Global Phytoplankton Distribution Story Map
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Students will identify and describe the relationship between watersheds and phytoplankton distribution.
This story map lesson plan allows students to explore global phytoplankton distribution using chlorophyll concentration data in a 5 E-learning cycle. Students will investigate the processes that allow phytoplankton populations to thrive, as well as how their role in the carbon cycle impacts the other spheres of the Earth System.
Students identify patterns in chlorophyll concentration data to formulate their explanations of phytoplankton distribution.
Students use Phytopia: Exploration of the Marine Ecosystem, a computer-based tool, to investigate various phytoplankton species and topics relating to phytoplankton biology.
This lesson is taken from NASA's Phytopia: Discovery of the Marine Ecosystem written in partnership with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science with funding from the National Science Foundation.
Students will analyze the monthly seasonal chlorophyll concentration images in our global oceans for the four different months of 2017, and then answer the following questions.
Explore the biosphere and why it is important.
Students identify patterns and describe the relationship between chlorophyll concentration and incoming shortwave radiation.
Phytoplankton distribution background information.