Why Teach About Blue Crabs?

September 6th, 2010 by Lindsay

Blue crabs make great subjects to investigate in your classroom.

There isn’t anything more Chesapeake than the Bay’s signature crustacean, the blue crab. Blue crab’s scientific name Callinectes (meaning beautiful swimmer) sapidus (meaning savory) pretty much gives away its importance to the region.

Why should YOU teach about blue crabs?
These feisty crustaceans make a great topic to study in your classroom because they are a keystone species in the Chesapeake Bay. Blue crabs serve as both a predator and prey in the Chesapeake food web.

They are prey for large fish, birds and even other blue crabs. Yet they are also the chief consumers of the benthos or bottom dwelling organisms like small fish, worms and plants.

Along with being a vital part of the ecosystem, blue crabs are the base of a large commercial and recreational fishery in Maryland and Virginia.  It is estimated that more than one-third of the nation’s blue crab catch comes from the Chesapeake Bay, bringing in more than $50 million per year to the region.

So how do YOU teach about blue crabs?
There are already tons of teaching resources about blue crabs. You can use blue crabs to teach about predator/prey dynamics, food webs, habitats, migration, economics and the impacts of pollution on a species. To help you get started take a look through the resources below:

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Lindsay Eney is the communications staffer at the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Why Teach About Forests?

August 16th, 2010 by Krissy

The forests of Pine Creek Gorge in Tioga County, Pennsylvania protects the water that flows into Pine Creek and eventually the Susquehanna River.

Using trees as markers, students can learn mapping skills through orienteering.

Math teachers can take their students outside measure trees to determine their diameter. Photo Source, UMD

When Europeans first arrived to the Chesapeake Bay region in the 1600′s they found vast, diverse forests covering 95% of the Bay’s 64,000-square-mile watershed.

Today, forests cover about 58% of the watershed, or 24 million acres. While forest conditions have changed over the past 400 years, forests still remain critical to the health of the Bay, wildlife and the people who call it home.

Why should YOU teach about forest?
Forests are vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay because they provide us with many services. Forest not only provide habitat for wildlife but they also protect our clean water.

Similar to wetlands, forests act as giant sponges that absorb and slowly release pollutants such as nutrients and sediment from stormwater runoff. Forest also clean our air by absorbing and trapping nitrogen, particulates and other pollutants released into the atmosphere by cars, industries, agriculture and construction.

Your local forest and trees in your schoolyard are great subjects to teach about. Students can go outdoors, even if its just on school grounds, to learn how to collect scientific data by identifying the types of trees and taking measurements like circumference.

If you are a social studies teach, trees are like a living history book because of their tree rings. Teach your students how we can teach about the past through the rings on a tree. Or if you are an art teacher students can use leaves and twigs to create their very own masterpiece.

So how do YOU teach about forests?
You will find a wealth of forest related resources and lesson plans out there.  Below are some of the ones that include hands-on, project oriented studies.

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Krissy Hopkins is part of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship Team and Education Workgroup.

Why Teach About Sea Nettles?

July 12th, 2010 by Krissy
Sea nettles can be a pesky nuisance to swimmers in the summer months when their numbers soar.

Sea nettles can be a pesky nuisance to swimmers in the summer months when their numbers soar.

NOAA's sea nettle map shows the probably you will encounter jellies based on environmental conditions.

NOAA's sea nettle map shows the probably you will encounter jellies based on environmental conditions.

Sea nettles (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) are the most abundant jellyfish living in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. These stinging jellies have a smooth, milky white bell that usually grows to about four inches in diameter, with 24 stinging tentacles that hang from the inside of the bell.

Why should YOU teach about sea nettles?
Sea nettles have very particular habitat requirements making them a great critter to investigate in your classroom. Your students can become scientists by examining environmental conditions to predict when and where sea nettles will be present in the Chesapeake Bay.

Sea nettles prefer water temperatures ranging from 78.8 – 86 degrees Fahrenheit and a salinity of 10-16 PSU (practical salinity units). So when conditions in the bay are within these temperature and salinity ranges you will likely encounter sea nettles.

How do YOU teach about sea nettles?
You can use real salinity and water temperature data to have your students predict if these stinging jellies will be present at a certain location. NOAA’s CBIBs Buoys provide a database of salinity and water temperature readings at eight locations throughout the Chesapeake Bay.  Have your  students go online and write down the salinity and temperate at each of these locations.  Than have them see if the environmental conditions at each location are within the range that sea nettles prefer, 78.8 – 86 degrees Fahrenheit and a salinity of 10-16 PSU.

As an extension you can also use NOAA’s sea nettle presence probability map to compare your students’ results with a real scientific model.  Have students find the locations of their data points on NOAA’s probability map and determine if results suggest the same conclusions about the presence of sea nettles.  If differences exist, have students suggest some reasons for these differing results.

Additional Resources
The Stinging Sea Lesson Plan (Grades 9-12) – NOAA Ocean Service

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Krissy Hopkins is part of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship Team and Education Workgroup.

Why Teach About Wetlands?

May 3rd, 2010 by Krissy
Can you find the great blue heron hiding in this Chesapeake wetland? Photo Source: Chesapeake Bay Program

Can you find the great blue heron hiding in this Chesapeake wetland? Photo Source: Chesapeake Bay Program

May is American Wetlands Month, a time to recognize the importance of this habitat for its ecological, economic and social health value. Take the opportunity in May to teach your students about the role of wetlands in providing habitat, clean water and reducing flooding risk.

Wetlands and open water at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Photo Source: IAN, Jane Thomas

Wetlands and open water at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Photo Source: IAN, Jane Thomas

So what is a wetland?
Wetlands are transitional areas between land and water. An area is defined as a wetland if it has hydrophytes (plants adapted to living in wet soils) and hydric soils (soils that are periodically soaked or flooded).

In the Chesapeake region wetlands can be further broken down into two categories: tidal and non-tidal. Tidal wetlands are flooded with salt or brackish water when tides rise and non-tidal wetlands contain fresh water. About 86% of the wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are non-tidal.

Why should YOU teach about wetlands?
Wetlands are one of the most critical habitats for hundreds of species of fish, birds, mammals and invertebrate in the Chesapeake region.  Tidal wetlands are a winter home for waterfowl that visit the Chesapeake Bay as they migrate along the Atlantic Flyway. Wetlands are also the nurseries and spawning grounds for blue crabs, fish and shellfish that waterman and fishermen depend on for their livelihood.  Roughly 2/3 of our commercially valuable fish and most shellfish use tidal wetlands as  nursery areas.

Wetlands also improve and protect the Chesapeake Bay’s health. These saturated areas between the land and the water act as buffers by slowing the flow of pollutants into the Bay and its rivers. As polluted stormwater runs off the land and passes through wetlands, the trees and grasses in wetlands filter and absorb nutrients, suspended sediments and chemical contaminants before these pollutants can flow to nearby waterways.

Wetlands also help control erosion. Just like a sponge, wetlands soak up and hold large amounts of flood water and stormwater runoff, gradually releasing the water over time. Wetlands along the edges of streams, creeks, rivers and the Bay stabilize shorelines and protect properties from floods and waves. Because of the high ecological and economic value of wetlands its very important that we keep them wet and wild.

So how do YOU teach about wetlands?
Luckily, there are tons of lesson plans available that focus on wetlands! Here are a few of the best ones you can use in your classroom. These include hands-on investigations that get students actively engaged in learning.

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Krissy Hopkins is part of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship Team and Education Workgroup.

Why Teach About Watersheds?

February 25th, 2010 by Krissy
Map of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Source: National Geographic

Map of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Source: National Geographic

We all live in a watershed and chances are if you are on the Bay Backpack site you live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches across more than 64,000 square miles, encompassing parts of six states -Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia – and the entire District of Columbia.  Almost 17 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the things those people do every day impact how clean our local waterways are.

So What is a Watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that drains into a particular body of water like the Susquehanna River or the Chesapeake Bay.  When it rains all of the water that falls on the land has to go somewhere, so it drains off the land, our roadways and parking lots into local streams.  Threading through the Chesapeake watershed are more than 100,000 streams and rivers.  These streams then feed into large rivers such as the Susquehanna, Potomac and James.  All of these rivers eventually run into the Chesapeake Bay carrying with them any pollutants (like lawn fertilizer or oil from parking lots) that have washed off the land and other hard surfaces.

Why Should I Teach About Watersheds?

Understanding the links between what we do on the land and our waterways is the key to having healthy, safe rivers and a clean Chesapeake Bay.  Water is critical to all aspects of our lives.  Most of our drinking water comes from our local river so it is important that we understand the connections between people, land and waterways.  We are the source of all the solutions to problems that pollute our waterways.  Each and every person’s actions can and do have an impact on cleaning our own streams and rivers.

So How Do I Teach About Watersheds?

There are already tons of lessons and activities out there that teach about watersheds.  Here are a few of the best ones you can use in your classroom.  These include hands-on investigations that get students actively engaged in learning.

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Krissy Hopkins is part of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship Team and Education Workgroup.