On the final day of work before students share their work by presenting to stakeholders tomorrow, groups put the finishing touches on tri-folds and formulated responses to questions they should anticipate during their presentations. Each student should be prepared to share their understanding of the following list of questions:
- What exactly are algae?
- How do algae obtain energy?
- How do algae fit into the ecosystem?
- How do algae make more algae?
- What does it mean for algae to “bloom”?
- Why do algae bloom?
- When do algae bloom?
- What happens to the ecosystem when algae bloom?
- Why do algae only bloom at certain times?
- What are the conditions that lead to algal blooms?
- Why do algal blooms end?
There are a number of excellent resources on the Internet to help students formulate answers to these questions and many more. Here are a selection:
- All About Algae website
- Algal Bloom reference on Science Daily
- Harmful Algal Blooms on EPA website
- Washington State Dept of Ecology Marine Algae Blooms website
- Sound Toxins website highlighting toxic algae with impacts on shellfish industry
- Algae Bloom news reports on KUOW (audio)
- Algae Bloom news reports on NPR (audio)
- Marine viruses may help control algal blooms – article on The Scientist website
- Department of Ecology blog post about Puget Sound health in Summer 2015
- Impact of macro algae in Dumas Bay (Federal Way)
The Art of Science 