Who Eats Who In The Deep Blue?

Transcription

1 Who Eats Who In The Deep Blue? An educator s guide to the program GRADES: K-3 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: This guide provided by the Oklahoma Aquarium explores food chains in the ocean environment. Students will learn what it means to be a producer/consumer and be able to distinguish between the physical characteristics of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Students will learn about predator/prey relationships and learn how the collapse of ocean food chains can affect their lives. *Before your class visits the Oklahoma Aquarium* This guide contains information and activities for you to use both before and after your visit to the Oklahoma Aquarium. You may want to read stories about food chains to the students, present information in class, or utilize some of the activities from this booklet. 1

2 Table of Contents Who Eats Who abstract 3 Educator information 4 Vocabulary 5 Internet resources and books 6 PASS/OK Science standards 7 Accompanying Activities Otter Puppet (K-3) 9 Food Chain Puzzle (1-3) 11 Activity: Balanced (2-3) 12 Activity: Underwater Forests (2-3) 13 Kelp Forest Field Guide (K-3) 14 Sea Otter color (K-3) 18 Importance of Color (Grade 3) 19 2

3 Who Eats Who In The Deep Blue? : ABSTRACT Food chains connect everything on the planet to each other. Anything that is affected in a food chain in a negative way, in turn affects every other organism negatively. Since most animals depend on more than one plant or organism as food, the food webs are created. Every living thing needs energy to survive, however some organisms gain energy by eating, while others can make their own food. Producers such as plants and sea weed use the energy from the sun to create their own food, in turn providing oxygen and food to other organisms. Consumers such as ourselves must eat or consume food to gain energy. Whether you are a producer or consumer, energy always begins with the sun. As individuals, we like and dislike different foods; however some animals eat only plants (herbivores) while some eat only meat (carnivores). Humans eat both plants and meat (omnivores). A lot can be learned by looking into the mouth of an animal. Generally carnivores will have sharp teeth, while herbivores will have no sharp teeth in the front and flat molars to grind up vegetation. Life is full of danger for animals and they must always keep an eye out for predators. Predators hunt other animals as a food source while prey is hunted by animals as a food source. Animals can be a predator and a prey at the same time. Looking at an ocean food chain we start with an herbivorous fish which steals energy by eating only seaweed, however right around the corner there is a carnivorous fish waiting to eat him. In this scenario the herbivorous fish is the prey and the carnivorous fish is the predator. When you throw the top predator of the ocean, the shark in the mix, he becomes the predator while the smaller carnivorous fish is now the prey. Even though there are larger animals like whales in the ocean the shark is considered the top predator. On land the top predator is man due to his intelligence. Even though man holds the record for intelligence, they cannot be the top predator in the ocean because they are incapable of breathing underwater without assistance. There are many adaptations that fish possess to avoid becoming lunch. Some of these adaptations are venom, camouflage, helpful appendages, armor and mimicry. An animal that is venomous has to inject the venom into the attacker by way of hollow teeth, barbs or spines. The sea holds the king of camouflage, the cuttlefish. The cuttlefish can change not only their color but their texture to blend in with their surroundings. The leafy sea dragon, a relative to the seahorse, has appendages that resemble the fronds of seaweed they inhabit. In the case of the spotted batfish, leg-like appendages help him to walk around the ocean floor inconspicuously in search of food. Animals that lack a back bone known as invertebrates require stability and protection which comes in the form of an exoskeleton. Exoskeletons provide support and protection to animals such as crabs and lobsters. A predator might think twice about biting into the hard spines of a sea urchin. Mimicry is one of the most interesting adaptations in which an animal such as the mimic octopus changes not only his body shape but also its movements to avoid predation. 3

4 Who Eats Who IN The Deep Blue? :EDUCATOR INFORMATION A food chain depicts a single flow of energy where an animal only eats one type of animal and finishes with a top predator which is not eaten by any other animal. A food web depicts a flow of energy where animals eat many different types of animals and the top consumers have predators as well Phytoplankton are tiny plants in the ocean which provide us with 75% of the oxygen we breathe Phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton; which consist of tiny animals like baby jellyfish Zooplankton are not only eaten by fish, they are eaten by some of the largest sharks and whales A food pyramid has a large base that holds some of the smallest animals Many phytoplankton are required to fill up a large whale or provide us with enough oxygen to breathe Fish are eaten by larger fish like sharks and also humans and sea mammals Sharks have sharp teeth, however most species of fish have teeth as well A very important environment to sea animals and people is the kelp forest The dense kelp forest provides a hiding place for many of the fish we enjoy eating Kelp is found in many of the products we use on a day to day basis such as ice cream and toothpaste When the sea otter was almost hunted to extinction their prey became over populated Sea urchins are herbivores which eat kelp The uncontrolled growth of sea urchins created a collapse in the kelp forest food chain, which affected not only the animals within it but people as well The most venomous fish in the ocean is the stone fish The mimic octopus can imitate 15 other venomous or unappetizing animals If we don t protect the ocean s environments, humans will be on the endangered species list 4

5 VOCABULARY: Food chain- a linear sequence of food connections which only depicts a certain organism consuming one species Food web- a diagram which show food connections between organisms Producer- An organism such as a plant which can produce their own food by utilizing the sun as a source of energy Consumer- An animal which must consume food as a source of energy Herbivore- An animal that eats only plants Carnivore- An animal that eats only meat Omnivore- An animal that eats both vegetation and meat Invertebrate- An animal without a backbone Photosynthesis- the process in which producers use the sun s energy, water, and nutrients to produce their own food, and oxygen to other organisms Predator- An animal that hunts other animals for food Prey- An animal that gets hunted by other animals as a food source Camouflage- the ability of an animal to blend in with their surroundings using methods such as changing their color and texture Venom- a mixture of toxins that are injected from an animal into a threatening source Appendages- an external feature (outgrowth) that protrudes from an organism s body Adaptation- an alteration or adjustment in structure or habits, often hereditary, by which a species or individual improves its condition in relationship to environment Algin- substance extracted from brown algae which thickens products in which it is added 5

6 Agar- substance extracted from red algae that is used as a thickener for soups, a biological medium in which to grow cultures, and a laxative Carageenan- substance extracted from red seaweed which thickens products in which it is added Exoskeleton- external armor made up of chitin found in animals such as crustaceans and insects Chitin- substance found in the outer skeleton of arthropods such as crabs and spiders RESOURCES: Internet Resources: BOOKS and REFERENCES: Armstrong, Pam, et al. (1996) Sea Searcher s HandBook Activities from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Roberts Rinehart Publishers VanCleave, Janice (1996) Ecology For Every Kid Easy Activities That make Learning Science Fun. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. VanCleave, Janice (1996) Oceans for Every Kid Easy Activities That make Learning Science Fun. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Atkins, Natasha et al. (1989) The Center For Marine Conservation The Ocean Book Aquarium And Seaside Activities And Ideas For All Ages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 6

7 PASS STANDARDS MET: All education programs and their accompanying materials at the Oklahoma Aquarium will meet several Oklahoma PASS objectives in various disciplines. The following list is not all inclusive. SCIENCE Science Processes and Inquiry (grade K) Process Standard 1- Science Processes and Inquiry (grade 1-3) Process Standard 1- Observe and Measure (grade 1-3) Process Standard 2- Classify (grade 1-3) Process Standard 3- Experiment and Inquiry (grade 1-3) Process Standard 4- Interpret and Communicate Physical Science (grade K) Standard 1 Physical Science (grade 1) Standard 1 Properties of Objects and Materials (grade 2) Standard 1 Properties and Interactions of Objects and Materials (grade 3) Standard 1 Properties of Objects and Materials Life Science (grade K) Standard 2 Life Science (grade 1) Standard 2 Characteristics and Basic Needs of Organisms (grade 3) Standard 2 Characteristics and Basic Needs of Organisms and Environments Earth/space Science (grade K) Standard 3 Earth Science (grade 1) Standard 3 Changes of Earth and Sky (grade 2) Standard 3 Properties and Changes of Earth and Sky (grade 3) Standard 3 Properties of Earth Materials 7

8 OKLAHOMA ACADEMIC STANDARDS FOR SCIENCE MET: K-3 K-PS3-1 K-LS1-1 K-ESS3-1 1-LS1-1 1-ESS3-1 2-LS2-1 2-LS4-1 3-LS2-1 3-LS3-2 3-LS4-2 3-LS4-3 3-LS4-4 8

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