Key Learning(s):
Niche organisms play an important role in their ecosystem and can be supplanted by non-native species. Conditions challenge
organisms and dictate population diversity in habitats. Resources are distributed unevenly throughout the Earth and its oceans.
Marine policy has evolved over time in reaction to economic and environmental stimuli. Humanity and natural processes have effects
on ecosystems such as coral reefs around the world. Students have opportunities to be stewards of the oceans.
Unit Essential Question(s):
What is ecology?
How does the flow of energy through the food web affect an ecosystem?
What factors affect the productivity of an ecosystem?
Why do human activities have wide-ranging potential effects on coastal ecosystems?
How would you classify the broad range of marine resources?
Who owns marine resources?
What does biodiversity mean to you?
Are the ocean and the atmosphere linked together?
What are the different classifications of pollutants and their effects?
What is the “Tragedy of the Commons” and how has it applied to the oceans?
How do we construct marine policy for effective stewardship of the oceans?
Concept:
Nutrient Pollutants / Concept:
Energy and Refuse
Pollutants / Concept:
The Solution
to Pollution / Concept:
The Tragedy of
the Commons
Lesson Essential Question(s):
What causes eutrophication? (A)
How does eutrophication hurt marine ecosystems? (A)
What are the process levels used to treat sewage before dumping? (A)
What environmental concerns result from dumping sludge? (A)
What concerns does livestock sewage represent? (A)
KEY:
(A) – Acquisition Lesson
(ET) – Extended Thinking / Lesson Essential Question(s):
How can heated water be a pollutant? (A)
What sources of heated water can affect the marine environment? (A)
How do plastics enter the marine environment? (A)
Why are plastics a hazard to the marine environment? (A)
How do spoil and industrial solid waste damage marine communities? (A) / Lesson Essential Question(s):
About how much per person does pollution cost the average US citizen? (A)
What does the Coastal Zone Management Act do to preserve coastal resources? (A)
What powers did the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act grant the US federal government? (A)
What 2 conventions in 1973 addressed pollution released by ships? (A)
What agreement resulted from the 1991 Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection of the Antarctic Treaty? (A) / Lesson Essential Question(s):
What does the Tragedy of the Commons suggest causes overfishing and the other pending biological resource crises? (A)
How did Mare Liberum set the stage for the Tragedy of the Commons in the ocean? (A)
What does the Tragedy of the Commons suggest about the international management of marine biological resources? (A)
How were the Truman Proclamation and UNCLOS steps toward eliminating the Tragedy of the Commons scenario in the oceans? (A)
What is meant by the ocean being the “Final Frontier” on Earth? (A)
How do you discover whether a career in marine science is right for you? (ET)
Vocabulary:
- Anoxic
- Eutrophication
- Hypoxic
- Marine ecosystems
- Nutrient pollutants
- Pathogens
- Sewage
- Sewage sludge
- Sludge
- Bioaccumulate
- Dredge spoil
- Energy pollutants
- Heat pollution
- Industrial solids
- Plastic
- Power plants
- Refuse pollutants
- Sound pollution
- Spoil
- Thermal pollution
- Toxic
- Whale communication
- Coastal Zone Management Act
- International Conservation for the Prevention of Pollution
- International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
- Madrid Protocol
- Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act
- Ocean Dumping Convention
- World Conservation Strategy
- Discodermolides
- Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
- Global climate change
- Mare Liberum
- Marine pharmaceuticals
- Methane hydrates
- Paleoclimatology
- Tragedy of the Commons
- Truman Proclamation
Model from Learning-Focused Strategies. Thompson, M., Thompson, J. (2008)