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Description
Food Chain Reactions: How Climate Change is Impacting Canada’s Lakes is part of a compilation of climate research carried out by science heroes from across Canada. It includes climate actions that students can complete at home, in class or in the community.
In this feature, students learn about the importance of food webs while being introduced to the concepts of keystone species and trophic cascades. A food web describes how the different linear food chains are interconnected within an ecosystem, making them much more complex. Keystone species are species that play a larger role in an ecosystem while a trophic cascade is a set of reactions that occur when a change is made to a link in the food chain.
Should a keystone species disappear from a food web, the imbalance created affects the entire ecosystem. Scientists strive to understand food chains and food webs to protect keystone species and prevent trophic cascades.
Students will:
- Meet the local science hero of this edition, Dr. Sapna Sharma, a biology professor at York University and an expert on Canadian lakes
- Learn about her research as it relates to the impacts of environmental stressors on our lakes and the organisms that live within them
- Participate in a habitat 'web weaver' activity
- Help maintain healthy food webs in their own ecosystem by making a bee watering station, leaving the leaves and planting bee-friendly native plants
Students can use the website search tool to access more Science Spotlights under the Nature Stewardship category, such as:
- Changing Land Protection in Canada: A Pathway towards Reconciliation
- T'eoonesz?in (I came to know)
- Trees on the Move
- Buggy About Bats
- Forestry, Part of Our Carbon Friendly Future
- Keeping Up with the Whooping Crane
- The Turtles of Turtle Island
- Invaders in our Waters
General Assessment
Recommendation of how and where to use it
This resource complements Grade 4-8 Science units exploring the causes of climate change and its impacts on ecosystems in addition to supporting curriculum outcomes related to diversity and habitat loss. To extend the learning process students could create a physical representation of their food web for display and/or create a bee watering station on the school property.
Relevant Curriculum Units
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- Alberta
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- Grade 4
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Themes Addressed
Air, Atmosphere & Climate (1)
- Climate Change
Citizenship (1)
- General Guide to Taking Action
Ecosystems (4)
- Appreciating the Natural World
- Biodiversity
- Interdependence
- Invasive Species
Food & Agriculture (1)
- Aquaculture
Land Use & Natural Resources (2)
- Fisheries
- Forests
Water (1)
- Marine Environments
