Critter Bins: Taxonomic Classification Focused
Overview
Investigate how the lobster population has changed in the Sound. Students will be working through a series of stations which includes a live lobster!
Highlights
Program Type: Lab
Program Duration: 1.25 Hours
Trip Season: Sept-June (Organism diversity is based on season availability)
Student Limit: Up to 20
Ocean Literacy Principle: #1: Earth has one big ocean with many features. #2: The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of Earth. #6: The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected.
Trip Description
Students will rotate through stations in which they examine live lobsters, practice skills related to the lobster fishery such as lobster measurement and banding, examine a lobster trap, learn about lobster life cycles, interpret data from CT DEEP and Project Oceanology on climate change and lobster populations in Long Island Sound, and create a graph based on Project Oceanology’s lobster catch dataset. We’ll end with a discussion of causes and consequences of the lobster die-off in Long Island Sound.
Labs taught a Project O take place over 2.5 hours so this program plus one additional lab of your choosing will be taught.