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Sea Stars and the Northern Abalone:
Just a short time ago, Canadian fishers realised that there were people who wanted to eat abalone (pronounced Ah-Baloney). So, they started to harvest and export them. In a period of 15 years, the Northern Abalone was almost harvested out of existence! Now, we need to know if we can help reivive population back to a viable number by growing abalone in tanks and reintroducing them to the wild. There is one problem, though. The sea star is a natural predator of the abalone. If we increase the number of abalone in a protected environment, will we sentence them to immediate death if we put them back in the ocean? What conservation measures can we take to ensure the survival of the Northern (Pinto) Abalone?
By the end of this assignment your group should be able to:
Find and Filter/Work with Information You will be separated into two groups. Your group will gather information on the Northern 'Pinto' Abalone OR the sea star, using the attached Abalone Work Sheet or the Sea Star Worksheet. If you find words for which you do not know the meaning, use the vocabulary builder. Communicate After you have completed your information gathering, get together with the rest of your group and prepare a poster board with information on your organism and present it to the class. You will need the following information on your presentation:
Now you will predict the results of some virtual experiments. Research Question #1: The predator of the abalone is the sea star. How does the abalone protect itself from predation? Write down your hypothesis. The abalone protects itself from the sea star by: View this video of the sunflower star confronting the abalone in the wild (with some assistance). 1. What happened? 2. Was your hypothesis correct? Research Question #2 - What percentage of abalone bred and raised in captivity will have the same escape mechanism as abalone in the wild? Currently in Bamfield there is an abalone hatchery program. Researchers hope that by raising abalone in captivity and reintroducing them to the wild, the number of abalone in the wild will increase and they will be able to rejuvenate the abalone fishing industry. Half of the abalone raised will be released into the wild after 18 months. However, when the abalone leave captivity and enter into the wild will they become prey to predators like sea stars? As we saw above in the first experiment, abalone born and living in the wild have a strong aversion to sea stars. Do you think that this is a natural instinct that abalones are born with or do they develop it from experience? In other words, will they just be eaten as soon as they are released or will they escape from their predators? Write your hypothesis here: I think that ______ % of the abalones will escape from the sea stars The following is an actual experiment that tests this hypothesis. Read over the experiment and see if all the abalone survived. 1. What percentage of abalone survived? 2. Was your hypothesis correct? 3. Was the experiment we just looked at, a valid experiment? ie. Did it measure what it set out to measure? 4. How did the researchers control the variables? Class Activity: Marine Habitat Game Now that you have finished your research here, your class will play a marine habitat game, using the information you have learned on sea stars and abalone and from the food webs you created. Reflection Write a journal entry about how you think we should proceed with ensuring the abalone population increases and survives. Your teacher will lead you through a discussion about expectations for this assignment.
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Focus