6-8

Plankton

Implement this Lesson:

This lesson can be used in conjunction with a outdoor activity at the wetlands, studying microscopes, or how humans interact with the environment.

Lesson Objective:

Students are viewing various microscope slides that contain a drop of water from a wetland sample to see if they can capture any Plankton under the microscope.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

6.11(A) research and describe why resource management is important in reducing global energy poverty, malnutrition, and air and water pollution

6.11(B) explain how conservation, increased efficiency, and technology can help manage air, water, soil, and energy resources

6.12(A)* investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as availability of light and water, range of temperatures, or soil composition

6.12(B) describe and give examples of predatory, competitive, and symbiotic relationships between organisms, including mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism 

6.12(C) describe the hierarchical organization of organism, population, and community within an ecosystem

6.13(A) describe the historical development of cell theory and explain how organisms are composed of one or more cells, which come from pre‐existing cells and are the basic unit of structure and function

6.13(B) identify and compare the basic characteristics of organisms, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular, and autotrophic and heterotrophic 6.13(C) describe how variations within a population can be an advantage or disadvantage to the survival of a population as environments change

7.10(A)* describe the evidence that supports that Earth has changed over time, including fossil evidence, plate tectonics, and superposition 7.10(B)* describe how plate tectonics causes ocean basin formation, earthquakes, mountain building, and volcanic eruptions, including super volcanoes and hot spots 

7.11(A)* analyze the beneficial and harmful influences of human activity on groundwater and surface water in a watershed 

7.11(B)* describe human dependence and influence on ocean systems and explain how human activities impact these systems

7.12(A)* diagram the flow of energy within trophic levels and describe how the available energy decreases in successive trophic levels in energy pyramids

7.13(A)* identify and model the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, urinary, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, immune, and endocrine systems 

7.13(C)* compare the results of asexual and sexual reproduction of plants and animals in relation to the diversity of offspring and the changes in the population over time 

7.13(D)*describe and give examples of how natural and artificial selection change the occurrence of traits in a population over generations

7.14(A) describe the taxonomic system that categorizes organisms based on similarities and differences shared among groups

8.10(A) describe how energy from the Sun, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact and influence weather

8.10(B) identify global patterns of atmospheric movement and how they influence local weather 

8.10(C) describe the interactions between ocean currents and air masses that produce tropical cyclones, including typhoons and hurricanes

8.12(B) describe how primary and secondary ecological succession affect populations and species diversity after ecosystems are disrupted by natural events or human activity

8.12(C) describe how biodiversity contributes to the stability and sustainability of an ecosystem and the health of the organisms within the ecosystem

8.13(A) identify the function of the cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, ribosomes, cytoplasm, mitochondria, chloroplasts, and vacuoles in plant or animal cells 8.13(C) describe how variations of traits within a population lead to structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations that influence the likelihood of survival and reproductive success of a species over generations

8.13(B) describe the function of genes within chromosomes in determining inherited traits of offspring

Plankton — The Tiny Drifters of the Ocean

Plankton are tiny living things that float and drift in the water.
Even though most are too small to see, they are super important — they form the base of the ocean food chain and help make life on Earth possible!

What Is Plankton?

The word plankton comes from a Greek word that means “drifter” or “wanderer.”
That’s because plankton can’t swim very well — they drift wherever the water currents take them!

There are two main kinds of plankton:

  • Phytoplankton- “plant-like” plankton that make food using sunlight (photosynthesis)
  • Zooplankton- “Animal-like” plankton that eat phytoplankton or smaller zooplankton

How Plankton Live

Plankton live mostly near the surface of oceans, bays, and lakes, where sunlight shines through the water.

  • Phytoplankton use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food — just like plants!

  • Zooplankton float around eating phytoplankton — and in turn, are eaten by small fish.

 Together, they start the entire ocean food web!

Why Plankton Are Important

  • They make oxygen
  • They feed the ocean
  • They recycle nutrients
  • They help form oil and gas

Where Plankton Are Found

Plankton live in:

  •  Oceans and seas

  •  Bays and estuaries

  • Lakes, ponds, and rivers

They’re found everywhere there’s water — even in the cold Arctic Ocean and warm Gulf of Mexico!

Fun Facts!

  • A single drop of seawater can hold thousands of plankton!

  • Some plankton glow in the dark — this is called bioluminescence.

  • Baby crabs, oysters, and fish all start life as zooplankton before they grow up.

 Why We Should Protect Them

Pollution, warming oceans, and oil spills can hurt plankton.
When plankton are in trouble, the entire ocean food web is affected.

By keeping our oceans clean, we help plankton — and all sea life — survive!

Possible Books:

  • Sea Soup by Mary M Cerullo
  • Tiny Titans by Mary M Cerullo
  • Plankton Prillis by Nils Ekelund

Materials Needed:

  • Water Sample from Wetlands
  • Microscopes
  • Journal
  • Pencil
  • Plankton Art 

Lesson plan:

Engage:

  • Students will take a quick look at a prepared slides of plankton from a water body such as the wetlands
  • Ask students about what they saw

Explore:

  • Students will look at the microscope and write observations and draw pictures about their slides

Explain:

  • Talk to students about plankton with a focus on the TEKS you need

Elaborate:

  • Students will gather water and plankton samples from other places even including the water fountain.
  • Using other plankton sources they will investigate what they see

Evaluate: