Name ____________________________________________________ Date:_________________________ Pd:________
A Glimpse into the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem
Adapted from Kimberly de la Cerde
Standards:
CLG 6.2 The student will investigate the interdependence of organisms within their biotic environment.
CLG 6.3 The student will analyze the relationships between humans and the earth’s resources.
Learning Targets
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My group can use this web quest to research your assigned topic.
•
My group can will use the research to answer the assigned questions.
•
My group will produce a poster that describes your topic, your research, and the answers to the questions. Each
poster must have a written portion and at least two charts and/or graphs.
•
My group will present our research and poster to the class. Each presentation will be ten minutes long. Our
group will be expected to answer questions from the class at the end of the presentation.
Grading Scale
Your final grade will be determined by the following grade break down:
10%
group participation
25%
web quest work and questions
45%
poster design and information
20%
oral class presentation
American Oysters
Questions:
1. Describe the oyster life cycle. Make sure that you describe the differences in the males and females within the
species.
2. Describe the habitat of the American Oyster. Does the oyster provide habitat for any other organisms? Explain?
3. What is the oyster’s place in the food chain? Describe the oyster’s relationship with other organisms it the
Chesapeake Bay in terms of the food chain.
4. Why is it important to humans to help to increase the population of the American Oyster?
5. How have humans impacted the population of the American Oyster? What diseases are affecting the American
Oyster population?
6. Describe your group’s position on the question about releasing a foreign species of oyster into the Chesapeake Bay?
What are the advantages and disadvantages to your position? What conditions within the Bay would affect your
position. Why did the group reach this opinion?
Toxic Algae
Questions:
1. What are algal blooms? What organisms are involved in the algal blooms? How many different kinds of blooms can
be found in the Chesapeake Bay? Describe them
2. What conditions must be met in order for algal blooms to occur in the Chesapeake Bay? Where are algal blooms
most likely to occur along the Bay? What time of year would blooms most likely occur? Why?
3. Algal blooms are caused by many different organisms. Describe two organisms that produce algal blooms. You must
describe where these organisms live, how they obtain energy, their cell structure, and if they produce a toxin. Do you
think there is an advantage to the algae if they produce a toxin? Why?
4. How have humans impacted the algal bloom problem in the Chesapeake Bay?
5. How would the oysters be affected the algal blooms in the Chesapeake Bay?
6. How do algal blooms affect the physical nature (include but do not limit to nutrient content and oxygen content) of
the Chesapeake Bay?
The Chesapeake Bay
Questions:
1. There are six categories that can help scientists determine the health of the Chesapeake Bay. They include
nutrients, sediments, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chemical contaminants. For each of the
categories describe what the category is and why it is important to study to determine the health of the bay.
2. Pick four sites that are being studied around the Chesapeake Bay. Graph the yearly data for temperature, dissolved
oxygen, and water clarity. What do the graphs tell you about the three studied indicators? Do the indicators change
with respect to the time of year?
3.
Do the indicators show differences at different spots along the Bay? Why?
4. How has the oyster population been affected by the temperature, dissolved oxygen, and water clarity problems that
the Chesapeake Bay has been facing for the past decade?
5. How has the Chesapeake Bay bridge affected the living organisms in the Chesapeake Bay?
6. What states are within the Chesapeake Bay watershed? How does human activity in within the entire watershed
affect the wildlife living within the bay?
The Food Chain of the Chesapeake Bay
Questions
1. Chose two organisms from each category. For each organism you must describe its habitat, what it preys on, and its
predators. What special adaptations does each organism have that would allow it to live in its habitat, escape its
predators, and find its prey? The categories include mollusks, other invertebrates, birds, fish, bay grasses, reptiles and
amphibians, mammals, insects
2. Draw a food web that has contains of your researched organisms.
3. What are some invasive species within the Chesapeake Bay watershed? Describe the impact that three invasive
species have had on the Chesapeake Bay food chain.
4. Plankton is very important to the Bay’s food chain. What are zooplankton, macrozooplankton, and phytoplankton?
Give two examples of each type of plankton.
5. Several things affect the plankton populations in the Chesapeake Bay. They include water quality, sediments,
temperature, salinity, chemical contaminants, and dissolved oxygen. Chose one of the characteristics that affect the
plankton population and describe what causes this condition in the Bay and how that affects the plankton population.
How does this condition affect the Bay food web?
6. Describe at least one commensalistic, parasitic, predator-prey, and mutualistic relationship found within the
organisms o f the Chesapeake Bay.
Human Impact on the Chesapeake Bay
Questions
1. How has farming within the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed affected the health of the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem?
2. Why is nutrient pollution a problem in the Chesapeake Bay? What problems can be caused to the living organisms in
the Bay if the nutrient pollution increases? What sources are causing an increase in nutrient pollution?
3. Why is air pollution a problem in the Chesapeake Bay? What problems can be caused to the living organisms in the
Bay if the air pollution increases? What sources are causing an increase in air pollution?
4. Why is sediment pollution a problem in the Chesapeake Bay? What problems can be caused to the living organisms
in the Bay if the sediment pollution increases? What sources are causing an increase in sediment pollution?
5. What happens to the plant and animal life in the Bay if water clarity decreases? Why?
6. Choose four spots that the scientists have studied along the Bay. Use the information gathered to graph a year long
water clarity graph for each spot. What trends do you observe in the graph? Why might those trends occur? From the
graph what can you determine about the plant and animal life living in each of the studied regions along the Bay?