TEACHING ALL VOLUMES SUBMIT WORK SEARCH TIEE
VOLUME 1: Table of Contents TEACHING ISSUES AND EXPERIMENTS IN ECOLOGY
Issues : Figure Sets

Figure Set 2: Evidence for Nitrogen Limitation in the Ocean

Purpose: To help students understand why nutrient loading can cause algal blooms.
Teaching Approach: "Guided Class Discussion starting with first principles"
Cognitive Skills: (see Bloom's Taxonomy) — knowledge, comprehension, interpretation, application, synthesis
Student Assessment: essay quiz

STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS


Here is a list of questions we will be discussing in class:

* What elements are organisms - plants, animals, bacteria - made of? What are the primary elements?

* One hypothesis to explain the loss of corals and seagrasses is contamination of the Florida Keys water with the nutrients N and P. These are plant fertilizers that we use to fertilize our gardens and agricultural fields. How can it be that they can also act as "pollutants"?

* Take several minutes to describe and interpret Figure 2. What is your interpretation?

* Using what you have learned from Figure 2, what do you think happens when large amounts of N go into marine waters?

* OK, so N loading (addition) to coastal waters results in blooms of algae. Why might this be a problem? How could this lead to loss of corals and seagrasses?