The Oceans | Invasive Species Module Outline

IVS.A | Here Come the Invaders

The invaders are on their way…and we’re helping! Just what constitutes an invasive species, and what’s the problem with having one of them move into an environmental neighborhood?

 

IVS.B | Invaders Around the Globe

How do invasive species travel from their original eco-environ to ones where they don’t belong, and what makes them so damaging?

 

IVS.C | Meet the Invaders!

Killer snails! Vicious walnuts! Unwelcome crabs! Sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, right? Believe it or not, each of these is a threat to seas and shorelines where they don’t belong naturally.

 

IVS.D | Real Monsters

Sit back and enjoy as we introduce you to some of the world’s ‘Most Wanted” – the top 5 worst invasive species in the seas today.

 

IVS.E | Marine Most Wanted

Want to see some beautiful killers? Check out some of the most colorful and surprising scourges of the sea – and of rivers and lakes as well. Meet the Lionfish, Shore Crab, Northern Pacific Sea Star, and Rainbow Trout!

 

IVS.F | What Can We Do?

The Rogues Gallery continues, as we learn about some other invasive species…… So many little trouble makers…so many lakes, rivers and seas to protect…

 

IVS.G | Other World Invaders

How many invaders have you learned about so far? Check out which ones you know, learn about some more that live on land as well as in water, and have some fun!

 

IVS.H |  Lesson Quizzes, Games & Bonus Questions

Now that we’ve talked about invasive species, why they matter and how to help keep them from spreading, let’s see what you remember .

 

IVS.I | Dive Deeper

Want to know more? Check out these outside websites and apps for further exploration, and see what’s lurking around the next corner.

 



Young Scientist Spotlight:
HANNAH HERBST

10 Fun Facts: The Hab

1. Aquarius is the the world’s only permanent undersea research station.

2. Most missions last about two or three weeks.

3. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, beat his grandfather’s record month-long underwater expedition by spending 31 days on the Aquarius Reef Base in 2014.

4. The lab is used by NASA, the US Navy, and researchers and educators from around the globe for training and research.

5. The internet connection is better in the Hab than at many places above the water.

6. You have to swim underneath the facility in order to enter it.

7. Crew members are called aquanauts (NOT aquaNUTS!)

8. In 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot seas after one of the habitat’s generators caught fire.

9. Aquarius was featured in the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon in 2012.

10. The Hab was originally built in Texas.

10 Fun Facts: Coral

1. Reefs usually grow up on the east shore of land masses.

2. Parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications to treat cancers and other illnesses.

3. A coral reef isn’t a single organism; it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.

4. Only about one percent of the world’s oceans contain coral reefs. That’s about the size of France.

5. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth.

6. Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones.

7. There are over 2,500 species of corals. About 1,000 are the hard corals that build coral reefs.

8. Reefs grow where there are stronger wave patterns and currents to deliver food and nutrients.

9. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10 Fun Facts: Invasive Species

1. To be considered invasive, a species must adapt to a new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region.

2. Some invasive species are introduced accidentally, but others are brought deliberately.

3. Ship ballast water transports between 3,000 and 7,000 foreign species daily around the globe.

4. The total loss to the world economy as a result of invasive non-native species has been estimated at 5% of annual production

5. Invasive species have contributed to 40% of the animal extinctions that have occurred in the last 400 years.

6. Rodents are some of the worst invasive species.

7. There are an estimated 50,000 wild ring-necked parakeets in parks across London and southeast England.

8. Black and Norway rats annually consume stored grains and destroy other property valued over $19 billion.

9. Northern Pacific seastars reproduce very quickly. In one area where they were introduced, their population reached an estimated 12 million seastars in just two years.

10. Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s, as part of an attempt to bring animals that were mentioned in Shakespeare‘s work to America.

Alert: Cuteness Overload!

Cutest animal in the ocean? Keep your Sea Otter. Forget the Dumbo Octopus. Axolotl? Close, but no cigar.

The winner of the Cutest Sea Animal prize is the Leaf Sheep Slug.

Yes, a slug. This tiny (5mm) animal, found near the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan, looks like a cartoon sheep covered in bright green leaves with pinkish purple tips.

Bonus: it’s one of the only animals that can perform photosynthesis, thanks to all the algae it eats.

Beat that.