This video from the National Park Service highlights research that is conducted in Biscayne National Park to monitor the health of mangrove forests and the impacts of sea level rise.
A "Future Park Leader of Emerging Change" intern describes his experience tracking soil elevation in the forests and why mangrove ecosystems are so important to the park and the planet.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video provides an example of how volunteers and interns can support climate change research.
Students will learn about mangrove forests, an important ecosystem that can also reduce the negative impacts of extreme weather conditions.
Additional Prerequisites
Some prior knowledge of how climate change is connected to sea level rise may help students better understand the information shared in this video.
Differentiation
An "audio described version" of this video is linked in the description for visually impaired students.
This video could be used in a lesson about climate change, citizen science, ecosystems, or natural resource management.
Science classes could use this resource to discuss the steps that scientists must take when they conduct research.
Scientist Notes
This video shows research in soil elevation in Florida's mangrove forests. This is important to track the long-term impact of sea level rise on seedlings' reproduction and on the health of mangrove forests. This resource would motivate a student's interest in co-creating new ways to reduce climate risks on mangroves and other natural ecosystems. This 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.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
