Mar 082013
This lesson offers an introduction to aquatic invertebrates living in ponds, and a look into how the presence or absence of a top predator – fish – affects the community composition and structure. This is a lesson teachers can do at KBS if they are interested – just contact Gary Mittlebach.
At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:
- Display familiarity with techniques used to sample aquatic invertebrates
- Describe how predators influence prey community composition and structure
- Identify several major groups of aquatic invertebrates
- Use microscopes to examine zooplankton
If classes want to come out to the KBS pond laboratory, we would suggest allowing at least a half day to spend on the facilities. This will allow time for
- an introduction to the history and research done at the pond lab
- an introduction to the study system and questions
- brainstorming research questions and hypotheses
- examining zooplankton under microscopes
- sampling the ponds for macroinvertebrates and tadpoles
- identifying and quantifying sampled macroinvertebrates
- measuring macroinvertebrates for size
- summarizing the data and offering conclusions, discussion
Activity can be modified for grades 3-12.
Resources:
Lesson created by GK-12 Fellows Anne Royer and Melissa Kjelvik, 2009