Name: _________________________ Per: _______

Biodiversity Game

Lesson by Meghan O’Leary (adapted from uasmat.org)

For each group of 3-4 students: • 20 red, green, and yellow, beads • 4-5 drinking straws • 1 paper plate

Game 1 (with Sea Otters) 1. Assign each student in a group a role:

a. Urchinb. Otterc. Fishd. Data Recorder

2. Create a mini ‘ecosystem’ with 5 of each color bead on the paper plate.3. Using only a straw, students will have 30 seconds to attempt to remove their designated prey

from the ‘ecosystem’, based upon which predator they are: a. Otters may remove urchins and fish (yellow and red beads), b. Urchins may only remove kelp (green beads), c. Fish may remove both kelp and other fish (green and red beads).

4. After each round students will record the current numbers of each prey remaining in the ecosystem (the paper plate) then allow for reproduction (double the remaining numbers of each species), record the new numbers for the beginning of the next round, repeat 4 times.

Game 1 (with Sea Otters)

RoundFish Kelp Urchins

start end start end start end1 5 5 52345

Discuss & record your observations from Game 1:

________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Game 2 (without Sea Otters) 1. Reassign student roles:

a. Urchinb. Urchinc. Fishd. Data Recorder

2. Re-set the ecosystem. Record data using the same procedure as Game 1.

Game 2 (without Sea Otters)

RoundFish Kelp Urchins

start end start end start end1 5 5 52345

Discuss & record your observations from Game 2:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Discussion Questions: 1. What was different between the first and second game?

2. How does a sea otter effect the system as a whole?

3. A single species that maintains the diversity of ecosystem is called a “keystone species”. Create a definition for the term “keystone.”

4. Sea otters indirectly maintain kelp forests by controlling urchin populations. The Russians forced the Alaskan Natives to hunt sea otters, and by the 1900s the population had shrunk to less than 2000 otters.

a. How would this have impacted the otters’ ecosystem?

b. What may have happened if sea otters had been hunted to extinction? (think about impact on climate and fisheries)

IS1T5 Explore2 Biodiversity Game