River-Lab 5 Guide Manual
River-Lab 5
PRODUCTIVITY OF A RIVER BASIN SYSTEM IN SPRING
This unit focuses on the many organisms (plankton, plants, and animals) that make the living river basin
system productive. Students discover that all organisms find what they need to live in their habitats, but they
also add (contribute) something of value to the system in which they live. This interconnectedness of the
natural world further develops the concept that the river basin is a system with parts that work together.
Students explore all of these concepts during an on-site study-trip at a local river basin. The on-site
experience is followed up by a classroom hands-on microscope lab session exploring plankton and its role in
the productivity in a river basin system. Students also learn that the producers (plants and phytoplankton) are
the vital base for the transfer of food energy through a system and that large numbers of producers are
needed to sustain life in a basin. Finally, students realize that humans can impact the functioning of this
system and that humans can make decisions that minimize the impact.
The RL5 unit provides classroom and on-site learning activities to:
 examine the river basin ecosystem and adaptations and contributions of organisms to the system.
 explore man’s impact on the river basin system.
 investigate different populations that exist in the river.
 explore how the products and by-products of plant and animal reproduction contribute to the river
basin system.
 connect spring seasonal changes to life in the river basin system.
 use magnifying lenses and microscopes to view various materials.
 explore the plant cycle through the study of pollination, germination and fertilization.
 record and explain on-site observations of local river basin productivity including a classroom
freshwater plankton lab.
After this unit, the student will be able to:
 Describe the spring seasonal changes to life in the river basin system.
 Explain how a healthy river is a producer in all its parts.
 Explain how human activity affects river, estuarine and coastal productivity.
 Use magnifiers and microscopes to enhance vision in examining microscopic aquatic life.
 Explain that a river basin is a system of physical and living parts that work together.
 Explain that the river basin system includes upland and inland areas.
 Explain that all parts of the system are connected to the estuary at the coast.
 Explain how the angle of the sun plus longer days in spring warms the temperature on the land and in
the water.
 Explain how these changes trigger reproduction of phytoplankton and plants which in turn triggers
animal reproduction.
 Describe how the explosion of protist, plant and animal products during the spring reproductive
season greatly increases productivity in a river basin.
 Describe how river and floodplain organisms such as protists, plants and animals contribute to the
productivity of the floodplain and river.
 Describe how estuarine and coastal productivity depends on enrichment from the inland basin as
well as the floodplain.
 Explain that freshwater plankton is the base of a living basin system (web of life).
 Describe the habitats for freshwater plankton that are essential to the full productive potential of a
living river basin system.
 Describe how human activities anywhere in the basin can negatively impact the productivity of the
river basin system locally, downriver, at the estuary, and the coast.
 Explain how humans can make decisions that minimize the impact.
 Given a situation, predict and evaluate possible effects upon a river system.
© 2009 Mill River Wetland Committee, Inc.
5GM - 4