"Illegal Aliens" --about invasive species. The Economist

[Connie Weber]

"Illegal Aliens"

"Lax enforcement of the rules on importing wildlife risks harming both ecosystems and people"

"ALMOST every country has at least one environmental scare story involving exotic species. One of America’s recent tales of woe involves the zebra mussel, which arrived in 1988, probably in ballast water from ships. Over the past two decades this Russian native has disrupted ecosystems, competing successfully for food with local species of mussels, whose numbers are much diminished. The bivalve damages boats and harbours. Its larvae get sucked up into power plants and water-treatment systems, where they grow and wreck the mechanisms. The cost of the effort to remove the molluscs and repair the damage they cause has been estimated at $5 billion a year.

Such environmental catastrophes can at least be described as accidents. Not so, however, the disastrous introduction of Nile perch to Lake Victoria 50 years ago..."

An interesting and complex problem to explore... great for Problem-Based-Learning activities!

[Britt Gow]

My favourite book about invasive species is "Feral Future - the untold story of Australia's exotic invaders" by Tim Low. It has a great chapter about the pest colonisation of Hawaii too.
My Year 11 Environmental Science students are doing a case study of the critically endangered Orange Bellied parrot and the threats they face - including predation by feral cats and foxes, habitat destruction due to grazing by agricultural animals and residential development.
Have you seen the inquiry-based science learning site for Grades K to 8 at http://www.fossweb.com/?? I haven;t used it yet, but it looks interesting.

[Ian Carmichael]

It would be interesting to find out how many successful introductions of exotic species there have been! I can think of only one, and that was cactoblastis to control prickly pear in Australia. Every other biological control that I'm aware of has been disastrous. Am I wrong?

[Connie Weber]

Hello Britt and Ian--

Thanks for your comments on invasives! I find it an absolutely fascinating topic--and something we should know about. Keep the comments and news coming...

Thanks, Britt, for both the book reference and the curriculum--hooray for inquiry-based learning! I hope you tell us about your class studies. They sound very interesting.

Ian, good question.

[Maria Fleyshgakker]

I added this Power Point Presentation to show you what kind of questions appear on our Regents Exams.

[Connie Weber]

Maria,

That's such an awesome presentation. The topic is one that I'm personally very familiar with. Over my adult lifetime, I've watched these creatures enter the new habitat and take over.

I remember when my dad pointed out an invasive-species problem to me long ago: the sea lamprey. He worked for Water Resources for the State of Michigan, so as children growing up in my household, we stayed highly attuned to what's happening with the waters.

My dad died in '93--and as I recall, the zebra mussels were just then starting to show up in the lakes. Gobies hadn't made an appearance at all.

When I was little, the beaches were pure white sand, never the blend we see currently of white sand and crunchy sharp little shells. The composition of beaches is entirely changed.

We camp right at the top of the lower peninsula of Michigan. We see the barges that come through the St. Lawrence Seaway, through the straits and down to Chicago, among other places. I've had a mixed feeling about those barges for a long time, wondering what the ballast water is bringing from afar.

Your power point is so well done--it's so clear and informative. I'll use it in class, and also with my own grown children, since it presents so much for us to understand and think about.

Thank you so much for the resource!

[Maria Fleyshgakker]

Hi Connie, I am so sorry I didn't see your post till today :(
You know, the end of the year plus closing the school, I would just glance at what's going on and keep on running.
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you, I think Gary collected very good stuff and made powerful presentation. I am a city girl, who just loves nature, so for me it was an eyeopening experience.
You can tell I have nothing against "teaching for the test" :):):):)
Here I posted a few more of his presentations in a Google Docs format:
Gary Carlin
The Silk Moth and the Brown Snake are also about invasive species. If you find spelling error, they are mine :) Gary doesn't make spelling errors :)
Next year, if I teach Living Environment, I will give these Power Point Presentations to the students and ask them to edit each of the cases to their personal level. Each kid will have to read carefully each slide and change or add the pictures and the text so the presentation will become his or her own. They also will be allowed to change the colors and add animations. I think they will love that. And later I can use some other questions from the Regents to make their own case study presentations.
You can tell I have nothing against "teaching for the test" :):):):)