Skip to content

**Lesson 6.1: What is happening to oysters on the West Coast?

OYSTER FARMING

  1. As we watch the videos about oyster farmers, record what you are noticing and what makes you wonder in the chart below.
Noticing Wondering
Ocean is so acidic that it is dissolving the shell of the shellfish. Would this reduce the shellfish's ability to protect itself from predators?
The ocean has increased in acidity by almost 30% since the industrial revolution How quickly is the acidity changing? How long do we have before all shellfish no longer can produce in the ocean?

OYSTERS AND SEA CHANGE/CLIMATE CHANGE AND OCEANS

  1. While we watch the next two videos, 'What Oysters Reveal about Sea Change?' and 'How is Climate Change Affecting Oceans in Native American Lands?' record your notice and wonderings from those videos as well as patterns that you notice throughout all three of the videos.

INITIAL MODEL OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN OYSTERS AND OCEAN

  1. My initial model of what I think is happening between oysters and the ocean:
  1. Think about any experiences you have had with organisms that are negatively impacted by a changing environment. Record your experiences related to ‘What human activities negatively impact organisms, including oysters, in the ocean?’

Another organism that is negatively impacted by a changing environment are pandas. Previously, pandas had numerous natural predators, which required them to reproduce frequently and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Due to poaching, many of the natural predators of the pandas have either gone extinct or are endangered. Nowadays, most pandas are either in conservation centers or other contained habitats, so their need to reproduce to survive is limited. Oftentimes, mothers of pandas will either abandon or kill their offspring if they pose to be too much of a hassle for them. Although they seem cute and loveable, pandas are some of the worst parents on the planet thanks to a drastic change in habitat.

INITIAL QUESTIONS

  1. Using our model as a guide, what questions do we need to answer to solve our problem of why oysters are dying? Record those below.

How can we reduce the acidity of the ocean? How can we reduce the temperature of the ocean? What shellfish are able to survive in these conditions? Why?

NEXT STEPS:

  1. Reflect on today’s question: What is happening to the oysters on the west coast?

  2. Open up the IMT for this unit, complete all boxes for lesson 1

  3. Make sure all parts of the L6.1 student sheet are complete & complete the edpuzzle on schoology.**

Last update: June 5, 2023
Created: June 5, 2023