Transcript Slide 1

Big Cypress National Preserve
National Park Service
Pre-Site Information
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Anticipation Guide
Water
GPS
Introduction to Swamp Ecosystems
Backpack Orientation
In your anticipation guide, quietly work through the
ten questions. Keep this paper, and we will find
answers to each question before we go to the SWAMP!
The answers will not come in order, so you must
remember what you guessed while we go over the
information!
Lake
Okeechobee
Everglades
Big
Cypress
Swamp
Big
Cypress
National
Preserve
Gulf of
Mexico
Everglades
National
Park
10 miles
direction of
surface-water flow
The water in Big Cypress affects everyone in Collier County every day.
Lake
Okeechobee
Everglades
Big
Cypress
Swamp
Big
Cypress
National
Preserve
Gulf of
Mexico
Everglades
National
Park
10 miles
direction of
surface-water flow
Why does the water flow from north to southwest?
What happens to the water while it flows
across the swamp?
Bill Nye the Science Guy
What happens to the
water while it flows across
the swamp?
The swamp, or wetlands, act as a filter. The swamp
removes pollution from the water, making it cleaner
as it flows south and down into the aquifer.
The swamp also slows down the water to prevent
flooding.
The water that you use every day comes from the
Shallow Aquifer of Southwest Florida.
The Shallow Aquifer of
South Florida is
located under the
majority of Collier
County. Rainwater
refills the aquifer.
Without Big Cypress,
the rain would flow
straight into the Gulf
of Mexico, rather than
down into the aquifer.
Source: United States Geological Survey
http://sofia.usgs.gov/publications/wri/78-107/biscayne.html
Everyone depends on water.
“70% of the Earth's surface, 75% of the
human body, 90% of blood and sap. 97% of Earth's
water is in the oceans, 2% is frozen in icecaps, 1% is
fresh, but much of this is inaccessible, deep in
the Earth. From what is left, we use 98% for
industrial purposes and agriculture, only 2% for
the nutrition and health of every living organism.”
http://www.wellnessgoods.com/waterimportant.asp
Water also impacts what types of animals and organisms live in
and around an area.
What kind of animals or organisms might live in these areas?
There are four factors that determine
what lives in or near a body of water.
1. Water Depth
2. Water Temperature
3. Level of Dissolved Oxygen
4. pH Level
1.
Water Depth
2. Water Temperature
The water must allow for
animals to live in the water.
The water temperature is
also affected by other factors,
such as how water depth, air
temperature, and exposure to the sun.
Why do you think that is?
3.
Level of Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved Oxygen is the amount of oxygen in
the water.
4.
pH
Global positioning system (G.P.S.) is a navigational tool that
uses satellites orbiting the Earth to:
•Determine the coordinates of your position on the ground
•Show your elevation, ground speed and compass heading
•Find the coordinates of a landmark
•Plot your route from one landmark to the next
•Estimate the distance from your current position to your
destination
•Guide you in the right direction and keep you on course
Coordinates are described in latitude and longitude.
Latitude describes the
location of a place based on
the distance from the
Equator, which is an
imaginary line that separates
the top and bottom portions
of the Earth.
Longitude describes the location of a place based
on the distance from the Prime Meridian, an
imaginary line that reaches from the North to
South Poles.
Scientists in the Big Cypress National Preserve use G.P.S. to:
• Plot the position of wildlife or certain plants;
• Track animals such as the endangered Florida panther;
• Plot trails created by off-road vehicles (O.R.V.s) and airboats;
• Mark boundaries for prescribed vegetation burns;
• Plot habitats such as sawgrass prairies, slash pine flatlands, hardwood
hammocks, mangroves and cypress domes; (this is what you will do!) and
• Mark the location of sampling sites for water quality testing so that the sites
can easily be found.
You will be using a G.P.S. unit during the field trip to find
coordinates. These will be used in a mapping activity back in your
classroom.
Three types of vegetation found in this ecosystem:
1. Oak tree
2. Cabbage Palm
3. Saw palmetto
Illustration:
Source:
www.nps.gov/ever
Three types of animals found in this ecosystem:
1. Florida Panther
2. Florida Black Bear
3. White tailed deer
Illustration:
Source:
www.nps.gov/bicy
What role does water play in your ecosystem?
(How much water? Where is it found? Is it there all year
long?)
Hardwood hammocks are at a slightly higher elevation
than most of Big Cypress (the ground is a little higher).
Because of this, there is not as much standing water.
Hardwood hammocks have a hydroperiod (amount of
time that it is covered with water) of about 10-45 days per
year.
What is one characteristic that is unique to your
ecosystem?
There are so many trees that the ground is shaded and
much cooler than other areas!
What is one characteristic that is similar to the other two
ecosystems?
1) Other Ecosystem: ____________________
Similarity: _____________________________________________
2) Other Ecosystem: _____________________
Similarity: _____________________________________________
Put the ecosystems in order from highest elevation to lowest elevation:
Hardwood Hammock→ ___________ → ___________ → ___________ → ___________
We can’t answer these questions until after we jigsaw!
Three types of vegetation found in this ecosystem:
1. Red Mangrove
2. Black Mangrove
3. White Mangrove
Illustration:
Source: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wetlands/mangroves/mangrove_facts.htm
Three types of animals found in this ecosystem:
1. West Indian Manatee
2. Many types of fish
3. Wading and water birds (like a Great Egret)
Illustration:
Source: http://www.fws.gov/daphne/es/manatee/Manatee-Index.html
What role does water play in your ecosystem?
(How much water? Where is it found? Is it there all year
long?)
Source: http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org/education/mangroves/red_mangrove.htm
Based on what you have learned about each
ecosystem in the swamp, take a guess as to
which ecosystem each plant or animal calls
“home”.
Florida
Panther
•I like dry ground.
•I make a den for my babies
around the saw palmetto roots.
•I like other animals to be around
so I can have them for dinner!
Habitat….
Pinelands!
Source: http://www.floridapanther.com/articles/FLORIDA%20PANTHER.htm
Black Bear
•In the fall, I like to migrate
stay in a certain area.
•I stay in one place that has lots
of acorns falling from the oak
trees!
•I also like to stay dry.
Habitat…
Hardwood
Hammock!
Source:
http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/interactive/springscoast/blackbear.shtml
White Tailed
Deer
•I travel through many habitats in
Big Cypress.
•I really like to visit a certain
habitat after wildfires. When the
saw grass is growing back after a
fire, I like to eat it when it is still
very short and sweet!
Habitat…
Prairie
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidavillaronga/5085061447/
Airplants
(bromileads)
•I am epiphytic (I grow on other trees.)
•I am sometimes mistaken for a bird’s
nest!
•I like to be in a wet forest with damp ai
with high relative humidity. The other
trees keep me safe, and the damp air
gives me water!
Habitat…
Cypress Dome
Source: http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/wpcontent/uploads/iblog/Air%20plant.jpg
This backpack contains all the
technology and information that
we will be using in the swamp!
Today we will be learning about
each item and what we will be
doing in each ecosystem that we
visit.
There are currently five stations set
up that will allow you to get
familiar with the activities that we
will do in the swamp.
Stations:
1. Weather
2. Water
3. Location
4. Animal
5. Vegetation
At the weather station, there are three items for
you to inspect:
Sling Psychrometer
2. Weather Vane
3. Anemometer
1.
These three instruments measure different properties of
the atmosphere that you will use during the SWAMP
program.
At the water station, there are five items for you
to inspect:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Thermometer
Depth stick/ruler
White sheet of paper
pH strip
Glass ampoule
Items at this station are very fragile!
At the location station, there are five items for
you to inspect:
Habitat hand-out
2. Landmark hand-out
3. Compass
4. G.P.S. (optional)
1.
Items at this station are very fragile!
At these stations, you will practice making observations like you
will do in the swamp.
You will be responsible for observing plants,
animals, and evidence of animals or people.
When you see plants, think: what kind of cover does this
provide? What food source does it provide? How have humans
or other disturbances changed the way it all looks?