Big Ideas
The Freshwater Mussels research project in Philadelphia is an excellent example of how scientists work with nature in urban environments to improve water quality and restore our health and the health of our waterways.
Mussels are amazingly efficient and effective water filters–that is their role/niche in the ecosystem. Re-introducing them and creating favorable conditions for them to thrive (after creating unfavorable conditions for them historically) restores dynamic balance and diversity to the waterways in our ecosystem
Background Information
What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem can be defined as a community of organisms, interacting with each other and the abiotic components of their environment; systems develop, energy flows , matter and nutrients cycle. All living systems are nested inside other systems – for example, we can look at the ecosystem in a fallen log, or the ecosystem of a hardwood forest.
All species including us rely on one another for survival – we rely on each other for food, shelter, or reproduction. All species are interdependent on one another, not independent, within ecosystems.
Ecosystems: Forces of Change Activity
The following activity helps students understand ecosystems. After the activity, students will be asked to define an ecosystem with a focus on the interdependence of the organisms. This activity is from the Smithsonian Institution’s Forces of Change and adapted by Cornell University.
The website offers 8 videos depicting different animals and how they naturally engineer a solution to a problem. Divide up your students into 8 groups and assign each group one of the videos to watch and take notes (they are short and may need to watch them multiple times). (Be prepared for some oos and ahs !)
Nature’s Innovations: Animals as Engineers
Shape of Life: Animals as Engineers
Explore the importance of diversity in local water systems. Using Mighty Mussel website students explore the homepage interactive graphic then discuss the benefits of diversity.
The key point here is that all of the organisms living in a healthy ecosystem provide services to other organisms – making it sustainable. These services also provide benefits to us. In the case of the mussels, it is filtering water and giving us a real-time indication of the health of our waterway.
Mussels in Our Waters
One of the major reasons for the historic decline of freshwater mussels is due to legacy pollution from industry in the last 150 years.
Industry generated pollutants like heavy metals from manufacturing that ended up in our waterways. The “legacy of pollution” from manufacturing is still present in the sediment in our waterways and does not disappear (because there is no such place as away!)
Another reason is over harvesting for products made from mussel shells like buttons (anthropocentric).
All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.
Mussels and Biomimicry
Mussels as nature’s engineers have developed creative strategies to keep their population healthy. Students will explore biomimicry and how they take advantage of that to reproduce.
Freshwater Mussels and BioMimicry
Finally, return to the Mighty Mussel website and provide students time to explore areas of interest.
Teacher Support
Essential Question:
How can we create a healthy, beautiful, and sustainable Philadelphia for everyone?
Guiding Questions:
Students will be able to:
Define “ecosystem” and provide an example of the interdependent relationships within a community of organisms in a particular ecosystem
Articulate the importance of diversity to the health of living systems, and explain how changes in biodiversity can influence humans’ resources, ecosystem services that humans rely on
Describe how scientists are using fresh water mussels as bio indicators in the Delaware River Watershed
Engage
Ball of Yarn
Tape to attach pictures to clothing
Space for a large circle
Weaving the Web Activity (Adapted from Project LEAP: Learning about Ecology, Animals, and Plants, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 USDA Ag in the Classroom)
Weaving the Web Activity Cards (pdf)
Explore & Explain
Ask Nature — Introduction: Nature’s Innovations: Animals as Engineers
Shape of Life: Nature’s Innovations: Animals as Engineers Video Clips
Mussel Naming Story Activity (pdf)
Explore & Explain
Concho (West Texas) Pearls ROCK AND GEM: Natural Concho Pearls https://www.rockngem.com/natural-concho-pearls/
Mollusks Buttons Mussels and Us: The Button Trade
Harvesting Mussels: Case Study in Illinois
Freshwater Mussels: Hunted for Buttons, Stranded by Dams . Living on Earth about Button production in Mid-West US (audio file and transcript)
The Secret and Endangered lives of Freshwater Mussels (audio file and transcript)
Explore & Explain
Model-making material for a 3-D Habitat
Elaborate
Video of Danielle Kreeger, Former Science Director, Partnership for the Delware Estuary
Impact (verb)
have a strong effect or influence on someone or something
Harvest (noun)
the process or period of gathering crops
Pesticide (noun)
a substance used for destroying organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals
Insecticide (noun)
a substance used for killing insects
Mill (verb)
grind or crush (something) in a mill
Carcinogen (noun)
a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue
Toxic (adjective)
poisonous
Waste (noun)
material that is not wanted; the unusable remains or byproducts of something
Condition (noun)
the state of something with regard to its appearance, quality, or working order
Wage (noun)
a fixed regular payment, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, made by an employer to an employee
Income (noun)
money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments
Domestic (adjective)
existing or occurring inside a particular country; not foreign or international
Global (adjective)
relating to the whole world; worldwide
Garment (noun)
an item of clothing
Production (noun)
the action of making or manufacturing from components or raw materials
Consume (verb)
use up (a resource)
Polluter (noun)
a person or thing responsible for contaminating the environment with harmful or poisonous substances
Define “ecosystem” and provide an example of the interdependent relationships within a community of organisms in a particular ecosystem.
Write an ad (persuasive writing) to promote all the major ecological services that the fresh water mussels can provide to Philadelphians and describe how they will improve our daily lives.
Recall and explain (from prior knowledge) what a biological indicator is and offer examples of what bio indicators are used by aquatic scientists to measure the health of the waterways.
Describe how their mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared.
Summarize the significant role that many different species of mussels will play, if successfully reintroduced into our waterways, using all that you have learned in Explore and Explain.
Draw on the experience of the aquatic scientists in the Fresh Water Mussel Project to describe (orally or in writing)what they are doing with mussels to restore the waterways, and how their work exemplifies the iterative way scientists work.
PA STEELS Standards
Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
3.4.9-12.C
Analyze and interpret how issues, trends, technologies, and policies impact watersheds and water resources.
3.4.9-12.D
Apply research and analytical skills to systematically investigate environmental issues ranging from local issues to those that are regional or global in scope.
3.4.9-12.E
Plan and conduct an investigation utilizing environmental data about a local environmental issue.