This NPR article and short podcast discuss the poor health of the Indian River Lagoon in Florida and the declining local manatee population.
The lagoon's health has been suffering from increased pollution, which leads to algae blooms that kill the manatees' food source, seagrass.
The podcast summarizes the article and has a written transcript that is accessible by clicking the paragraph icon in the podcast bar.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This article and podcast use statements from multiple sources to create a clear and concise argument.
This resource has links to additional information that support the claims that are made and give more details.
There is a focus on biodiversity, the importance of conservation, and solutions to the problem.
Additional Prerequisites
There is a strong focus on biodiversity and how ecosystems can be damaged, so students should be familiar with the concepts of "algae super blooms" and "estuaries."
Differentiation
This would be a great resource to use in a biology class when learning about ecosystems and food chains.
Parallels can be made to other unique ecosystems, and this resource could be used to start a conversation about the unique ecosystems in other parts of the country or globe.
This resource is an article and a 5-minute audio news report discussing the recent catastrophic manatee die-off in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida. Climate change and other human-caused impacts, such as runoff, have severely impacted the seagrass that manatees eat and thus have impacted manatee populations. This recent die-off seems to be a tipping point indicating a severe degradation of lagoon ecosystem health. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.7 Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium's portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a speech affects the impact of the words).
