Additional Case Studies: Materials Contributed by Teachers
Part of the Ecology Disrupted Curriculum Collection.
Here you will find additional lesson plans and data analysis activities, which apply the Ecology Disrupted pedagogical strategy—using the environmental impacts of everyday human behavior to illuminate ecological principles.
Data Analysis Activities
This section contains data analysis worksheets created by teachers. Use them as data analysis assessments or to illustrate ecological functions.
Salmon and The Klamath River Dams The Klamath River is an important river for fish migration. Each year millions of fish swim upstream to spawn in the river's freshwater regions. The river is also home to many hydroelectric power plants. In 2002, a massive fish die-off occurred, killing tens of thousands of Chinook salmon. Scientists analyzed water temperature, water flow and fish run size to determine the cause of this die-off. Students will analyze the same data to generate an understanding of the important and sometimes controversial role renewable energies play in disrupting an important component of the water cycle, the return of water from rivers to the oceans. Salmon and The Klamath River Dams Downloads |
Hantavirus and Human Health Hantavirus is a rodent borne disease of the heart and lungs that is very deadly when passed onto people. Since some rodent species are more efficient carriers of the virus, scientists thought that the reduced biodiversity brought on by forest loss may increase the prevalence of the disease. To test this hypothesis, scientists compared the prevalence of hantavirus in rodents in forest plots that they manipulated to have few rodent species (experimental) to forest plots that they did not touch, i.e. with many rodent species (control). The data presented in the two graphs allow the students to analyze and demonstrate their findings. See the Science Bulletin: Biodiversity Boosts Human Health Hantavirus and Human Health Downloads |
Algae Diversity and Clean Water Recently scientists conducted a lab study that showed that a more biodiverse community of algae is more efficient at removing excess nutrients from water. Changing stream environments can make streams less hospitable to some algae species, leading to fewer algal species that are less efficient at removing excess nutrients. See the Science Bulletin: More Species, Better Water? Algae Diversity and Clean Water Documents Downloads |