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Wetland Habitats Wetland Habitats 103 Wetlands Taste Test Teacher Instructions Focus/Overview Grade Level This lesson is designed to educate students about the different wetland Upper Elementary ecosystems found in Louisiana. The students will compare and contrast these different habitats using their sense of taste. Duration 50-55 minutes Learning Objectives The students will: Setting . Learn the definitions of a wetland and an ecosystem The classroom . Learn how various salinity levels define wetland habitats . Taste water samples with various salinity levels and determine Vocabulary what wetland habitat the water would likely have “come from” Habitat Wetland GLEs Salinity Science 4th – (SI-E-A1, A2, A3, B4) 5th – (SI-M-A1), (LS-M-C3) 6th – (SI-M-A1, A2, A3, A7, B5) English Language Arts 4th – (ELA-1-E5, E6) 5th – (ELA -4-M2) 6th – (ELA-1-M1), (ELA-7-M1), (ELA-4-M2) Materials List . Four 2-liter bottles (teachers or students should bring from home . Small disposable cups or Dixie cups (teacher provides) . Salt (teacher provides) . Water (teacher provides) Background Information We are able to taste things, because we have “taste buds” on our tongues. Taste buds are on the front, sides and back of the tongue. Taste buds allow us to determine if the food we eat is sweet, sour, bitter or salty. The front taste buds taste the salty/sweet foods, the back taste buds taste the bitter foods and the side taste buds taste the sour foods. The human tongue has almost 10,000 taste buds, and girls have more taste buds than boys. There are taste buds even on the roofs of our mouths! A habitat is defined as a location where plants and animals live. A wetland is a habitat type that is defined as an area of land where soil is wet either permanently or seasonally, or a transitional area between dry land and deep water (in essence, a “wet land”). There are different types of wetland habitats found in Louisiana. Short descriptions of Louisiana’s wetlands are found below. LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 104 For more information on Louisiana’s wetland habitats, as well as information on why Louisiana’s wetlands are degrading, please see the General Wetland Information located at the front of the curriculum binder. Most of Louisiana’s wetland ecosystems are defined by the salinity of the water – the amount of salt dissolved in the water. Salinity is measured in parts per thousand (or ppt). The average salinity of the ocean is 32 parts of salt to 1,000 parts of water (or 32 ppt). Louisiana Wetland Habitats Swamp (salinity = 0 ppt) – any place holding water and having woody vegetation. In Louisiana, cypress and tupelo gum are the most common trees found in a swamp. Swamps mostly contain fresh water, but in Louisiana salt water is slowly creeping in. Freshwater Marsh (salinity = 0-2 ppt) – areas that have no woody vegetation and are typically holding fresh water. A freshwater marsh includes animals such as alligators, snakes, turtles, minks, raccoons, otters, nutria, egrets, herons, ducks, bass, bluegills and grass shrimp, as well as many insects. Intermediate Marsh (salinity = 2-10 ppt) – a transitional zone between a freshwater and a brackish marsh. Intermediate marshes have several types of plants that are found in both freshwater marshes and the saltier marshes found near the Gulf of Mexico. The most common plants are bull tongue, roseau cane and wiregrass. This is a great habitat to view a variety of ducks and other water birds, snakes, alligators, some turtles, muskrats, raccoons, nutria and other fur-bearing mammals. Brackish Marsh (salinity = 10-20 ppt) – a marsh that mostly contains wire grass (Spartina patents). It is a favorite habitat for waterfowl, and many salt-loving creatures begin to appear in this marsh. This is one of the best habitats for blue crabs, redfish, speckled trout and fiddler crabs. Salt Marsh (salinity > 20 ppt) – a marsh that is flooded daily with saltwater tides. Specialized plants have adapted to live in this habitat because of the high amount of salt in the water. The plant most seen in this marsh is oyster grass (Spartina alternaflora). One tree that can take the high amount of salt water is black mangrove. Fiddler crabs and oysters are common animals that live in a salt marsh. Definitions: Wetland – an area of land where soil is really wet either permanently or seasonally. It often is a transitional area between dry land and deep water. Habitat – the type of environment in which an organism or group or organisms normally live or occur. LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 105 Salinity – the amount of salt in water measured in parts per thousand (ppt). Many of the wetlands in Louisiana are primarily defined by the salinity levels found in the water. Advance Preparation 1. Print out a copy of the student worksheet for every student in class. 2. Collect 4 jugs/jars that will hold at least 2 liters of water. Mark the jars with numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. 3. Take the 2-liter bottle, fill it with drinking water (from faucet or fountain) and pour it into a jug/jar. Assign the sample a number and record (for yourself) what number you assigned this sample, which will not contain any added salt and thus will represent fresh water. (Do not let the students know the salinity of the samples, because they will be guessing which type of habitat it is from). 4. Fill the 2-liter bottle again and pour it into a second jug/jar. To this jar, stir in 1⅓ teaspoons of salt. Mix up the solution and label it with another number (1-4) that you didn’t use for the first sample. Record this one as the “intermediate” sample. 5. Fill the 2-liter bottle for a third time and pour the water into a third jug/jar. Stir in 2 teaspoons of salt. Label this bottle with a number (1-4) you haven’t used and record it as “brackish.” 6. Fill the 2-liter bottle a fourth time and pour the water into a fourth jug/jar. Stir in 4 teaspoons of salt. Label this bottle with the final number you haven’t used and record it as “salt.” (Below is a chart to explain the salinities of each solution.) Solution Volume of Salt Volume of Water Fresh water 0 ppt 2-liter Intermediate 1⅓ teaspoons=6 ppt 2-liter Brackish 2 teaspoons=12 ppt 2-liter Salt 4 teaspoons=30 ppt 2-liter Procedure 1. Using the information provided in the Background Material and the General Wetlands Information found in the front of the curriculum binder, talk to the students about the four different types of wetland ecosystems. 2. Explain that these ecosystems are different because of the different salinity levels found in water. 3. Tell the students they will be taste testing the different levels of salinity found in Louisiana marshes. 4. Tell the students that you have prepared the different levels of salinity in the four jars/bottles, and they will taste each one and determine what type of marsh they think it is. 5. Give the student’s time to sample all four water types and write down what they think the salinity level is and what type of marsh the water came from. 6. Review the answers the students wrote on their worksheets and provide them with the correct answers. 7. Now, have a small discussion with the students about the salinity levels and what wetlands they belong in. LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 106 Extension for Activity If you would like to take your class through a more advanced lesson on salinity levels, see the lesson “Density Dynamics” found in the Water section of the curriculum binder. That lesson teaches students how to build their own hydrometers (devices that measures salinity) from common household items. Blackline Master 1. Wetlands Taste Test Data Sheet Resources Marsh Classroom Adventure. By Joy Levy Smith. South Carolina Wildlife and Marine and Resources Department. South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. http://nsgd.gso.uri.edu/scsgc/scsgce94001.pdf Salinity table – www.csiro.au/resources/pfgr.html. www.geography4kids.com/files/land_ecosystem.html www.thinkquest.org/3750/taste/taste.html LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 107 Wetlands Taste Test Name Student Activity Sheet Wetlands Taste Test Data Sheet: Taste the different samples of “wetland water” provided by your teacher. In the space below, write what you think the salinity is and what type of wetland the water came from. You can use the following choices: • 0 ppt = Freshwater Marsh/Swamp • 6 ppt = Intermediate Marsh • 12 ppt = Brackish Marsh • 30 ppt = Salt Marsh Sample No. Salinity (ppt) Wetland Type Observations 1 2 3 4 Youth Wetlands Program provided by LSU AgCenter 108 Wetlands Taste Test in the T-3 Format What You Say What You Do What The Students Do Read over procedure in the teacher section (blue pages) and prepare the water samples before beginning the lesson. There are wetlands all across Review the wetlands habitat Students will talk about what the state. Along our coastline, types in the background they know about wetlands there is a specific type of portion of this lesson and in and, more specifically, wetland called a “marsh.” the General Wetlands marshes. Information at the front of A marsh is a type of wetland the binder. that is described by the grasses that grow in it. There are four main marsh Students will answer the habitat types that we will salinity question. discuss today.
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