewell to Shady Glade is a story, there are places in the world today that face some of the same environmental problems. Ask the students to share any experiences or information they may have about the topics and themes highlighted in this book.

7.

Tell the students that you are going to visit the Aquatic Ecosystem of the EekoWorld Web site and learn about different ecosystems. You can have students read or listen to the Aquatic Ecosystem story. The story is organized into three sections. The first section describes different aspects of the aquatic ecosystem. The second section highlights varied environmental threats. The final section describes the action that the characters have taken to make a positive change in the aquatic environment.

8. Next, you are going to model the creation of a story map based on the Aquatic Ecosystem story. Use the templates provided. Tell the students that they are going to use the information in each section of the Aquatic Ecosystem to construct the story map. For example, to complete Chapter One, the first circle in the story map, ask the students to describe the aquatic ecosystem. They may use words such as ocean, jellyfish and crabs under the water, waves, or seagulls. Accept all answers that can be found by reading the story. Record students' answers on the story map. To complete Chapter Two of the story map template, ask the students to describe threats to the aquatic ecosystem. Accept all answers that can be found by reading the story. Students may describe dumping garbage into the ocean, oil spills, overfishing, and using fishing nets that harm some fish. Record students' answers on the story map. To complete Chapter Three of the story map, ask the students to describe how people help the aquatic ecosystem. Students may describe organizing a beach clean up, putting up posters, cleaning the trash from the beach, and setting up a monthly clean up day. Record students' answers on the story map. 9. Divide the class into four groups, and assign each group to research one of the four remaining ecosystems in the Environment section of the EekoWorld Web site: Group One: Tundra Group Two: Grasslands Group Three: Forests Group Four: Desert Provide each group with a story map template. Tell the students that they are to read or listen to their assigned ecosystem. Have them use the story map template to organize and summarize information. Each group should fill in the name of the ecosystem it has been assigned on the story map template. After the groups have completed the story maps, each group needs to give an oral retelling based on what the students have learned. This presentation should be based on the story map. (*2): Each group will write a paragraph based on what they learned. The paragraphs should have a topic sentence, 4 main details, and a conclusion. Review these with students by having one prepared for the aquatic segment watched earlier. Model what to do, then let students work in groups. After writing the paragraphs, they will then cut apart the paragraph sentence by sentence for a pattern puzzle. Have groups swap paragraphs and then put them back together. Glue paragraphs on paper. Share.

Teacher Note: The templates that are provided may be modified. For example, it is not necessary that students include all the details, but it is important that they comprehend the story facts and be able to retell the main points in the story. The templates should be used by each group to guide students' understanding of what they are reading.

10. 11.

Gather materials and clean up. After materials are cleaned up, students will fill out an exit slip. The exit slip allows the

student to write down one thing/concept that they learned today. *Number 3 of internet resources *2: Project CRISS Second Edition Manual

Day 2: Pollution detectives

Overview: Water pollution is dangerous to our environment and we can help. Objective: Students will understand that water pollution is dangerous. Materials: journals, pencils, overhead, water pollution texts, markers, paper for brochures, exit slips,
post its

Teaching time: 90 minutes Teacher Instructions:

A. Before the lesson: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. Gather journals. Pull up United Streaming video section on computer. Pair students and have texts, and post-its for each pair Make a KWL chart for brainstorming part of lesson. Gather paper and markers for brochure making. Take temperatures/record in journals. Review previous days lesson. Start a KWL chart. Have graph discussion.

B. With the students: Students will discuss the affects that humans can have on

various ecosystems. pollution. Know part of the chart. know? 3.

Begin to focus on water pollution and brainstorm what we know about water Teacher will write down what students already know under the Why is What affects can it have? What are some things they want to Add the word pollution to Good discussion questions are how do we pollute water?

polluting water a bad thing to do? vocabulary journals.

Write them under the Want to Know section of the chart.

Watch United Streaming video about water pollution:

Water Pollution, Causes of Water Pollution, and Life in Polluted Waters. http://www.unitedstreaming.com 4. Put students in pairs and give each pair a set of the same text. Assign pages to read about water pollution. Each pair needs to write down any new important words that they can share with

the others, and new facts they have learned about water pollution. (This could also be from the video watched.) Add the facts to the chart under Learn: what we learned. Discuss chart. 5. Each pair must create a brochure about water pollution. In the brochure, each pair must include at least 3 ways that water is polluted, and at least 3 ways that water pollution can be

prevented. 6. 7. 8. 9. Share brochures. Gather materials and clean up. After materials are cleaned up, students will fill out an exit slip. Hand out coloring books to read and color. http://www.oceansidecleanwaterprogram.org/pdf/coloringbook.pdf The exit slip allows the

student to write down one thing/concept that they learned today.