Estuarine habitats Supplemental teaching activities

[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

E S T U A R I N E H A B I T A T S
ELEMENTARY TEACHING ACTIVITIES SERIES

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A P A L A C H I C 0 L A
National Estuarine Research Reserve

E S T U A R I N E H A B I T A T S
SUPPLEMENTAL TEACHING ACTIVITIES

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Im Pr@iE FOREST

Supp@ementa@ Teachgong Activities for
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@Estuari ne Habitats

Florida Department of Natural Resources
3900 Commonwealth Blvd.
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve
261 Seventh Street
Apalachicola, FL 32320

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. .. .. .. .. ...

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With grant funds provided by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Washington, D.C.

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ENT OF CO

This publication was produced at a cost of $22,228.80 or
$39.34 a set to provide information to the public about estu-
arine system habitats.

All artwork, illustrations @ 1989 Microtype Graphics, Tallahassee, Florida
Art Director: Julia Damon Hanway; illustrators: Mary Donahue, Merry Frizzell, Julia Damon Hanway

THE PINE FOREST

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Background Information ..........................................................3
Pine Forest Food Chains ..........................................................4
Common Plants and Animals of the Pine Forest ..........................4

Activities
Interrelationship Between Man and Frees ..................................5
Leaf Hunt Relay .......................................................................5
Matching Animal Tracks to the Animal ......................................6
Food Chain Mobile .................................................................8
Tic-Tac-Cocle ...........................................................................9
Break the Code .................................................................... 10
Eastern Box Turtle Dot-To-Dot .................................................. I I
How Many Bears Can Live In This Forest ................................. 12
Stand Up 3-D Board .............................................................. 14

Songs
"Communities in Nature .. ....................................................... 15
"Song of the Piney Woods . ................................................... 15

References and Suggested Readings .................................... 16

Introduction to the Teacher

The Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve was established in September 1979 as
a cooperative effort between Franklin County, the State of Florida and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. The Reserve is administered by the Florida Department of Natural
Resources.

The purpose of the Reserve is to support research relating to the Apalachicola River and Bay
estuarine system, disseminate research information, educate the public about estuarine processes,
and encourage resource protection.

The purpose of this packet and the other four in the series is to give you, the teacher, supplemental
ma'1jr:alz, c--id activities for teaching about estuarine system habitats. This packet focuses on the pine
forest. The materials may be used to introduce a unit on the pine forest environment or to expand a
unit in progress.

The suggested readings listed in the reference section have been researched and selected by
classroom teachers. We strongly recommend readings be used to enhance each activity.

Background Information
The Pine Forest

Slash pine dominate pine flatwoods. The slash pine, short leaf, and loblolly pine tend to occur on
poorly drained or wet sites. Other trees such as cedars, cabbage palm, sweet bay, wax myrtle, and
red maple also exist here.

The vegetation consists of blueberry, saw palmetto, titi, begger lice, running oak, partridge pea,
and numerous other plants.

Fire plays an important role in a healthy viable pine forest. Heat from the fire forces open pine
cones, which allows the release of seeds. As the seeds wing their way down to the bare soil, a seed
bed is established, generating new pine seedlings. The pruning effects of the fire allow 56niight to
penetrate the exposed soil, stimulating tender regrowth of plants, flowers, and fruits. This new growth
is more nutritious and palatable to wild animals.

Animals such as quail, white tailed deer, squirrel, towhee, woodpecker, box turtle, snake, frog,
and rodent benefit by this new food growth.

The results of the fire provide new homes by leaving burned out tree cavities or hollow logs which
serve as nests and dens for a variety of wild life.

Coastal run off which drains from the pine forest into the marshes and estuary is important to the
ecosystem. This run off moves cletritus and nutrients down river into the estuary system. Many plants
and animals depend on cletritus for food.

The habitats surrounding the pine forest are depenclant upon how hardy the pine forests are, so
how we deal with the pine forest has a timely effect on our wetlands.

F 0 0 D C

Pine Seed Brown Thrasher Red Fox

Mosquito Larvae Bream Water Moccasin W King Snake
Woodpecker Egg Squirrel Hawk
Moth W Tree Frog 0- Pine Snake W Barred Owl

Common Plants and Animals of the Pine Forest

ANIMALS PLANTS

Amphibian Mammals Slash pine
Tree frog Cotton rat Begger lice
Cottontail rabbit Titi
Birds Spottedskunk Poke Weed
Turkey Vulture Red fox Grope vine
Red-shouldered hawk Bob cat Cabbage palm
Barred owl - Black bear Partridge pea
Brown thrasher Blackbe
Insects Short I' r7ipine
Red-cockaded woodpecker ea
Pine warbler Bumble bee Saw palmetto
Mosquito
Rertilles Tick
Gu , coast box turtle Brown spider
King snake Moth
Pine snake
Diamondback rattlesnake Fish
Bream

ACTIVITIES
Interrelationship Between Man and Trees

Read aloud the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein*. After reading have the class list all the
things trees give mankind and all the ways we can help trees.

Trees give: We can give to trees:

1 . Habitat for animals Protection from uncontrolled fire
2. Oxygen Protection from over cutting
3. Stability to soil Planned replanting
A.. Erosion control Rotating planting
5. Beauty Allow @e@lges on corridors of
6. Wood understories for animals to move through
7'. Shade Fertilizer
8. Blossoms
9. Fruit and nuts
10. Turpentine
111. Boxes and baby diapers (fibers)
Available on loan from The Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve library.

Leaf Hunt Relay

Materials needed: A yard or area on school grounds where it is full of leaves.

Activity:
Divide your class into teams approximately 5 to 6 per team. Then ask players to collect leaves from
different kinds of trees. Avoid stripping live leaves if possible; use leaves which have fallen to tho
ground. The students can compare the leaves on the ground with the ones in the tree to see if they
are the same.

Ask students to collect as many leaves fallen from each tree as there are teams. For each team,
make a leaf pile consisting of one leaf from each tree, and place this pile at a set distance in front
of the team. The leader calls the name of a tree (or holds up a leaQ then says "Go". The first student
in each team runs to the pile of leaves, finds the leaf from the tree named (or shown), and holds it up,
A point is awarded for each leaf correctly identified.

The leaves are returned to the piles, and the players go to the end of the line so that the next player
from each team can test his or her knowledge.

Matching Animal Tracks to the Animal
This is a good activity for practicing categorization skills.
Make copies of the five animal tracks tured below for each student. Have pictures of the five
animals that have made the tracks plus a tcer picture available to show the class.
You already know that little animals make little tracks and big animals make bi tracks. But some
animals leave big tracks in relation to their smaller body size. Were t@he tracks mate by a mouse or
a hippopotamus?

Number 1, is a rat track and number 2 is a squirrel track. The skunk track, number 5, is the same
size as track number 4 made by the raccoon, an animal that is taller and larger than a skunk. The
wild turkey track number 3 is almost as large as that of a deer yet the bird is a lot smaller in size than
a deer.

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Food Chain Mobile

Materials needed: Index cards, paper clips, pencil, crayons or felt tip pens and paste.

Procedure: Using the Pine Forest Food Chain or creating your own food chain, draw a picture or
paste a picture of each of the critters in the food chain on separate index cards. Then link them together
with paper clips completing a food chain mobile. Hang them up in your room.

OC)
Woodpecker Eaa

Squirrel

Hawk,

INC-TAC-CODE

By sorting the alphabet into three tic-tac-toe frames you can shape the key to another puzzler. Here
it is :
Al B IC JI K L S T U
0 - 00
D F 0 v
M 404, X
G H I P R y 9
0

In a coded message, each letter A through I is shown by the lines around the letter. For example,
A is -J , E is 0 H is rl , and so on. Lines and dots stand for the rest of the alphabet letters,
form J, A to Z 19 .

TRY THE KEY,- CRACK THE CODE
E L-'J-' L L.-..
L F@

El- -

ANSWER: PROTECT OUR FORESTS

BREAK THE CODE

A B CID EIFIG HIIIJ KI LIMIN 01 PIQ RISIT UIV1W XIY1z1
9 20 8 1 3 17 1 2 118 2111611 15 22 24 14 4 13 5 19 6 25 12 11 7 26 23 10

Use the key above to break the coded messages below.
The dots separate the numbers in each word. Two dots separate words from each other. Three
dots end a sentence.

1 . 6.22.9.6.2l..13.16.14.17

2. 25.19.17.17..2.19.4.18

3. 3.16.9.24.4.14.3.20.9.8.15..19.9.25.25.22.17.6.14.9.15.17

4. 6.9.7..13.9.22.24.17.25.25.4

5. 20.22.9.8.15.20.17.9.19.6..
22.16.11.17..16.14..13.16.14.17
2.4.19.17.6.25.6.00

ANSWERS:

1 . SLASH PINE
2. TREE FROG
3. DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKE
4. SAW PALMETTO
5. BLACK BEARS LIVE IN PINE FORESTS

Eastern Box Turtle Dot-To-Dot

The box turtle is a land animal.
They prefer moist open woods or
swamps. They eat blackberries, insects,
snails, and worms. 0'

Pj N4

Many Bears Can Live In Thi's Forest.?
(From Project WILD)
Materials: Five colors of construction paper (two or three sheets of each color) or equal amounts
of light poster board, one black felt tip pen, envelopes or small brown paper bags (one per student),
pencils, and one blindfold.

Procedure:
1. Cut the paper or poster board into 2" x 2" or 2"x3" pieces. For a classroom of 30 students, make
30 cards of each color as follows:

Orange - (nuts) mark five pieces N-20, mark 25 pieces N-1 0

Blue - (berries) mark five pieces B-20, mark 25 pieces B-1 0

Yellow - (insects) mark five pieces 1-12, mark 25 pieces 1-6

Red - (meat) mark five pieces M-8, mark 25 pieces M-4

Green (plants) mark five pieces P-20, mark 25 pieces P- 10

The following estimates of total pounds of food for one bear in ten days are used for this activity:

Nuts - 20 pounds = 25%
Berries - 20 pounds 25%
Insects - 12 pounds 15%
Meat - 8 pounds = 10%
Plants - 20 pounds = 25%
80 pounds = 100% in ten days

2. In a fairly large open area (50'x5O') scatter the colored pieces of paper.

3. Have each student write his or her name on an envelope or paper bag. This will represent the
student's "den site" and should be left on the ground by their feet (anchored by a rock) at the
starting line on the perimeter of the field area.

4. Give the following in-struction: "You are now all black bears. All bears are not alike, just as you
and I are not exactly alike. Among you is a young male bear who fought with a large male bear
over territorial rights, he was hurt. He had a broken leg. (Assign one student as the crippled bear.
He must hunt by hopping on one leg.) Another bear is a young female who was blinded. (She must
hunt blindfolded. The third special bear is a mother bear with two small cubs. She mustgather twice
as much food. (Assign one student as the mother bear.)

5. Do not tell the students what the colors, initials and numbers on the pieces of paper represent. Tell
them only that the pieces of paper represent various kinds of bear food.

6. Students must walk into the "forest". Bears do not run down their food, they gather it. When
students find a colored square, they should pick it up (one at a time) and return it to their "den"
before picking up anotker colored square.

7. When all the colored squares have been gathered, the food gathering is over. Have students
pickup the den bags containing food they gathered and return to class.

8. Explain what the colors and numbers represent. Ask each student to add up the total number of
pounds of food gathered. Each should write the total weight on the outside of his envelope or bag.
9. Using a chalkboard, list "blind", /'crippled", and "mother@'. Ask each respective bear how much
food they got and record the information. Tell the students each bear needs 80 pounds to survive.

Questions you can ask the class:

1. Which bears survived?

2. Is there enough to feed all the bears? If not, how many bears can live in this area? What would
happen to the extra bears? Would they all starve?

3. How many pounds did the blind bear collect? Will she survive?

4. 'What about the mother bear? Did she get twice the amount needed to survive? What will happen
to her cubs? Will she feed cubs first or herself? Why? What would happen to her if she fed the
cubs? What if she ate first? If the cubs die, can she have more cubs in the future? (The mother bear
will eat first. The mother must survive, she is the hope for a continued bear population.)

Stand-Up 3-D Board

Materials:

Corrugated cardboard (about 14"x 14", thin cardboard pieces (10) per person, magic markers, knife
(to make slits in base), crayons, and scissors.
One side of your 3-D Board will show some elements in a healthy pine forest.
Turn the board around and see the man-made disturbance which upset the pine forest.
Procedure:
I . Explain to students that they are display designers of a museum with the task of making a 3-
dimensional model of a pine forest. When it is looked at one way, the model is to show a healthy
pine forest, and when turned around, it is to show how man can upset the balance of the system.
2. Demonstrate how to make the board using the base with slits and one of the precut thin cardboard
pieces. Draw a member of a food chain, such as a fish, on one side and a man-made disturbance,
such as a bulldozer, on the other. Put the tabs of the piece into the slits on the base. Turn the board
so participants can view both sides.
3. Give each person a baseboard and some thin cardboard pieces to design a pine forest board.
When all the cardboard pieces are in place, the baseboard can be decorated. It may be necessary
for the teachers to cut the slits in the baseboards.
4. Discuss the participants' boards and have them explain the subjects chosen.

Questions
1 . Are all of man's interferences in the pine forest harmful?
2. Do natural forces, such as, drought, hurricanes, and fire also upset the equilibrium in a pine forest?
3. How would litter and not fires effect a pine forest?

Back

Front

SONGS

"Communities in Nature"

Tune: This Land Is Your Land

This land is your land.
This land is my land.
From the piney forest'
To the swampy regions.
From the fresh water marshes
To the big salt marshes.
This land was made for you and me.

"Song of the Piney Woods"

Tune: While Strolling Through The Park One Day

While searching through the mooniess night.
I'll be watching with my keen clear sight.
I'll take'em by surprise.
You'll never hear their cries.
I'll swoop and carry them away.

Slithering through the pines one day.
I'll use venom to catch my prey.
I'll stun'em with a bite.
They won't put up a fight.
Then I'll nap in the pines all day.

We're trapping in the pines today.
Spinning webs our special way.
Catching bugs in our trap.
Putting them in a wrap.
We snare our prey that way.

Have students identify the animals depicted by each verse.

Reference Tape
"Songs From the Water World" by Jill Jarboe

1. "Too Bugged to Boogie"
2. "Waterlily"
3. "The Wetlands Waltz"

REFERENCES

1. Fire: Mans Foe Benefits the Forest, Neal Eichholz, Florida Wildlife, Sept. - Oct., 1985.
2. Project WILD, Western Regional Environmental Educational Council, 1983.
3. The Estuary Program, Judy Friesem, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

Suggested Readings

1 . Mystery Marsh, Vincent Marteko, Ranger Rick, Aug.-Sept. 1976.

2. Life in a Brook, Lawerance Previgle, Ranger Rick.

3. Grow Gator Grow, James R. Newton, Ranger Rick, Noe. 1988.

4. The Swamp, Daniel Jack Chase, Audubon, March 1988.

5. Swamp Ecology - Okefenokee Swamp, Cortesi, Wendy W.

6. Explore Spooky Swamp, Wendy W. Cortesi, Books for young explores: National Geographic
Society.

THEESTUARY

E S T U A R I N E H A B I T A T S
SUPPLEMENTAL TEACHING ACTIVITIES

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,A--C T I V I T Y B 0 0 K
EsTuARY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Background Information ..................................................................3
Estuary Food Chains ......................................................................4
Common Plants and Animals of the Estuary .......................................4
Axtivities
Estuary Search .......................................................................5
Cormorant Origami ................................................................7
Draw a Mullet ...................................................................... 10
Quick Frozen Critters ............................................................ 12
Lets' Find Nature's Garbage Can! ........................................... 13
Pelican and Crab Color Page ................................................. 14
River Whimsey ..................................................................... 15
Low Tide Unscramble Letters ................................................... 16

Suggested Songs ..................................................................... 17
Can be checked out from Apc;,'ochicolo National Estuarine Research Reserve
"The Wetland Waltz"
"Zooplankton Cowboys"
("Songs From The Water World", by Jill Jarboe)

References and Suggested Readings ..................... ............... 18

Introduction to the Teacher

The purpose of this packet and the other four in the series is to give you, the teacher, supplemental
materials and activities for teaching about estuarine system habitats. This packet focuses on the
estuary. The materials may be used to introduce a unit on the estuarine environment or to expand a
unit in progress.

The suggested readings listed in the reference section have been researched and selected by
classroom teachers. We strongly recommend readings be used to enhance each activity.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Estuary

Estuaries are semi-enclosed bodies of water. Fresh water flows down the river and mixes with salt
water which moves in and out of the estuary with the tide. Estuaries, where rivers meet the sea, support
large commercial fisheries. They act as spawning and nursery grounds for most forms of seafood.
When it rains the nutrients and pollutants which run off the land, travel down the river to the estuary
wh ich serves as a buffer zone capturing the nutrients and slowly releasing them to the open sea. These
nutrients are essential to the whole chain of life in the estuary because all plants, both rooted and
microscopic plants, (phytoplankton) require these nutrients.

Sunlight is an important factor in an estuary. Sunlight must be able to penetrate the water to a depth
which will allow rooted plants and phytoplankton to grow.

In the grass flats, rooted plants such as shoal grass and turtle grass can be found along with
colonial animals that might look like plants. Plant - like bryozoans and spongy looking tunicates are
actually animals. Nutrients, organic cletritus, and organisms move readily in and outof this community
and the interticlal flat community with each tidal cycle.

At first glance mud flats seem to lack vegetation. However, closer examination would reveal a
number of small microscopic producers. The red, blue-green, and green algae and diatoms are found
on the surface of the sediments. Under the mud, lugworms with their round air hole and waste pile
may be found along with trails left by a variety of clams and mussels. On top of the mud flats, horseshoe
crabs plow the surface, oysters attach to hard stationary objects and hermit crabs occupy empty shells.
These primary consumers provide an energy source for bottomfeeders like crabs, pistol shrimp, pig
fish, spots and drum. They support a large population of wading and shore birds.

The word estuary comes from the Latin word 11aestus", which means tides.

The abundant plant life in an estuary attracts an endless variety of animals because of the food
and shelter available. The amount of plant material produced in an estuary for exceeds i.iar cm'eveii
our cultivated corn fields. We are now experimenting with Apalachicola oyster aquaculture (oyster
farming). There is a project going on in the Apalachicola estuary call the Oyster Demonstration
Project. A flexible belt system of PVC pipes, rope and nursery bags is used. One million oyster seeds
per acre have been planted. These artificial oyster acre sites will produce 2,000 oysters per acre
compared to 400-600 oysters per acre on a natural one acre oyster bar.

The estuary system is an abundantly rich resource from which wildlife and man can draw from
and benefit by if we are wise caretakers of and grow from the wealth of knowledge and secrets that
are still held in store for us and future generations.

FOOD CHAINS

Detritus W Oysters 0- Crown Conch
Detritus 0" Lugworm W Crab W Fish W Man
Phytoplankton Shrimp W Flounder W Man
Algae W Clam W Sea gull

Common Plants and Animals of the Estuary

ANIMALS PLANTS

Colonial Shoal grass
Bryozoans Manatee rass
Tunicates Algae: 1 3, green, and blue-green
Diatoms
Invertebrates Phytoplankton
Lugworm
Scted sea hare
S ark eye moon snail
Florida sea cucumber
Purple sea urchin

Shellfish
Hermit crab
Crown conch
Horseshoe crab
Stone crab
Common razor clam
Oyster
Brown shrimp

Fish
Flounder Stingray
Mullet Skate
Sheephead minnow Shark

Birds
Little blue heron Royal tern
Brown pelican Lau hina aull
IT
Common loon Dou IeZr(@stecl cormorant

Mammals
Raccoon
Porpoise
Manatee

ACTIVITIES
"Estuary Search"
Materials needed: Blue, green, red, and #2 lead pencils, map of the Apalachicola estuarine
system (See map provided), and list of 10 questions. You may copy the estuary map on acetate and
use on overhead projector.

1 . What is the name of your state? Using a regular pencil, write it on the map.

2. What is the name of your city? Locate it on the map and write it in with you pencil.

3. Find the river nearest to where you live. What is the name of that river? Write it in with a pencil.

A.. In blue, trace the path of this river from its source to where it meets the sea.

5. With a green pencil, color in the salt water near the mouth of that river.

6. In red, circle where the fresh water river meets and mixes with the salt water from the ocean.
This place is called an estua[y. I his will include our whole bay.

7'. Find these rivers and trace their paths using blue. Wakulla River, Apalachicola River,
Ochlockonee River, New River and Crooked River.

8. In red, circle the estuaries where these rivers meet the It water.

9. Label the following cities with your regular pencil: *,stol, Blountstown, Port St. Joe,
Apalachicola, Eastpoint, Carrabelle, Crawfordville, and Ilahassee.

10. How many of these cities are near an estuary?

Map for Estuary Search

JACKSON
HOLMES

GADSDEN
WASHINGTON L
LEON
Bristol
0 Tallahassee
BAY WAKULA
ALHOUN LIBERTY 0
0
wakulla
Craw*tordvilie

ULF River

FRANKLIN

Port St. Joe

ell

Cormorant Origami
MWerialls needed: A six-inch square of black paper.

Directions:
1. Begin with the sea-gull base. Valley fold on the dotted lines so that the outer edges meet on
the center line.

2. Valley fold on the dotted line.

3. Peak and valley fold on the dotted lines, and reverse fold the point outside in.

4. Peak fold on the dotted line, beginning at the body section and folding at an angle. Valley fold
on the dotted line, and reverse the point outside in.

5. Peak and valley fold for the head section, and reverse fold outside in. Peak and valley fold and
turn the corner in at the base of the neck.

6. Valley fold on the dotted lines in the head sect;on, and rive-se fold the point inside out. Peak
and valley fold on the dotted lines in the tail section, and turn the point in then out again to
form the tail.

7. Peak and valley fold on the dotted lines in the head to form the beak. Be careful to bend the
tip slightly in to make the correct shape of a cormorant's beak.

Artwork Demonstrating the folding of a comorant

MOW

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.117

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uraw a Muflet

I - Draw only the head of the fish on the chalkboard. As you are drawing, explain to the students
that fish have a head, eyes with no eyelids, and a mouth. Askthe students to copywhatyou have
drawn on their paper.

2. Draw the lines which form the body of the mullet. Explain that the body of this fish is long and
streamlined. Ask students to copy what you have drawn.

3. Draw the lines of the tail. Explain that the tail propels the fish through th. woter. Ask the students
to copy what you have drawn.

4. Draw the fins on the fish. Explain that fins are added to guide the mullet up and down as it swims
through the water. Ask students to copy what you have drawn.

5. Add the line for the gill. Explain the gill helps the fish to breath under water. Ask students to copy
what you have drawn. At the conclusion of this step, they should have a completed picture of
a mullet!

Quick Frozen Critter
Materials needed: Food token (card chips, pieces of card board) enough for three per student,
labelling devices to mark predator, four or five hula hoops or string circles to serve as "cover",
markers, pencils and paper to record number of captures, and whistle.

Procedure:

1. Select any of the following pairs of animals:

Prey Predator
Snail Shark
Blue crab Common heron
Shrimp Red fish
Sheephead minnows Raccoon
Identify students as either "predators" or "prey" for a version of "freeze tog" -with approximately
one predator per every four to six prey.
2. Use a gymnasium or playing field. Identify one end of the field as the "food source" and the other
end as "shelter".
3. Four or five hula hoops or string circles are placed in the a en area between the "shelter" and
the "food". These represent additional shelter or cover For the prey and can be randomly
distributed on the fiel
4. Food tokens are place in the "food source" zone on the ground. Allow three food tokens for each
prey animal.

over
0
0
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V
0
0 0
LL

5. Predators should be clearly identified. Gym vest or safety patrol vest might be available or big
name cards with possible picture display.
6. Use a whistle to start each round. When a round begins, prey start from their shelter. The task
of the prey animals is to move from the primary shelter to the food source, collecting one food
token, and returning to the primary shelter. To survive, prey have to obtain three food tokens.
Their travel is hazardous, however. They need to be alert to possible predators. If they spot a
predator, they can use various appropriate p%;y'&jehci;iors-includinq warning other prey that a
predator is near. Prey have two ways to prevent capture: They may "freeze" or run to cover (with
at least one foot in hoop).
7. Predators start the game anywhere in the open area, randomly distributed. Predators tog only
moving prey. Predators must each capture two prey in order to survive. Captured prey are taken
to the sidelines by the predator who captured them. -
8. A time limit of five to seven minutes is suggested for each round of the game.
9. Play the game several times, allowing students to be both prey and predator.

Let's Find Natures Garbage Can!

Ilk

Is dead seaweed garbage? Follow these direction's to find the answer...

Seaweed gets washed up on shore. Is it garbage? _Yes, go to # 12 - No, go to #9

2. Wrong. Nothing stays in the soil.

1:1. Right! Crabs, snails, worms, seagulls and other animals often eat dead things. Are there animals
which eat live creatures? _Yes, go to #8 _No, go to #6

4. Wrong. Rotting is just another use for an animal. -Now go to #5

5. Right. When bacteria and fungi "rot" things, they return them to the soil. Is this where nature's
garbage can ends up? _Yes. go to #2 _No, go to #11

6. Wrong. Animals like seals and great blue herons, for example, eat other animals. -Now go
to #8.

7. Wrong. The nutrients in the bodies of dead things are not wasted in nature. -Now go to #3

8. Right! These animals are called predators. If an eagle eats a salmon then flies away and dies
and rots, it garbage? _Yes, go to #4 -No, go to #5

9. Right! Many insects, like the beach hopper, live in dead seaweed. But what about the insects?
Do they just die and become waste? _Yes, go to #10 -No, go to # 13

10. Wrong. There are billions of insects, and if this happened the world would be buried in their
bodies. -Now, go to # 13

11. Right! Plants will use the nutrients from the soil and more seaweed will grow to replace what has
died. And that brings us back to where we started . . at #1. There is no garbage in nature,
because everything is re-used again and again in a circle.

12. Wrong. Dead seaweed has many uses. _Now, go to #9

13. Right! Insects are eaten by birds for instance. If a sandpiper eats an insect, but then the sandpiper
dies, will its body be of any use? _Yes, go to #3 _No, go to #7

Pelican and Crab

The elican's bill is designed for diving from the air after its prey and capturing fish in its pouch.
ar Phite and brown pelicans.
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River Whimsey
Material needed: Copies of River Whimsey, enough to hand out to each student.
Procedure: Read a short story and discuss while looking at pictures - - What's in Fresh Water?

RIVER WHIMSEY: WHAT A RIVER BRINGS TO THE ESTUARY

A whimsey is something light-hearted. It is changeable and dreamy. No one quite knows what's
going to happen!
A river can be a whimsey. It may dance along, or flow slowly. It may change its course, or twist.
Winter rainstorms make a stream wide and angry. But in summertime, a river may be like a pleasant
winding creek.
An estuary can't say to a river, "Stop your waters from drowning my mudflats!" An estuary has
to take what the river sends it. And yet, an estuary can't get along without the things a river sends
it!

A river's whimsey can change an estuary. What the river brings along may help or hurt growing
things.
What does a river bring down to the estuary? Fresh water! An estuary need fresh water. But many
other things come down in the fresh water!

CLEAR DROPS, MUDDY DROPS WHAT'S IN FRESH WATER?

Salts
Dirt
Chemicals rFertnizers

Lea

;
d
;6ead
Animals-

Log, Sawdust, Bark
Plants-

Pebbles, Gravel and Sand

Low T'Ide

Take a walk along a Florida coast at low tide, especially after a storm, and who knows what
creatures you might see.
Unscramble the letters below. You will spell the names of sea critters that you may find washed
up on shore.

I eas raeh
2. sorhesoeh crab
3. qhoaug clam
4. Inasdoadlr
5. ilvoe Ihels
6. uwglrmo
7. woc hsfi
8. elwhk shell
9. trsfashi
10. Icokec shell

Match each number of the sea critters, from above. Write the number in the small squares.

F] M
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ANSWERS: 1. sea hare, -2. @rsoshoe crab, .3. quahog clam, 4. sandclollar, 5. olive shells,
6. lugworm, 7. cow fish, 8. whelk shell, 9. starfish, 10. cockle shell.
a

SUGGESTED SONGS*

Can be checked out from Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve.

"The Wetland Waltz"
"Zooplankton Cowboys"
("Songs From the Water World", by Jill Jarboe)

References

1. Estuarine Ecology, Mike Mullens, Jerry Murray, Philip Wirth, Office of Environmental
Education.

2. Estuary Lesson - Los Marineios Program
3. The Estuary Program, Judy Friesem, Valerie Smith, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research
Reserve. Brezeale Interpretive Center.
4. Estuary: An Ecosystem and a Resource, Oregon State University Sea Grant College.
5. Pickleweed Eddy's Salt and Marsh Book, Marilee Miller,

Suggested Readings
1. "Edge of the Sea", Russel Sackett, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA.
2. The Continental Shelf on Underwater Frontier, Alicc Diller Press, Inc., Minneapolis,
MN.

THE SALT MARSH

E S T U A R I N E H A B I T A T S
SUPPLEMENTAL TEACHING ACTIVITIES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Background Information ..............................................................3
Salt Marsh Food Chains ..............................................................4
Common Plants and Animals of the Salt Marsh ..............................4

Activities
Overhead Proiector Story,
"Living on the Mud Flats .. .........................................................5
Camouflaged Critters ..................................................................6
Camouflaged Tubes ....................................................................7
Create a Mural ..........................................................................8
Salt Marsh Snails .......................................................................9
Soil - Clay - Sand Experiment ..................................................... 10
Are You Me? ........................................................................... 11
Cr eate a Fish ........................................................................... 12
Diamondback Terrapin Color Page ............................................. I A
Raccoon Color Page ................................................................. 15
3 A-MAZE-ING Salt Marsh Food Chains ..................................... 16

Song
"Salt Marsh Food Chain . .......................................................... 17

RelFerences and Suggested Readings .................................... 20

Introduction to the Teacher

The Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve was established in September '1979 as
a cooperative effort between Franklin County, the State of Florida and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. The Reserve is administered by the Florida Department of Natural
Resources.

The purpose of the Reserve is to support research relatir-i @o thp A.pa'ochicola River and Bay
estuarine system, disseminate research information, educate the public about estuarine processes,
and encourage resource protection.

The purpose of this packet and the other four in the series is to give you, the teacher, supplemental
materials and activities for teaching about estuarine system habitats. This packet focuses on the salt
marsh. The materials may be used to introduce a unit on the salt marsh environment or to expand a
unit in progress.

The suggested readings listed in the reference section have been researched and selected by
classroom teachers. We strongly recommend readings be used to enhance each activity.

Background Information
The Salt Marsh

Salt marshes are found on the bay side where they are protected by the barrier islands and
associated with shallow low-energy (light wave action and tides). Salt marshes act as filters for land
run off. The grosses remove sediments and pollutants. They transfer nutrients from upland areas to
adjoining aquatic systems. They also act as control from flood water, recharging ground water, and
habitat for waterfowl and wildlife. They are breeding and nursery grounds for fisheries, sanctuary for
rare and endangered species, and hold educational, recreational and aesthetic value.

Barrens or bogs also exist in salt marshes. These barrens are devoid of vegetation and are covered
by tides. As the water evaporates from these areas the salinity rises several times greater than that
of the open sea. Peat deposits, which have built up after several thousand years of occupation by
marsh plants, slow the percolation rate of water and thus helps to increase salinity. These deposits
may become several feet deep and act as a natural fill in creating mars,hes.

Salt marshes are composed of a variety of plants: rushes, sedges, and grasses. Florida's dominant
salt marsh species include: black needle rush, salt meadow corclgrass, smooth corclgrass, and
sa,vvgrass. All are tolerant of the salt in sea spray.

As salt marsh plants die and decompose they create organic cletritus (cli-'trit-es), another food
Source for many marsh dwellers.

The salt marshes are important because they create the base of the food chain. All of the wild
animals large and small plus man are primary consumers of the bounties provided from this-habitat.

FOOD CHAINS

Algae Fiddler Crab Croaker Diamondback Terrapin
Algae Silverside W Hooded merganser W American alligator
Detritus Shrimp W Sea trout W Man

Detritus 0- Blue crab W Man

Common Plants and Animals of the Salt Marsh

ANIMALS PLANTS

Insects Reptiles Black needlerush
Marsh fl American alligator Smooth corclgrass
Dragon fly Diamondback terrapin Sawgrass
Sand gnats Glasswort
Mosquito Birds Cattail
Reclwin@ black bird Salt meadow grass
Shellfish King fis er Sand sedge
Fiddler crab Hooded merganser Salt marsh corclgrass
Crabs Great blue heron
Pink shrimp White ibis
Salt marsh periwinkle snail Red head duck
Clams Osprey
Sand piper
Fish
Anchovy Mammals
Croaker Raccoon
Silver-sides Otter
Gulf menhaden
Sea trout

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ACTIVITIES
Overhead Projector Story, "Living on the Mud Flats"

Niaterialls needed: Overhead projector, glass bowl, bb's, water, straw, several cut straws, purple
food coloring, alka-seltzer tablet, (optional plastic egg).

Put a clear glass bowl on the overhead projector. Tell this story.

The salt marsh is protected and has little wave action. The fine grained mud flats (drop bb's into
the bowl to represent the fine grains of the mud); hold the water because they are level and they don't
drain (add water to the bowl).

There is water exchange in the first few centimeters of the mud which allows oxygen into the mud.
(Take a drinking straw and blow bubbles in the water to represent the oxygen). Animals called tube
dwellers construct tubes so that they may live deeper in this habitat and still get oxygen rich water
above the mud. (Stick several short pieces of straw into the bb's to represent the tubes). Many
polychaete worms live on the mud flats, moving deeper into the mud (add more bb's and water dyed
with purple food coloring). There is little water exchange in the mud so this area has very little oxygen.
Few microscopic organisms live in this zone. Chemical reactions are taking place in this zone. (Add
an alka seltzer tablet). Hydrogen sulfide is produced in this zone which is the rotten egg smell you
often smell in the mud of a salt marsh. I just need to add a little rotten egg to the mud to show you
how it smells. Are you ready? (Take a plastic egg and act like you're going to add a rotten egg).

Camouflaoed Critters

Materials needed: colored strips of paper, colored toothpicks

Directions:

Hide colored strips of paper around the room. Have students find the strips. Some strips should
be easy to find because the colors are different than the background. Some are harder as they blend
with the background. Hide a matching strip on your shoe. See if they can find it.

Go outside and drop colored toothpicks. See which colors are most easily found and which are
hardest to find.

Ca mroulfliage Tubes

Materials needed: Toilet paper tubes, twigs, and grasses

Directions:
Animals living in the salt marsh develop many adaptation behaviors. One of these is camouflage
for survival.

Have each child decorate a toilet paper tube with twigs and grasses from an area surrounding
the school. Have the children hide their camouflaged animals and then take turns looking for them.
The goal is to show the child how valuable such adaptive behavior can be.

Create A Mural

Materials needed: Marsh grasses, glue, copies of mural background and crayons.

Directions: -
The students will create a mural using juncus or other marsh grasses. They will draw in the animals
and sediments collected by the grasses.

Sait Marsh Snads

Mciteriall needed: Copies of snail pictures, drawing paper, glue, and crayons.
Have students draw emergent plants and hide their snails on the salt marsh. Make sure plants are
larger in size than the snails.

Woven Circle-Mouth

Auger

Angled Modulus

Sargassum

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Common Periwinkle
Auger

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Soil - Clay - Sand Experiments

Materials needed: Three cans, one filled with red clay, another with garden topsoil, another filled
w:th sand, and water.

Directions:
Pack the sand and soil down and pour an equal amount of water on top of each. Watch what
happens.

Observation:
The water poured into the sand will pass through it rapidly. Water poured into the clay will stand
on top of it a long time. Water poured into the topsoil will seep into it slowly and be held there.

Animals have to develop different behavior to adjust to life on the mud flats.

There is the most oxygen in the sand as the particles are spaced further apart. The least oxygen
is found in the mud or the particles are close together. For animals to live on the mud flats of the marsh
they must adapt. The most common adaptation is tubes which go to the surface so the animal can get
oxygen even though they live well below the surface of the mud were the oxygen is limited.

Are You Me?
(Adapted from Aquatic Project WILD)
Moterialls needed: Two pictures from home; baby and student, several adult and young animal
matching pictures and index cards.

Procedures:

1. Make several pairs of aquatic animal cards with the pictures and index cards. The animals in each
pair should be the same kind (adult and young).

2. Ask children to bring two pictures from home. One should be of an adult, the other picture of a
child, or student/infant.

3. Select a few pairs of pictures. Mix them up. Have a few students who are not familiar with the
pictures try to match the pairs.

4. Introduce the aquatic cards and divide the class in half. Designate one half of the students "adults"
and the other half "young animals". Give each studpnt in tke adt-Itgroup an "adult" animal image.
Give eachstudent in the "young animal" group a "young animal" image. Make sure there is a
corresponding match, adult or juvenile, for each card given. Instruct students to look for their
"match".

5. When all the students have made their choices, let everyone help to see if the matches are correct.

6. Have students look at all of the correctly matched pairs. Look at similarities and differences in how
aquatic animals grow and change.

Suggested Pictures to Use:

Osprey Blue crab
Skate Fiddler crab
Alligator Marsh fly
Black fly American alligator
Mosquito Sea trout

Create a Fish

Materials needed: Pictures of various different fish, string, scissors, hole punch devise, stapler,
paper plates and crayons.

Procedure:

I . Show students the pictures of fish and discuss with them why different fish have different
adaptations for mouth, fins, body shape, and protective coloration and camouflage.

2. Give each student a paper plate, crayons and student scissors. Have them cut a triangle out of
the plate (pie shape) to use as a tail fin (caudal fin).

3. With the stapler, attach the fin to the student's paper plate like so: Now the fish will have a mouth
and a tail!

4. Instruct students to create a fish remembering to make other fins, gills, eyes, a decided body shape
and caudal fin shape and protective coloration and camouflage.

5. As students complete their fish, punch a hole near the top of the fish and loop a string through it
so the fish can be hung and displayed.

6. Have each student name and explain his or her fish and its' special adaptations.

Adaptation information for the Teacher

Adaptation Benefit or Use

Mouth
Sucker mouth Eats small plants and animals
Longer upper jaw Eats animals below it in water
Longer lower jaw Eats animals above it in water
Beaklike jaw Grabs prey
Huge mouth Encloses and gulps prey

Fins
Caudal (tail) fin Moves fish forward
Dorsal (top) fin Stabilizes fish
Pelvic (bottom) fins Stabilize and help stop and turn
Anal fin (bottom, behind
pelvic fin) Stabilizes fish
Pectoral (side) fins Stabilize and help stop and turn
fish

Body Shape
Torpedo shape Rapid movement
Flat bellied Feeds on bottom
Flattened side to side Feeds below or above
FIcittened top to bottom Lives on bottom
Hump backed Stabilizes fish in rapid moving
water

Protective Coloration and Camouflage
Dark topside and
light bottornside Blends with lightness or darkness
of water so predators cannot see it
as well
Stripes Break up outline so not as easily seen
Eyespot on tail Confuses predators
Mimic of background Predators cannot see it as well

Diamondback Terrapin
The terrapin is found in salt or brackish water. It feeds on crabs, plants, and shellfish.

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Follow these three food chains through the maze.
1. Plankton* Fish* Great Blue Heron.
2. Algae * Fiddler Crab # Fish * Terrapin SUN
3. Detritus -# Fiddler Crab Fish Man plankton and green >
plants use the sun
to make
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tiny floating plants
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SONG

"Salt Marsh Food Chain"

Tune: Former in the Dell

The dying plants decay,
The dying plants decay,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The dying plants decay.

The shrimp eat detritus,
The shrimp eat detritus,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The shrimp eat detritus.

The killifish eat the shrimp,
The kiHifish eat the shrimp,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The killifish eat the shrimp.

The trout eat the killie,
The trout eat the killie,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The trout eat the killie.

The porpoise eats the trout,
The porpoise eats the trout,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The porpoise eats the trout.

The porpoise meets his end,
The porpoise meets his end,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The porpoise meets his end.

The porpoise decays,
The porpoise decays,
Hi Ho the marsh is so,
The porpoise decays.

Reference Tape
Songs from "The Water World", By Jill Jarboe

1. "The Underwater World Is A Wonderful Place"

2. "Give Me The Green Things"

References

1. The Audubon Society Nature Guide to "Wetlands", by William A Niesing: Borzoi Book
published by Alfred A Knopf, Inc.
2. Florida Salt Marshes, Florida Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Marine Resources
3. Adapted from Aquatic Project WILD -Western Reg. Environmental Education Council, 1983.
4. "Resource Inventory of the Apalachicola River and Bay Drainage Basin", Florida Game and
Fresh Water Fish Commission (Lee Edmiston and Holly Tuck)

Suggested Readings

1. Snowy Takes a Tumble, Joseph F. Branney, Ranger Rick, May 1979.
2. Tide Swamp Wildlife Management Area, Steven K. Stafford, Florida Wildlife, February,
1975.

THEBEA(H

E S T U A R I N E H A B I T A T S
SUPPLEMENTAL TEACHING ACTIVITIES

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BEACH

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . ........................................................................... 2-3
Background Information
Beach Food Chains
Common Plants and Animals of the Beach Area

Activities . ................................................................................... 6
A. Create A Beach Picture
B. Sorting Shell Pictures
C. Making Potato Prints of Shorebird Tracks

Tracks . ........................................................................................ 7

Beach Critters . .......................................................................... 8

Shells . .................................................................................... 9-10

Puppet Show . ..................................................................... 11-16

Songs . ...................................................................................... 17
A. "Beach Clam Dig"
B. "Snap! Goes the Worm's Tail"

References . .............................................................................. 18

Introduction to the Teacher

The purpose of the Reserve is to support research relatin to the Apalachicola River and Bay
estuarine system, disseminate research information, educate te public about estuarine processes,
and encourage resource protection.
The rurpose of this packet and the other four in the series give you, the teacher, supplemental
s
matei s and activities for teaching about estuarine system habitats. This packet focuses on the
beach. The materials may be used to introduce a unit on the beach environment or to expand a unit
in progress.
The suggested readings listed'in the reference section have been researched and selected by
classroom teachers. We strongly recommend readings be used to enhance each activity.

DackgrOUnd Information

The Beach

The beach is the place between higher ground, such as sand dunes, and the water. Beaches are
high energy areas continuously assaulted by waves and tidal action. Along the Gulf Coast, beaches
are mostly made of sand. Ocean beaches are usually covered with broken shells, seaweed, and
debris washed in from the sea. Relatively few organisms make their homes directly on the beach or
shoreline because of the harsh environmental conditions. No large p ants grow in these areas
because waves continuousluound the beaches. Organisms living alon e shoreline or in the water
i.iust be adapted to the poun ing waves and changing tides. Beachinha tants such as clams, crabs,
and coquinas escape the pounding by burrowing in the sand. Beach fleas spend their time under
sand or debris on the beach. Sand not only provides escape from the pounding waves, it also provides
some degree of protection from the searing sun and predators.
Shorebirds are common predators on the beach. Gulls, sandpipers, and oystercatchers are often
SE@en foraging for. food at the waters edge. Many types of shorebirds probe into the sand in search
of: edible organisms.
Beaches can also be made of mud. These beaches form only in protected areas where wave action
is less severe. Tube-dwelling worms are the dominant inhabitants of mud beaches. Mud beaches
often rim estuaries.

Common plants and animals of the beach area and sample food chains are listed on the next page.
A food chain is an arrangement of organisms of an ecological community according to the order of
preclation in which the next higher member uses the lower member as a food source.
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FOOD CHAINS

AL(--7AE MUD SNAIL W BLUE CRAB MAN

DETRITUS W WORM W KILLIFISH W FLOUNDER MAN

DETRITUS W SAND SHRIMP SEA CATFISH MAN

MORNING GLORY GHOST CRAB GULL

Common Plants and Animals of the Beach Area

ANIMALS PLANTS

Worms Sea Oats
Ribbon Worm Beach Morning Glory
Lugworm Worm Turtle Grass
Nereid Worm Algae
Purslane
Shellfish Sea Lettuce
Mole Crab
Blue Crab
Fiddler Crab
Ghost Crab
RaZor Clams
Hard Shelled Clams
Sand Shrimp
Mud Snail

Fish
Flounder
1/ 0 1 ik
Sana Sea Trout
Se,3 Catfish

Shore Birds
Gulls
Willet
Sandpiper
Tern
American Oystercatcher
Black Skimmer

ACTI N,,." T j @1:

Create A Beach Picture

Materials needed: Copies of the beach scene page or drawing paper, sand, copies of the beach
critters page, colors, scissors, glue.
Have the children spread glue over drawing paper or a copy of the beach scene (page 2) and
sprinkle sand on the pa er. Let dry and shake off excess sand. Make copies of the beach critters
page for each of the stuyeents. Have children color and cut out the pictures of the critters. Have children
glue critter pictures to the paper to complete the beach scene.

Sorting Shell Pictures
Materials needed: Copies of the shell pages and scissors. (optional: drawing paper, glue)
Directions: This is a good activity for reinforcing categorization skills. Make copies of the shells on
pages 9 and 10 for each student. Ask the students to cut out the shells and group them into ?astro ods
m.
and bivalves. You may wish to have the students paste the shells on another paper and abel tre
1 . Gastropods (one shell)
1. Olive
2. Alphabet cone
3. Whelk
4. Tulip shell
5. Paper fig
2. Bivalves (two shells)
1. Scallop
2. Cockle
3. Luncine
4, Coquina

Making Potato Prints of Shorebird Tracks
Materials needed: Potato, knife, ink or tempera, ink pad or sponge, drawing paper.
I . Cut a,potato in half.
2. Cut away part of the flat surface to form a relief pattern of a bird's track.
(Refer to bird track pattern page 7.)
3. Apply ink or tempera point to the track pattern, using an ink pad or a sponge
that has been dipped in tempera point. If using point, squeeze excess out of
sponge before applying to the potato.
4. Press the inked surface onto a piece of paper. Lift potato to leaveprint. Have
children print tracks across the paper as though the bird was walking on the
beach.
This is a qreat storl-.Jtartt@r.

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Deach Critters
(for cut and paste)

Seagull

Sandpiper

Oyster Catcher

Pelican
Coquinas

Sanddollar
Hermit Crab

Starfish

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Atlantic Slipper Cockle

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Olive Alphabet Cone

Lightning Whelk

Mug

Paper Fig Tulip

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23 Characters

When presenting the puppet show a table should be used. The table top should be the beach
sul,face. The burrowing animals should perform below the table while others perform at tabletop level.

Narrator
HLIgo Gull
Gertie Sandpiper
Sherry Cherrystone Clam
Mole Crab
Eight Mud Snails
Merlin Mud Snail
Sandy Lugworm
Sidney and Sarah Bacteria
Long John Ribbon Worm
Reesie and Rufus Razor Clam
Rodney the Human
Air-plane
Red Worm
Rocky Racoon

DESIGNING PAPER PLATE PUPPETS
Paper plate Ideas

Hugo Gull - Add a bill to a white plate.
Gertie Sandpiper - Color the plate brownish-gray with a long thin pointed beak.
Sherry Cherrystone Clam - Fold the paper plate so you can open or close the clam.
Mole Crab - Fold the paper plate and add two feathers for feelers.
Merlin Mud Snail - Draw a spiral shell and add two straws for snorkel and tongue.
Long John Ribbon Worm - Completely cover the paper plate with a long piece of yarn.
Sidney and Sarah Bacteria - Don't use a plate as they are microscopic. Have children speak
in a small, high pitched voice for these two parts.
Rodney - Draw a face on the plate. Add cnn-.tr!lct;on paper ears. Make a rake.
Airplane - Add wings to a paper plate. Blow bubbles for the spray.
Sandy Lugworm - Cut the center circle out of the plate and color the rim.
Reesie and Rufus Razor Clam - Fold the plate in thirds. Add a foot and two short pieces of straw
at the top.
Red Worm - Cut the center circle from a paper plate and color the remaining plate red.

Class Paper plate Puppet Show

Narrator:
Each day the tide slowly rises along the coast, covering a part of the beach and giving added
protection to the critters which live below the surface of the sand. And each day the tide f6lls back
uncovering the sand, and exposing these beach dwellers to their predators.
Hugo Gull (flies down): I caught this clam with my beak.
Sherry Cherrystone Clam: Help, he's got me! I'll hold my shell tightly closed. He'll never eat
my soft body.
Hugo Gull (flies off): I dropped my clam.
Sherry Cherrystone Clam (hits the ground): Ouch, my shell has cracked.
Hugo Gull (flies down): I love eating the soft body of clams. What an easy meal with the hard shell
opened for me. Low tide is a good time to feed. -
Gertie Sandpiper (Lands nearby scraping the wet sand with pointed wing tips): Now for lunch.
(Again and again she pushes her long bill down into the sand leaving little round holes. Tiny footprints
mark her progress along the edge of the waves.) Watch out mole crabs! You don't have a chance.
I'll find you. I'll eat a few mole crabs.

Narrator:
Each kind of animal adapts to the tidal changes in its own way. Many dig deeper into the sand,
where they stay cool and moist. Under the sand they are safe from rain an winds and the temperature
changes only slightly. Predators such as shorebirds have to work hard to find their food in sand
burrows.

Merlin the Mud Snail: Now that the shorebirds and fish have eaten. Mygang and I are just like
garbagetrucks. We're hereto clean ur the ruins. Here come my friends one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eght. We'll get the beach c eaned up. We'll eat anything that's leftover. Comeongang
let's er the sand. Let's all put up our snorkel-like tubes to draw in water. I'm getting plenty
of oxygen from the water through my snorkel. Are all of you?

#1 Mud Snail: I am.

#2 Mud Snail: I am.

#3 Mud Snail: I am.

#4 Mud Snail: I am.

#5 Mud Snail: I am.
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#6 Mud Snail: I am. CCC C
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#7 Mud Snail: I am. C

#8 Mud Snail: I am. r er,

Red Worm enters.
a

Merlin Mud Snail: I'm Merlin the mighty mud snail. I detect traces of food juices coming through
thE@ water. Ready gang. Let's head for the surface. I'll just shake off the sand.

1 Mud Snail: Me too.

#11, Mud Snail: Me too.

#3 Mud Snail: Me too.

#4 Mud Snail: Me too.

#5- Mud Snail: Me too.

#6 Mud Snail: Me too.

#7'Mud Snail: Me too.

#8, Mud Snail: Me too.

Narrator:

OnceMerlin reachestheworm he stretches out his mouth tube, which is longerthan hisentire body.
His mouth tube is tough and muscular with a special sort of tongue which is as rough as the roughest
sandpaper.
Merlin the Mud Snail: I'll wrap my foot around that slender reddish worm Scrape, scrape. That
worm's all gone. Now for another. The ang and I will clean up here. We never let garbage pile
up on the beach. Everyone calls us the 3ean-up gang.
SandrsLulworm: Just call me Sandy. My friends and I can eat our wa( through more than 1900
tons a an a year and on a good year 800,000 five pound buckets o sand go through us.
Sidney Bacteria: Hi, I'm Sidney Bacteria.
Sandy Lugworm: All lugworms can lug sand but I'm the best of them all. Why friends count on
me to dig through the top two feet of sand and make it soft and light so they can burrow down more
freely.
Sairah Bacteria:' Hi, I'm Sarah Bacteria. My brother and I are two of Sandy Lugworms smallest
friends.

Sandy Lugworm: Even my smallest friends are important to me. Why Sidney and Sarah Bacteria
always get the oxygen they need to do their job because of me.
Sidney and Sarah Bacteria: We break down dead plants into particles small animals can use.
Sandy Lugworm: What a dirty job you two have. Messing with these dead plants. I couldn't touch
that dead stuff.

Merlin Mud Snail: Look. There is Long John Ribbon Worm. Do you remember when we called
him Little John?
Long John Ribbon Worm: Do ya'll want to play hide and seek after dark?

Merlin Mud Snail: Come on Sandy. I'm not playing. You know he hides all day from the shore
birds but once they leave he ,s out hunting.
Sandy Lugworm: It isn't any wonder he never stops growing because he seldom misses his prey.
He's such a good hunter.
Long John Ribbon Worm: I'm such a good hunter. I can harpoon my prey without leaving my
burrow. If I want to.

Merlin Mud Snail: I remember the time you just escaped. Yea, that young blue fish caught your
tail.

Sandy Lugworm: Snap! Then Long John swam away with only half his body. We called him
Little John.

(Sandy, Merlin, Long John, Sidney and Sarah sing: Snap! Goes the Worms Tail - see page 17.)
Long John Ribbon Worm: That didn't last long. I vanished into my burrow and before long I'd
grown a new tail. I'm unbelievably stretchy. Not even a rubber band is so stretchy. I've got all that
slime.

Sandy Lu gworm: He always wins at hide and seek because even if you're lucky enough to catch
him. He's hard to hold. If you hold on too tight he'll break apart and get away leaving tail and all
behind.

Long John Ribbon Worm: I can live for months without food. But when I get ready to eat I just
whip out my snout when I smell my prey. It flows out as smooth and straight as a harpoon line. It
slides out and wraps around m prey. Slime streams from my snout tangling the prey beyond any
chance of escape. (Reesie anyRufus enter.)
Sherry Cherrystone Clam: Here come the razor clams. They always want to race.

Reesie Razor Clam: Hi, Rufus. Let's race.
Sherry Cherrystone Clam: Razor clam races alwaKs begin when Reesie and Rufus get together.
Reesie is faster than Rufus even thouph she is smaller. T ose razor clams have streamline bodies and
c
ahu e"foot". Theyareclesigned orspeed. Their shells are long, narrow, and squared off at the
end Ke a straight razor.
Rufus Razor Clam: Reesie named me the jackknife clam. My shell looks like the knife handle and
the foot looks I ike the blade. I move in a series of jerks. My foot pushes down beyond the shell. Down,
down, I push.
Reesie: I'm ahead ' M body muscles tighten, and my shell slides down to meet my foot. My foot
pushes down again anYthe rest follows. I'm still ahead. What a race.

Narrator:
Now that the race is won, they have settled down for a victory dinner, clam style. Sticking out
at the top ed e of the shells are two gray tubes or siphons. One draws in new water and the other
flushes out stal9e water. With water, the clams get more than oxy en. Floating in the sea are thousands
of one-celled plants call diatoms. Diatoms are so tiny they can ge seen only with a microscope. And
feedin? on them are tiny animals, most of them too microscopic in size. This mass of plants and
anima s makes a nourishing "soup" for the razor clams and many other burrowing animals who come
to the victory dinner.

(All burrowing animals enter. Raccoon enters.) Suddenly all is not well. The sand crunches,
startling the animals. It's a raccoon. The mighty foot has 'erked the clam beyond the raccoon's rapidly
digging paw. Safe for now but wait. Here comes RoJlney (Boy enters) with his clam rake. This is
one race Reesie must win or she'll be dinner for Rodney tonight.
Rodney: I'm leaving without a single razor clam, but with a few hundred mosquitoes after me. I
know the easiest way to kill mosquitoes is to spray with chemical poisons such as DDT, BHC and
Dieldrin. These chemicals are sprayed from the safety of an airplane (airplane enters), because the
pesticides that kill mosquitoes can kill humans too. It can also kill many other animals, including crabs
and worms.

Aii-plane: I'll fly back and forth spraying the poison in a fine mist over the water.

Narrator:
Within a few hours of the spraying thousands of mos uitoes are dead as well as man crabs, fish
and other animals. Their bodies litter the shore between t7e tides. (Shorebirds enter.) Gu(Is and other
shorebirds swoop down to an easy meal. (Mud snails enter.) And later, mud snails clean up the
leftovers. But. the birds and snails are also eatin 0 son. Itwould take a lot to kill them but the poison
is stored in their bodies. It may cause trouble Tapteri.
The mosquitoes are one story. The animals between the tides are another. For them, the poison
works all too well. It kills some quickly, others more slowly. And long after mosquito spraying is
stopped, the pesticides go on kiiiing. Viey aFe slow to break down and disappear.
By now no one can see the poisons. It sinks down through the water and settles on the bottom.
it becomes an invisible part of the sand. It is taken up by the tiny plants and animals that float in the
sea.

When the plants and small animals die, the poison still does not disappear. For as the dead beings
decay and become food for small burrowing animals, the poison is passed on.
When a sea worm feeds on decaying bits of plant, it takes in the poison. Its body cannot cast
out the poison, so the poison remains. And when a fish eats the worm, it swallows the poison too.
Soon there is far more poison in the fish's body than there was in the worm. For a young fish may
eat hundreds of worms. There may be ten times as much poison in the body of the fish as there was
in i1he p:ants.
There may come a time when there are not tracks between the tides. Lets look at a happier ending.
(All burrowing animals sing: Beach Clam Dig - see page 17.)
The story need not end so badly. For people are beginning to understand that for our survival we
depend as much on the mosquito or the worm that we don't eat as upon the fish that we do. Thewisest
scientists are leaning they can work with the natural world rather than against it.
Scientists are finding ways of controlling pests, such as beetles and caterpillars, weeds and
disease, without poison.
In Florida and other states, scientists are using fish to control the mosquito population. They stock
creeks and marshes with killifish and other minnows that eat wrigglers, or young mosquitoes. Both
killifish and wrigglers in turn provide food for the young of the many ocean-dwelling fishes that
develop in shallow water.
Man can change his own behavior by quite simple means. To drive away mosquitoes, for
example, we can plant basil in pots near our doors and window. This herb has an odor that

mosquitoes do not like. They do no like the smell of garlic or bananas either. By eating such food
we can escape many bites. And if mosquitoes are too esky to avoid, we can go swimming instead
of digging. It may even make sense to stay home ang mend the screens!
Of course looking for the right controls for each pest takes time and effort. Sometimes chanaing
our behavior seems impossible and, for the sake of a worm or even a bird, an unnecessary bofher.
Yet we too are part of the delicate web of seashore life even if we never eat a fish or oyster. What
we do affects all life, as scientists have discovered. When we let our wastes poison the sea, we
endanger our own survival too.
With this in mind as we track the animals between the tides, we may see them differently. And
that may be a start toward a happy ending.

Adapted from: Shepard, Elizabeth. 1972. Tracks between the Tides. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co.,
N.Y., N.Y. 95 PP. (Recommended for elementary school libraries.)

--.@ kr

"Beach Clam Dig"
Tune: Frere Jacques (Are you sleeping?)

Are you igging?
Are you digging?
Digging down
Dig
kegtihneg down
Li worms and clams do.
When the tide is changing
Dig' dig down
Dig, dig down

Snap! Goes The Wiurrn:s Tail

Tune: Pop! Goes the Weasel
Gull and pipers
Walking the beach.
Looking for a mole crab
Looking for a wiggly worm
Snap! Goes the worms tail.