RESOURCES FOR AQUATIC INVASIVES

A Few of the DRAFT Components of the Maine Congress of Lake Associations' New Unit on Aquatic Invasives is under construction below (author Earl Morse):

Editorial philosophy: Draft materials in this section are written expansively; that is they are larger and longer than the anticipated final product. This is intentional, in that as we use these draft materials they will evolve and be pruned back based on the feedback from our field users. This feedback may also lead us tangentially, often based on the excitement of our student users and their teachers.  Consequently, don't expect our field tested release versions to be like the materials below. We have made them available to download in .doc format so that you may cut, past or edit them for your own students. Simply download the file and "save as" the file to your hard drive with a slightly different name. When you open this newly named file in your word processor you will be able to cut, paste or edit it in any way you wish.

Materials below have an edit date which can be seen beside their titles once the unit is downloaded. Please make sure that the version you are using is the most recent.  Thanks!

    Download An Introduction to Aquatic Invasive Species Unit  (31 Dec 2010)

        Components of the unit that are under construction. Download:

            Activity 1: Zebras Charging Across North America! (original version)

            Activity 5: Stewardship of an Exotic's Invasion of Your Town. A Japanese Knotweed analogy for an Aquatic Invasive Study

          * * * * * * * * * * Food Webs and Diversity * * * * * * * * * *

            Activity: Download "A lake Food-Web Game" modified (.doc file)

                   Jump to the on-line links page for Lake Food Web resources

            Activity 8: An Easy Benthic Invertebrate Sampler and Diversity Index for Kid Use

            * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *           

            Activity 9: How to Make and Use a Dichotomous Key

            Mystery Snails: IF YOU CAN'T BEAT EM>>>EAT EM! Activity 5 option.

            A Fine Kettle of Fish. A Unit based of uncovering the issues surrounding the legal and illegal stocking of fish and other organisms.
                Download the 27 February 2011 DRAFT version

                Jump to the On-Line Links page for the Maine COLA "Fine Kettle of Fish" Activity

A few Teacher and Mentor Resources for our Aquatic Invasives Unit.

    Plant identification and monitoring:

        Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program (VLMP) and the Maine Center for Invasive Plants. An incredibly rich resource site with training opportunities for adults. 
            Their Virtual Herbarium is a valuable online plant identification resource.

        Species Identification cards (downloadable) from Vital Signs

        The University of Connecticut's Aquatic Guide (pdf). A nice compendium of the distribution and ecology of invasive aquatics in CT. Good pictures.

          USGS Wetland Flora.  Nicely illustrated compendium of the plants typically found in wetlands of the northeatern US.
            An excellent resource for students involved in wetlands protection. Includes photos, drawings and general  description.

        "Through the Looking Glass," is a publication of the University of Wisconsin Coop Extension.  This delightful, large-format field guide to aquatic plants in North America is accessible and inviting to general readers,
            yet detailed enough for use by botanists and natural resource  managers. Costs $24.95 (free shipping) but is a "must have" because it is so well presented and useful.

         The Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconson's (Stevens Point) photographic field guide to submerged and floating-leaf Aquatic Plants. 
            Go to plants of Wisconsin >vascular plants then > Aquatic-semi aquatic. Excellent photo guide with line drawings.  All kinds of plants a very valuable resource for watershed plant surveys.

        "More Plants you Should Know," also from U. of Wisc. (Stevens Point).  Very well done photo compendium of native and invasive aquatic plants. 
            This was a very valuable identification resource when we did our lake's plant survey. Photos are well done.

    Invasives general information:

        Maine Bureau of Land and Water Quality very good links to aquatic invasives with an emphasis on Northeasten US. Be sure to click the "materials" section for additional links and information.

        Defenders of Wildlife's invasive pages general information and links

        An Article from "Action Bioscience"  A good general article on introduced species by Daniel Simberloff. Take time to explore this site and its links.

    Classroom activities and resources for educators:

        A wonderful web-interactive interrelation of nearly all current ecological concepts by grad students of the Coastal and Marine Biology Department of the Università del Salento, Italy

        National Invasive Species Information Center (USDA). Lots of information including an educators' resource area

        Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources check out the teacher resources under the Aquatic Invasives A-Z. Lots of activities.

         Maine Bureau of Land and Water Quality Lesson Plans.  Generally upper elementary through middle school. Very nice ideas for your kids. Check each one! Thank you Denise Blanchette.

         University of Florida IFAS extension. Check out the Wetland and Invasive plants section under Educational Products. Nice line drawings and videos of many of our problematic exotics. Other teacher resources.

        Invaders: Decisions! Decisions! A classroom activity from National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth (grades 5-8). While this example's scenario cards emphasize marine problems, it is a fine model for students developing their own scenarios. 
            In that way it would be kids teaching kids as mentors.  Be sure to also visit the links at the bottom of the page.

        National Biological Information Infrastructure's resources for teachers and student mentors. A very rich collection of invasive species resource ideas. You need to spend some time here. 
            Lots and lots for your classroom and field studies and links to a wide variety of resources.

        Captain Planet Foundation, "The mission of the Captain Planet Foundation is to fund and support hands-on, environmental projects for children and youths.
            Our objective is to encourage innovative programs that empower children and youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities."

        69 reviewed activities for classroom use by teachers relating to the topic of "aquatic plants and animals."  Each activity has appropriate grade levels and is ranked from one to five stars.
            Many of these can easily be modified to fresh water aquatic situations. When "Invasive Species" is plugged into the search bar these 30 lessons are shown. These are more appropriate to our theme, but the first search yielded a few gems, too.

        Sea Grant - Oregon has a nice Aquatic Invasives page for educators. It includes stories, activity guides, lesson plans etc. You can browse though their lesson plans and projects by clicking the "drop down" list to the right of this "Invasive Species 101" page.

        Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) is a nation-wide and international children's program in water resources.  There is a very strong project WET program for teachers  in Maine organized by the University of Maine.
            This is one of the best teacher-oriented programs in Maine.  Try to get involved in a workshop!

        The Florida Invasive Plant Education Initiative and Curriculum has a nice "free Educational Resources for Teachers," page.

 Maine specific information:

        Invasive Aquatic Plants (Maine DEP) Lots of good stuff including how-to tech monitoring manuals

        Maine invasives map  locations of known invasive aquatic species within Maine.

          VLMP's glorious, "Maine Field Guide to Invasive Aquatic Plants: and their common native look-alikes," (pdf).  This is probably the most valuable field tool for you and your kids.  It's downloadable here, but the original water resistant text is best for use in the field.  Contact VLMP

          Invasive Species Impacts On Biodiversity In A Maine Watershed. Great teacher and kid resources from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute's Vital Signs project. The Vital Signs Share Curriculum Resources homepage is here

        Lakes of Maine resource page. Lots of links to Maine resources and information.

        PEARL's linked aquatic resource page for teachers. PEARL is a huge environmental data and information collection organized by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at the U. of Maine. 
            You can search for all kinds of environmental information here.      

    Terrestrial Invasives (e.g. Japanese Knotweed):

        Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Good information on terrestrial invasives like Japanese Knotweed

        University of Wisconsin downloadable aquatic invasives factsheets. Very well done! You'll want them for your kids and mentors. Here's one for Japanese Knotweed. It's listed as an aquatic invasive because it spreads most easily along river banks.