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Remarkable Oyster

Remarkable Oyster. Professional Development provided by the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center. Katey Nelson, Education Manager knelson@bayrestoration.org , 410.827.6694. Who thinks oysters are amazing??!.

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Remarkable Oyster

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  1. Remarkable Oyster Professional Development provided by the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center Katey Nelson, Education Manager knelson@bayrestoration.org, 410.827.6694

  2. Who thinks oysters are amazing??! • Today we are going to learn about a little critter that makes a BIG difference in the Chesapeake Bay. • Who already thinks oysters are amazing? Why? • Typical answers usually include: oysters are tasty, provide habitat, filter water • If you don’t think oysters are amazing already, you will at the end of this lesson!

  3. Introduction to the Chesapeake Bay • Where do we live? Watershed Address • Chesapeake Bay Watershed • Over 16 million people live in the CB watershed! • Why do we care about where we live? • What if your neighbor dumped leftover paint down the drain in front of his house? How would this affect the watershed?

  4. Insert Map of School Tie discussion to where their school is located in the Bay watershed

  5. Grade the Bay • How healthy is the Bay? • How would you grade the Bay? • Use a grade scale your students are familiar with • Scientists grade the Bay each year in different “subjects” • We are graded in Reading, Math, Science, etc. • What “subjects” do you think the Bay gets grades for? • Water quality, SAV, Oyster, Fisheries (rockfish/stripped bass and menhaden are 2 mj. fisheries), Oxygen, CO2

  6. http://ian.umces.edu/ecocheck/report-cards/chesapeake-bay/2010/summaries/lower_western_shorehttp://ian.umces.edu/ecocheck/report-cards/chesapeake-bay/2010/summaries/lower_western_shore http://ian.umces.edu/ecocheck/report-cards/chesapeake-bay/2011/

  7. Threats to the Bay • Why is the grade so low? • Discussion. If necessary, prompt students to think about what color water they have seen in the Bay • Trash, marine debris • Oil, other toxins  runoff, chemicals • Sediment  (brown water) blocks sunlight. How does this affect plants? animals? • Nutrients  (green water) Algae blooms! Runoff carries nutrients especially from fertilizers on agricultural fields into the water, “feeding” algae

  8. Bay in the Past • Think-pair-share: Picture the Bay in 1608 when Captain John Smith explored the Bay • Describe what you would see now. Why does it look so different? • It is like we need a filter for the Bay… • Does anyone know of an animal that might be able to filter the Bay???

  9. Oysters in the Past “The abundance of oysters is incredible. There are whole banks of them so that the ships must avoid them . . . They surpass those in England by far in size, indeed, they are four times as large. I often cut them in two, before I could put them into my mouth.” Explorer Francis Louis Michel, 1701 One adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day! The oysters in the Bay could once filter a volume of water equal to the volume of the Bay in 3-6 days. Today, that same feat would take over a year.

  10. Oyster Biology • Pass around oyster shells • What do we know about oysters? KWL chart • Hard shells, soft body (invertebrate), 2 shells (bivalve). Hinge on one end, muscle inside allows shells to open and close. • Life functions, just like us! Why do they have to open their shells? • Eating- look at picture of mouth. What do oysters eat? • Eats algae… wow- and we said we have a problem with too much algae! Oysters can help us!

  11. Oyster Dance • Put your left and right shells together! (clap hands above head and together) • Open your shell • Wave your cilia (wave your hands and wiggle your fingers)- 3x • Pull it in (pretend to grab food above head, clench fists and pull food into mouth)- 3x • Digest (push food down from mouth towards stomach)- 3x • Tell students you are breaking down the plankton and using all the edible parts to give you energy. • Now ask where does the left over, inedible material go? • Pack it up (pretend to pack up waste into ball)- 3x • Scat it out (push hands down together to the left then right, with a little hop in between)- 3x

  12. Oyster Game • Demonstrates several of the issues that caused or are causing oyster populations to decline • Over-harvesting • Over-harvesting due to technological advances • Hand tonging (historical – present), hand dredging, mechancial tonging, hydraulic tonging (1958) • Sedimentation • Oyster reefs used to be 3D which kept living oysters off the bottom and out of the depositional areas • Diseases (MSX and Dermo) 1960s- present • Timeline: • Hand tonging • Dredging • MSX • Dermo • Hydraulic tonging

  13. Oyster Reef Community • Another amazing thing about oysters- oysters create habitat for others, including baby oysters! • Look for evidence of benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms on oyster shells using guide sheet

  14. Oysters Restoration • Artificial Reefs • Reef balls • Old oyster shell • Marylanders Grow Oysters • http://www.oysters.maryland.gov/ • Hatcheries • Better survival rate for spat

  15. Extensions • Oyster Reef Mural (Art) • http://www.deq.state.va.us/coastal/documents/popup.pdf • Grading the Bay (Science) • http://ian.umces.edu/ecocheck/report-cards/chesapeake-bay/2010/summaries/lower_western_shore • External Anatomy Lab (Science) • Adapted from http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/issues/chesapeake/oysters/education/anatlab/lab_e.htm • Graphing Oyster production (Math) • http://www.sultanaprojects.org/LineGraphofMDOysterHarvests19522007.pdf • Comparing 1608 Chesapeake Bay with current (Social Studies and Reading) • http://www.johnsmith400.org/The_Chesapeake_Bay_in_1608.pdf

  16. Adaptations for Grade Levels • How will you adapt these activities for different grade levels? Materials Provided from CBEC: • Artifact Guide Sheet • Benthic Organisms Guide Sheet • External Anatomy Lab • Remarkable Oyster PPT

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