Hey guys, I am so excited to be back talking with you guys on here (It's been awhile)!!! The past week my class and I have delved into wetlands and recently partnered with Save the Bay to help collect data. Continue reading to learn all about wetlands and what my class and I did to help save the bay!
Wetlands are areas of land where water covers soil all year or for different time periods during the year. Some wetlands that you could have seen include swamps, marshes, mangroves, and lagoons. I learned that wetlands are so important and beneficial to humans for so many reasons! They protect shores from wave action, reduce the impacts of flooding, absorb pollutants, and improve water quality. Wetland provide important habitat for so many animals and plants, the biodiversity in wetlands is immense! However, there is a downhill decline of wetlands, mostly due to urbanization and industrialization. Unfortunately, less than half of the nation's original wetlands remain, which is a bummer because of all the amazing benefits they give. Urban development accounts for most of the wetland decline as society grows and develops. Another negative about wetlands is that there are invasive species that harm the native species in those wetlands. With my partner, we learned about the norway rat, which is an invasive species home to Bay Area wetlands. The rat originated in China and spread to America from ships around 1775. I included my google document that I did about the norway rat as well. In class, we watched a documentary called Saving the Bay and I learned so much more about the wetlands in my home and their history. I learned about the history of the San Francisco Bay, how it's been developed over the years, balancing the need of urban development and conservation of the Bay, and so much more! I attached a picture of my sketch notes that I took while watching the documentary!
I had so much fun on our field trip with the Save the Bay program in Palo Alto! Our class divided into groups and we collected data on different topics at different levels of the wetland. We looked at topics including biodiversity, soil moisture, and pH levels. Citizen science is so important to the Save the Bay program because they take our data and use it to look at the wetlands as a whole and it helps in the restoration and preservation of the wetlands for years to come! Collecting data on biodiversity went well with my group because we got to learn about the native and invasive plants. I attached the data analysis my group and I did during Silas' talk to our class.
Click the links below to learn more!
www.savesfbay.org www.epa.gov/wetlands/what-wetland www.environment.gov.au/water/wetlands/about www.water.ncsu.edu/watershedss/info/wetlands/wetloss.html savingthebay.org
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