Here's what their ecosystems will include Aquatic Algae Duckweed Elodea Snails Mosquito Fish or Guppies Terrestrial Grass Mustard Alfalfa Crickets Isopods After observing the systems separately, students connect the 2 into 1 system called an ecocolumn. By experimenting with their ecocolumn., students discover that their 2 ecosystems are intertwined. You complete the unit by focusing on a much larger ecosystem - the Chesapeake Bay watershed. You'll discuss the bay's complex problems, including pollution and population challenges, and students will discover that in a large ecosystem, as in their columns, altering 1 resource can impact others. As a final activity, your classroom turns into a mini-conference where different students represent the conflicting interests of the boater, dairy farmers, watermen, and general residents who make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed's population.
Students experience the tradeoffs involved in environmental policy.
They also discover that through sacrifices, all the groups with competing interests in an ecosystem can help preserve it. Students see firsthand a portion of the intricate web of interrelationships that link plants, animals, and the physical world.