Future City Lab: Interconnected I

Rationale: The balance of biodiversity depends on delicate, often unnoticeable interactions between different species and their natural environments. This balance is somewhat similar to a game of  "pick-up sticks."

Game Play: Follow standard rules of play – scatter sticks and use one designated stick (check your set for specific rules) to pick out individual sticks without moving others. Students can accumulate points by getting certain colored sticks (again, look to your set for designations) and the first to reach a certain point amount wins.

Discuss:  

Observations: What was easy, what was difficult?  

Speculate: What do you think we might learn from this game about ecosystems, biodiversity, and interconnectedness?  

Students may bring up concepts like: 

1.) How closely connected each stick is and how it is hard to move one without affecting the others – species are closely connected in ecosystems 

2.) How fragile the whole system is 

3.) System being affected by outside force 

Explain that today’s lesson will explore these themes as we explore the ecosystem of New York Harbor, using two main concepts of interconnectedness and biodiversity. 

Define Interconnectedness:  being connected with each other (record in journal or worksheet)  

Define Biodiversity: the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem; the number of different kinds of life forms in a given area (record in journal or worksheet) 

Context: Read http://www.thebluedotpost.com/why-biodiversity-and-the-interconnected-web-of-life-are-important/ for quick background the three levels of biodiversity (genetic, species, and ecosystem) and explain why each is important for the overall health of an ecosystem. 

If able, examine the online interactive of Mannahatta and the New York Harbor in 1609 https://welikia.org/m-map.php. (If you’re not based in New York City, plug in the Museum’s address at 1220 Fifth Avenue.) Note the sliding rule at bottom to toggle between 1609 landscape and the present. 

Welikia:  

What wildlife would you think this habitat would support? (use the “About this block in 1609” map feature to further explore)  

Turn and Talk: Why might some of these species no longer be native to NYC? What role might humans have played in this depletion? What happens to a habitat if even just one species is removed?  (use the “About this block today” map feature)  

Class Share:  Share one idea that your partner had.  

Define keystone species: a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically. Oysters are a keystone species. (record in journal or worksheet) 

Have students read the 3-page excerpt of Tom Hynes’ February 2016 article for Untapped Cities (provided) and fill out the accompanying worksheet for an overview of oysters’ history in New York City, the role humans have played in their decline, and why oysters are important to the New York ecosystem. 

Am I connected, too? In groups of 3-6, students discuss the following:  

Disconnections within the ecosystem:  

1.) Why did the oysters disappear?  

2.) What role did humans play in their disappearance?  

3.) What effect does this have on water quality?  

4.) What effect does  this have on the biodiversity of the habitat?  

5.) What effect does this have on the land? (Clues: What species might be dependent on species that live in the water? How do oyster reefs protect land?) 

6.) What effect does this have on people? 

Have the class share out and discuss.