Through the Microscope our students entered a whole other world, with organisms of different shapes and sizes all seeming to scurry in an even busier world. Who are they and where are they off to? A question that popped in all the minds of our Grade 8 Class as we studied water samples from different ecosystems.
Planktons our unseen heroes who are the real soldiers which keep the abiotic elements and in turn the biotic elements intact thereby sustaining the ecosystem.
Phytoplankton being the foundation of the web or posing as primary producers, feed everything from microscopic, animal-like zooplankton, Bivalves to multi-ton whales. Our Students not only understood how the aquatic food chain depends so heavily on plankton but how these species are threatened by Climate Change and Rising sea temperatures.
This discussion led to further conversations about El Nino and La Nina two very important phenomena that steered our lesson back to the focal point of the Biodiversity in different ecosystems and how we as humans needs to conserve it.
