Habitat Discovery Series Wetlands - Aldo Leopold

“‘He leadeth me by still waters’ was to us only a phrase in a book until we had nosed our canoe through the

green lagoons…” –Aldo Leopold, “The Green Lagoons,” A Sand County Almanac

Habitat Discovery Series

Bullfrog (Kate Redmond)

Wetlands

The Leopold Education Project (LEP) Habitat Discovery Series was funded by an educational outreach grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service that was written by Pheasants Forever, Inc.

Table of ContentsTeaching Like Leopold.............................................................1

Related LEP Lessons................................................................3

Wetlands Overview................................................................. 4

Lesson: Perceptions of a Wetland............................................. 5

Lesson: Wetland Plant Exploration.......................................... 7

Lesson: Wetland Bird Observation.......................................... 9

Lesson: Determining Wetland Health.....................................11

Lessons were conceived by Marc C. Hirrel, LEP State Coordinator, ARWith input from LEP State Coordinators:

Suzanne Hirrel, AR; Teri Rogoway, CA; Teresa Higgins, CO; Mary Moulton, CT; Curt Carter, IL; Celeste Prussia, MO;

Yancey Ranspot, NM; Susie Ruby, OKand Phoebe Atkinson, Laura Bonneau, Ken Forman,

Janine Kohn, and Lori Nicholson

Additional writing and review by: Maria Kopecky, Aldo Leopold Foundation Education Staff

Skunk cabbage (Kate Redmond)

American white pelican (Brian Hansen)

1 LEP Habitat Discovery Series 2Wetlands

Teaching Like LeopoldAs a non-formal educator, you may or may not have extensive academic training or a scientific background. Regardless, you teach because you have a passion for using the natural world to ignite a spark in your students, creating memorable field-based experiences that are hard to replicate in a more formal setting like the classroom. You and Leopold have much in common. Leopold once wrote that his objective as a professor was: “To teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees, and enjoy what he understands.” Leopold had an informal style of teaching that made his students want to learn. He employed many methods of instruction including visual aids, handouts, lectures, and inquiry-based discussions. He also held his classes in the field whenever possible. Leopold was genuinely interested in his students, creating opportunities for independent learning. He fostered an atmosphere of curiosity and exploration.

The activities in the LEP Habitat Discovery Series are inspired by the writings in Leopold’s classic book A Sand County Almanac. They explore five different habitats (Deserts, Forests, Prairies, Urban Areas, and Wetlands) with simple, fun, and inviting activities designed to engage students in inquiry-based learning, very much in the style of Leopold.

Aldo Leopold at the Shack (Aldo Leopold Foundation archives)

“As a teacher, Leopold always exercised restraint. He was keenly aware of the thrill of personal discovery and did not rob those around him of the pleasure of learning.”

–J. Baird Callicott, Leopold scholar

Aldo Leopold with students in the field (Aldo Leopold Foundation archives)


Wetlands OverviewWhat is a wetland? Wetlands are where land meets water. Wetlands have water above or just below the soil surface for at least a portion of the year. The amount of water in wetlands varies, yet they have more water than the upland environments (forests, hillsides, etc.) and less water than aquatic environments (rivers, lakes, etc.). Wetlands provide critical habitat for species found nowhere else in our landscape (like frogs, muskrats, cattails, orchids, and many more.)

Are there different types of wetlands? There are four primary types of freshwater wetlands: marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens. Marshes occur near lakes and streams, are frequently or continually water-filled, and are dominated by soft-stemmed vegetation. Swamps have permanent or semi-permanent standing water and feature mostly woody plants and trees. Bogs are characterized by their spongy peat deposits and sphagnum moss. They receive all their water from precipitation, which causes them to be very acidic. Fens are also peat-forming wetland, but they are fed by groundwater and are covered by grasses, sedges, and reeds.

Why are wetlands important? Flood Protection: Wetlands trap and slowly release surface water, precipitation, and flood water. They slow the speed of flood waters by allowing water to soak in slowly and return to the water table. Wetlands can store large amounts of excess water, which can reduce the amount flood damage in an area.

Water Quality: By trapping pollutants and sediments, wetlands are able to filter surface water runoff before it reaches open water. Water retained by wetlands can lessen the severity of seasonal droughts and provide a more stable water table. Wetland plants and microbes can trap sediments, remove nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, accumulate heavy metals, and break down animal wastes and toxins, as well as industrial, agricultural, and household chemical pollutants.

Wildlife Habitat: The abundance of water, nutrients released from plant decay, and diverse vegetation provides food and cover for hundreds of species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. According to the EPA, over one-third of the threatened and endangered species in the United States live only in wetlands. Information from the EPA website and My Healthy Wetland: A Handbook for Wetland Owners (Eastern Wisconsin Edition), a publication of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association and the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

Related LEP LessonsDiscovery Series Lessons in a Land Ethic

Curriculum Exploring the Outdoors with Aldo Leopold CD

Perceptions of a Wetland

• The Green Pasture• Prairie Birthday• Red Lanterns

• What’s It Worth• Look, See and Discover• Aliens and Invaders

Wetland Plant Identification

• Great Possessions• Red Lanterns

• Botany Scavenger Hunt• Aliens and Invaders

Wetland Bird Observation

• Back from the Argentine

• Wake Up, Little Birdie, Wake Up!

• Habitat High Rise

Determining Wetland Health

• The Alder Fork• The Choral Copse

• What’s It Worth• Sell It to Save It

Lessons in a Land Ethic is the original LEP curriculum guide. It consists of 21 interdisciplinary lesson plans designed to align with the essays found in Aldo Leopold’s conservation classic, A Sand County Almanac. Each lesson includes learning objectives, vocabulary, material lists, procedures, additional extensions, and student worksheets that have both indoor and outdoor activity options. Lessons are designed for use by classroom teachers, but can be adapted for use in non-formal educational settings as well.

The Exploring the Outdoors with Aldo Leopold CD includes 16 outdoor activities designed to teach observation skills, plant and animal identification, natural history, land stewardship, and outdoors skills. Each activity is based on an essay from A Sand County Almanac. This activity guide can be used by interpreters, naturalists, park rangers, zoo educators, teachers, youth group leaders, and others who want to offer a unique learning experience for early childhood through high school age students in an outdoor setting.


Perceptions of a Wetland

Audience: 3rd-12th grade

Time Needed:60-90 min.

Students will be able to… • Sketch and describe a natural scene or object• Consider different perspectives of natural beauty • Identify at least three prominent wetland species • Analyze problems of invasive species

Educator Background Information:

Sketching can be a great tool for connecting with nature, remembering observations, and elevating details that would not be noticed otherwise. Sketching isn’t about “getting it right” or creating a perfect piece of art, it is about taking the time to put what you see on paper. If you sketch a wetland scene today, there is a chance you will draw an invasive species. An invasive species is an organism that is not native to an area and often has negative effects on the environment there. Invasive species are the second greatest threat to biodiversity (the variety of organisms in a particular habitat) after habitat loss. Many invasive wetland plants were introduced into the United

Exploring a Wetland (Katie Beilfuss)

States as water garden or aquarium plants, but have since escaped into wetland areas. Once in a wetland, invasive plants can cause a multitude of problems for both to wildlife and humans.

Materials Needed: Paper, colored pencils, wetland field guides

Activity:

Visit a wetland. If your wetland is home to invasive species, do not point them out to students before the activity. Ask each student to find a quiet place to sit and spend 15 minutes sketching something that appeals to them or something that is “pretty.” They may sketch a landscape view or an up-close perspective of an object that catches their eye. Reconvene in a circle and have students share their sketches with each other, explaining why they chose to draw what they did and what appealed to them about that particular scene or object. Compare similarities and differences among subjects and sketches. Use a wetland field guide to identify prominent flora and fauna.

Discussion Questions:

• How did your sketching affect your perception of this wetland? • What can you do to help yourself and others notice beauty in the

natural world? • In addition to beauty, what other values does this wetland have?• What affects do invasive species have on wetland value?

Extension:

Optional introduction: read out loud from “Thinking Like a Mountain” in A Sand County Almanac. Throughout his life, Aldo Leopold was aware of his own biases and perceptions, and was open to changing his mind. Notice if students found the invasive species “pretty” and included them in their sketch. Identify the invasive species and discuss their impact on the wetland. Did students who previously knew of the species omit it from their “pretty” sketch? Do students who drew the species still consider it to be “pretty?” Discuss how the invasives impact wetland habitat. How does the plant community in this wetland impact the diversity of wildlife species that can live here?


Materials Needed:

Paper, pencils, wetland field guides, measurement tools

Activity: Visit a wetland and identify what type you are seeing: marsh, swamp, bog, or fen. (See Wetlands Overview.) As a group, record the number of different plants that you see and identify them as being floating, emergent, or submergent. Have each student choose one plant to identify using a wetland field guide. Ask each student to share the identity of their plant with the group, as well as their reason for selecting that specific plant. As a group, compare and contrast selected plant species.


• How are aquatic plants the same and/or different than terrestrial plants?

• Would you expect more of any plant types (floating, emergent, or submergent) in different types of wetlands? For example, would you expect more floating vegetation in a marsh than a bog? Explain.

• What are some of the ways wetland plants are adapted to help them live in their watery habitat?

Extension: Aldo Leopold was both a detailed scientist and a descriptive writer. Choose a wetland plant that the class can access and observe in the field. If you choose a floating or submergent plant, you may need additional tools and equipment to pull a specimen (boots or waders, net, rake, etc). Split your group in two halves. Have one half describe the plant using only measurements, and the other half describe that same plant using only adjectives. Discuss whether one way of describing a plant is better than the other. In what situations would you use measurements? In what situations would you use adjectives?

Wetland Plant Exploration

Audience: 3rd - 9th grade


Students will be able to… • Identify the type of wetland present • Differentiate between the three types of wetland plants• Describe and identify at least three wetland plant species

Educator Background Information: The presence of hydrophilic (“water loving”) plants help define an area as a wetland. Aquatic plants fall into three main categories: floating, emergent, or submergent. The leaves of a floating plant stay on top of the water, but its roots hang down into the water or are planted in the soil. The roots of an emergent plant are always in the soil, but its stems and leaves extend out of the water. A submergent plant exists entirely underwater. Wetland plants provide food and shelter for wetland wildlife and absorb excess nutrients from pollutants, such as fertilizer. They are threatened by human development, pollutants, and invasive species. Submergent

Blue flag iris (Pat Trochlell)

Floating Emergent


Materials Needed: Paper, pencils, binoculars, bird field guides

Activity:

Visit a wetland. Discuss the three types of wildlife habitat that can be found there: aquatic, semi-aquatic, and terrestrial. Design a table of observation information to collect about birds in each habitat type. Encourage students to gather data including species name, physical description, number of individual birds observed, behavior observations, vocalization notes, and other information the students are interested in collecting. Split students into three groups, one group for each habitat type. Have students collect data for 15-20 minutes, then share their findings with the other groups. Compare and contrast habitat types.


• How did data collection influence your observation of the wetland?

• In what situations would you want to collect different data? • What can we learn from collecting detailed data from the three

wetland habitat types?

Extension:

Aldo Leopold recorded field notes about wildlife throughout his life. He left behind detailed records of many animals, including the birds at his family’s Shack in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Leopold’s notes were detailed enough that in 2012, an audio recreation of his morning bird observations was created. Listen to this “soundscape” online at www.aldoleopold.org/Leopold.mp3. Identify prominent birds heard. Have the students make a hypothesis about what a “soundscape” of your location would have sounded like in the past, currently sounds like today, and will sound like in the future. Ask the students what kind of data would be needed to test their hypothesis. Where might they go to find it? Assign a follow-up research project to further investigate and test their hypothesis.

Wetland Bird Observation

Audience: 9th-12th grade


Students will be able to… • Differentiate between the three types of wetland habitat• Design and utilize data collection tables • Identify at least three wetland bird species • Identify at least two threats to wetland birds

Background Information:

Bird watching is one of the most popular outdoor activities in the United States, and the diversity of habitats present wetlands make them great areas to spot a great number and variety of bird species. Wetlands feature up to three different types of wildlife habitat, and birds use all three habitats to different degrees. Swimming birds like ducks and geese are found mostly in aquatic habitats. Wading birds like herons and cranes are found in semi-aquatic habitats. Other birds like kingfishers and red-winged blackbirds are primarily found in terrestrial habitats, but feed on fish or aquatic insects.

Green Heron (Gary Shackelford)


Materials Needed: Paper, pencils, small-meshed nets, plastic collecting containers, macroinvertebrate field guides, waterproof boots

Activity: Visit a wetland that allows access to the water’s edge. After a brief observation period, have the students create a list of animals that live in and around the wetland, including guesses about what the unseen species might be. Ask whether the students perceive the wetland to be healthy or unhealthy and what led them to that opinion. Split students into groups of two to four to collect, identify, and record different types of macroinvertebrates. Collect macroinvertebrates by dragging a net through the water and sediment before sifting and rinsing. Temporarily store macroinvertebrates in shallow water-filled containers. Identify using field guides and record how many different species were found. Water quality is measured in part by the number of sensitive, moderately sensitive, moderately tolerant, or tolerant species. Use the field guide to determine the sensitivity of species collected.

Discussion Questions: • How did the animals found in the wetland compare with your lists?• What does the amount of diversity tell us about the health of

the wetland?• What environmental and man-made factors impact the health of the

macroinvertebrate population and the wetland as a whole?

Extension: Aldo Leopold was an avid recorder of phenology– the study of periodic plant and animal life-cycle events that are influenced by climate and seasonal change in the environment. Many of the macroinvertebrates collected today will go through significant changes as the seasons, and their life cycles, progress. Research the adult form of a larvae you collected. At what time of the year will it reach its adult form? What environmental factors could influence the phenology of that species?

Determining Wetland Health

Audience: 9th-12th grade


Students will be able to… • Collect and record data • Identify at least three macroinvertebrates • Assess wetland health

Background Information: Aquatic macroinvertebrates are organisms without backbones (invertebrates) that live under water (aquatic), but are large enough to be visible without a microscope (macro). Common macroinvertebrates include dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, mayfly larvae, riffle beetles, and scuds. The number, type, and diversity of macroinvertebrates in an ecosystem can provide valuable information on water quality and environmental health. Performing macroinvertebrate testing at the same location over many years can reveal trends that help biologists determine the health or quality of aquatic habitats.

Crayfish (Kate Redmond)

Scud Damselfly larvaDragonfly larva

The Aldo Leopold Foundation P.O. Box 77 • Baraboo, WI 53913

608.355.0279 • www.aldoleopold.org

The LEP Habitat Discovery Series was designed for use by non-formal educators who want to introduce their students to various habitats, using Leopold’s inquiry-

based method of teaching and learning. Additional Discovery Series booklets apply to Deserts, Forests, Prairies, and Urban Areas.

Did you enjoy the lessons? There are many more LEP resources available! LEP is administered by the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

Please visit our website or contact us for more information.

Habitat Discovery Series

Canoeing an Illinois wetland (Curt Carter)

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Habitat Discovery Series Wetlands - Aldo Leopold