Human Affects on Aquatic Environments

Ch 8 Aquatic Biodiversity

Newsletter Project

8-3 How Have Human Activities Affected Marine Ecosystems?

8-4 How Have Human Activities Affected Freshwater Ecosystems?

Purpose

· Understand how human activities threaten aquatic biodiversity and disrupt ecological and economic services provided by saltwater, freshwater lakes, rivers, and wetlands

· Explore these human activities as they relate to Florida and Florida’s coastal areas.

1. You may now work in a group of 3-4. Again, you are responsible for understanding all aspects as they are found in the textbook even though your group has only specific topics assigned to you.

2. You are your group are to create a small newspaper or newsletter (think The Beeline or The Buzz) to educate us on the human activities affecting marine and freshwater ecosystems. This is to be an electronically generated project.

3. You will need to create an “article” about the Natural Capital (economic and ecological services) provided by each ecosystem. The marine ecosystem services are on page 172 and freshwater on page 181.

4. Each group will be assigned 4 activities related to the marine ecosystem and 2 related to freshwater. No matter what the activities are, you are to create articles as they relate to Florida and Florida’s coastal areas. This means you will need to do some research and find information on where this is happening in Florida. Within each of these articles we will need some kind of basic explanation of what the activity/issue is to begin with and then how it relates to a specific part of Florida and the problems occurring there.

EX – You might have coastal development as an activity. Within your article you’ll need a basic explanation of what the problem is and how/why this activity is a problem. Then you will research and learn of a specific place within FL where this is a huge problem. Maybe something about how there has been development on barrier islands and it ruins the dune ecosystem and all the organisms that use the dunes. You could also include how this causes problems for humans as we have more pronounced beach erosion and spend millions in beach replenishment.

· Human impacts on marine ecosystems can be found on pg 178-179, and freshwater on pg 186. You will want to read through and get a little background info from the book first.

· At the end of your article you are to include the link to the website(s) used.

5. Try to format this as a newsletter or newspaper would be. Play around with Publisher or even Word (there’s options within Word that creates columns).

6. Each group will be assigned a letter from A-E. The topics listed for each letter are what you are to address in your newsletter.

Group A / Group B / Group C / Group D / Group E
Coastal development
Runoff – nonpoint sources
Point-source pollution
Pollution & degradation of coastal wetlands & estuaries
Dams and canals – fragment & reduce water flow
Flood control levees & dikes – destroy habitats / Overfishing
Use of fishing trawlers
Invasive species
Climate change
Excess plant nutrients – eutrophication
Inland wetlands drained for crops or cities / Coastal development
Climate change
Point-source pollution
Use of fishing trawlers
Dams and canals – fragment & reduce water flow
Inland wetlands drained for crops or cities / Runoff-nonpoint sources
Overfishing
Pollution & degradation of coastal wetlands & estuaries
Flood control levees & dikes – destroy habitats
Excess plant nutrients – eutrophication / Runoff- nonpoint sources
Point-source pollution
Use of fishing trawlers
Invasive species
Excess plant nutrients – eutrophication
Inland wetlands drained for crops or cities

Newsletter Project Rubric

Projects will be graded according to these criteria unless a more specific rubric has been attached to your instructions.

Format and Presentation (15):

Format
(see assignment)
10 points / Format is followed according to the directions given.
8-10 points / Much of the format was followed, but some components are missing.
5-7 points / Students did not follow the directions for format.
0 - 4 points
Creativity/Neatness
5 points / Exceptional, students strive for originality
5 points / Project is creative and neat.
2-4 points / Minimal creativity, apparently little effort made on presentation.
0 - 2 points

Content (50):

Accuracy
30 points / All content is accurate, and demonstrates mastery of the subject matter.
27-30 points / Most of the content accurate, with some misunderstandings and inaccuracies.
21-24 points / Content is largely incorrect; shows major misunderstandings of the material.
0-20 points
Clarity
5 points / Material is written and displayed in VERY clear and understandable language.
5 points / Topics are mostly understandable, but occasionally unclear or confusing.
2-4 points / Unclear; difficult to follow and understand.
0 - 2 points
Thoroughness/
Completeness
15 points / ALL topics are addressed in a thorough but concise manner.
9-10 points / Most components are included: some information may be left out.
4-8 points / Topic is inadequately discussed; incomplete work.
0 - 3 points