How Wolves Change Rivers Science Lesson

In our Unit 2 of science, we have been studying Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. It's already been a fascinating study as we've discussed social animals versus those who prefer to live alone and how this behavior contributes to their survival. We've also examined how ecosystems change through natural events, like landslides, fires, and invasive species, as well as through human causes, like deforestation. 

Today's lesson was about the dramatic impact that wolves had after being reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. (They had been absent for 70 years.)

"Wolves were once native to the US’ Yellowstone National Park — until hunting wiped them out. But when, in 1995, the wolves began to come back (thanks to an aggressive management program), something interesting happened: the rest of the park began to find a new, more healthful balance. 

In a bold thought experiment, George Monbiot imagines a wilder world in which humans work to restore the complex, lost natural food chains that once surrounded us." (You can watch George Monbiot's TedTalk here.)

The students thoroughly enjoyed noting all of the causes and effects and making connections between them on a chart we made in class. This required some higher-level thinking as we analyzed the many changes to the ecosystem and evaluated if these changes were positive or negative or both.

For those who were absent, please view this short movie two times, then answer these questions on a sheet a paper and submit them to me by Sunday, March 15: 

1. How do wolves "give life" to other organisms? 

2. What is a ecosystem engineer? Use examples from the movie to support your answer. 

For those interested, these are the Next Generation Science standards we specifically tackled today: 

3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.