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Grades 6-8

Habitat Complexity in the Deep Sea

Grade Level:

6 – 8th grade (Biogeology/Ecosystem Dynamics)

Lesson Description:

Seamounts provide a hard substrate upon which organisms like deep-sea corals and sponges can settle and grow, building an ecosystem suitable for many other species. In this lesson, students explore how deep-sea corals and sponges act as foundation species, as observed on seamounts. While focusing on the Driving Question: How can we model the physical and biological complexity of deep-sea ecosystems? students build a model of an increasingly complex community.

Lesson Components:

Standards:

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): 

  • Performance Expectation: MS LS2-1; MS-LS2-4
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas: LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems; LS2.C. Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience

Ocean Literacy Essential Principles: 

  • Principle 1: FC b
  • Principle 5: FCs a, d, e
  • Principle 7: FCs a, b, e

Supplemental Materials:

Fact Sheets