WATER STEWARDSHIP: WETLAND WONDERLAND

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1 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: Using the tools and equipment available, set up an outdoor living laboratory. Students will be encouraged to use all of their senses to explore and examine the composition of a wetland. Students should come away with an understanding of the purpose a wetland, the diversity of life, its role in the larger ecosystem and its importance to humans and other life forms. MATERIALS Water table and containers Sieves and dip nets Magnifiers ID keys for picture Sponge, rice, soother, house, sieve picture Wetland attributes poster Pictures of wetland species Water cycle puzzle Cleaning supplies for magnifying glasses Life jackets Make sure you have all items before the students arrive!

2 BEGIN THE ACTIVITY THIS IS NOT A SCRIPT - IT IS A GUIDELINE Activity Objectives: To become familiar with wetlands and the important roles they play To identify different plant and animal species that inhabit wetlands and to examine their interconnections To recognize the impacts that human actions can have on wetlands, both positive and negative Set-up/Safety Concerns: Edge of wetland may be slippery Observe all of the children all of the time. Do not let any wander off unsupervised. Please be aware that there are only a certain number of life-jackets for a reason. This is to ensure that there are enough supervisors available to watch those safely entering the water. Activity Overview: Using the equipment and resources available, students will set up an outdoor living laboratory. Students will be encouraged to use all of their senses to explore and examine the Bruce s Mill wetland. Students should gain an understanding of what a wetland is, the diversity of life living in a wetland, its role in the larger ecosystem and its importance to humans and other life forms. Background Information: Wetlands are land areas covered by water some or all of the time. Water moves very slowly through wetland areas. Examples of wetlands include marshes, bogs, swamps, and fens. Wetlands are important for several reasons. First, they help reduce flooding and erosion by absorbing tremendous amounts of water from rain and snow. Wetlands then release this water in times of drought. They act just like sponges. Wetlands also help to improve water quality by filtering the water passing through them, thereby removing lots of nasty pollutants. Wetlands provide habitat for a great diversity of plants and animals. These species, along with the non-living components such as water and sediment, make up the wetland ecosystem. Everything in the ecosystem is interconnected. For example, many creatures may rely on one type of plant as a source of food. Ontario has lost many of its wetlands as a result of human activity. Draining wetlands to grow crops, dumping garbage and pollutants, filling wetlands to build roads and houses, and introducing exotic/invasive species are just some examples of how wetlands are damaged or destroyed. What Will I Be Doing? High school students will support presentation of the activity under the lead of Toronto and

3 Region Conservation (TRCA) staff. Remember that kids have more fun when they are doing an experiment and discovering the answer, rather than watching and listening. So try to involve as many children as possible. Students will be moving through various stations in this activity in an effort to get as many groups through as possible: Station 1: Watershed puzzles will be set up on two picnic tables for students to put together while they are waiting. Station 2: Gather the students close so that everyone can hear. Read this to the students: Does anyone know what we are going to be looking at today? Wait for answers. Yes, a wetland. Does anyone know what a wetland is? Wait for answers. It is basically a wet land. They are land areas covered by water some or all of the time, and the water here moves very slowly through the area. Can anyone name the four main types of wetlands? Wait for answers. Swamp, bog, fen, marsh. What type of wetland is the one at Bruce s Mill? Wait for answers. Tell them to look around and ask what they see. Yes, it is a marsh. Swamps typically have trees/ woody plants, marshes usually have cattails, bogs are composed of peat and moss, and fens also have peat but they are not as acidic as bogs although they might become bogs. All of these physical characteristics, especially the type of water saturation on the land determines the soil and the types of plant and animal species on the wetland. For example, the low nutrient levels, waterlogged condition, acidic waters, and spongy peat deposits in bogs allow species with special adaptations to survive, such as carnivorous plants. Here is a picture of a pitcher plant that feeds on insects in bogs to survive, and they can be found here in Ontario. Generally, wetlands support a large variety of terrestrial and aquatic species. Unfortunately, approximately 72% of our wetlands in Southern Ontario have been lost or converted to other land uses, and the loss continues at an alarming rate. Wetlands are very important. They act like: Sponges by absorbing excess rainwater to help prevent flooding and slowly releasing it again to help prevent drought; Restaurants where many different species of wildlife visit wetlands for food. Rice, cranberries and blueberries all come from wetlands; Nurseries where many different species of wildlife visit wetlands to mate and raise their babies; Homes providing many different types of plants and animals, especially species that are at risk. In fact, wetlands are one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on earth; Hotels where migrating birds stop at wetlands to rest and feed; Strainers filtering water that passes through, removing excess sediments and pollution, and improving the overall water quality; Carbon Sinks by absorbing a lot of carbon from the air, thus helping to offset global warming. Wetlands are also great places for hiking, bird watching and spotting wildlife. Therefore, we need to conserve and protect our wetlands from human activities that destroy them. Show students the Wetlands Attributes Poster items and ask them how they relate to the

4 benefits of wetlands: Rice (rice is a food source grown in wetlands) Soother (many species raise babies in wetlands) Sponge (wetlands soak up excess water) House (many plants and animals call wetlands home) Sieve (wetlands filter and clean water) Pillow (migrating birds rest at wetlands) Station 3A: Read this to the students: Today, we are all going to be wildlife biologists and you will have the chance to examine all the wonders of the wetland. Let your senses guide you; use your eyes, ears, nose and hands. Lead students towards the wetland. Students are to stay on the dock. Wetlands are very sensitive ecosystems and we don t want to harm them by walking through them. Let students explore for approximately 10 minutes. We have some nets that you can use to observe small plant and animal species closely. Use the sampling equipment provided and exercise care in collecting organisms. Students should use the nets provided to take small samples of the plant and animal species in the area, specifically the insects or plant life they may find growing and living at the water s edge. Organisms are not to be handled with hands insect repellent can be particularly harmful. Let them explore at the edge of the cattails ONLY IF you feel you are NOT disturbing any nesting birds. Here are some common wetland plants and animals: PLANTS INVERTEBRATE AMPHIBIANS REPTILES BIRDS FISH MAMMALS Cattails Crayfish Bullfrog Garter snake Redwinged blackbird Minnows Beaver / beaver dam Rushes Worms Leopard frog Snapping Canada Sunfish Muskrat turtle goose Duckweed Water strider Green frog Painted Mallard Mouse turtle duck Water Mussels Spring peeper Heron Raccoon lilies Arrowhead Dragonfly (adult Salamander Wood Mole & nymph) duck Pondweed Beetle Sparrow Pitcher Swallow Plant Sundew Horsetails If you catch anything during our exploration, place them in the water table over here, so everyone can observe the different creatures living in the wetland. But don t worry all of the plants and animals will be returned back to the wetland after our observations because we don t want to harm anything; we only want to observe it. Have students return their nets and proceed to the next station.

5 Station 3B: Using the pictures provided and the invertebrates that were placed in the water table, go over the different types of species that the students found How do you think each of these organisms fit into the food web? Wait for answers. Example: invertebrates are very important because many fish and birds feed on them. What would happen if there were no more wetlands? Wait for answers. Loss of habitat for a lot of species at risk, which means loss of a significant amount of species, less absorption of greenhouse gases, more frequent occurrences of flooding and drought, etc. How we can protect wetlands? Wait for answers. Preventing pollution, making people aware of their importance. Canada has a quarter of the world s wetlands. In the Toronto area, we have lost about 80 per cent of the wetlands that were here originally. We need to make sure that we preserve the wetlands that we have left. Specifically Remind Students That: All material, both living and non-living, must be returned to the wetland towards the end of the activity. Students should understand why all natural materials are to be returned to their place of origin. If every student at the water festival removed just one invertebrate that would be about 5000 invertebrates that would no longer be available in the ecosystem for the fish and birds to eat. Ontario has lost approximately 80 per cent of the wetlands that we once had. We need to make sure we protect the ones that are left. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? Do not damage our wetland. It is natural habitat for many species! Updated January 30, 2014