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Cape Cod holds many secrets for you to unfold. For example, take a leisurely walk through the Mashpee River Woodlands in Mashpee,MA or Green Briar Nature Center in Sandwich, MA. These are but two examples of nature sites located on Cape Cod . Each provides us with a first hand view of the plants, animals, and insects that are part of our ecological cycle. Notice the likenesses/differences among the animals and plants you see in the marshes with those you once found in woodlands or ponds. Think about trees, grass, fish, sea animals, and insects as you walk the paths. Better yet, check these websites below and enter a world of wonder. Ultimately, become an expert ecologist and participate in the production of a Field Guide for the Conservation of Salt Marsh Plants and Animals

Your TASK ,as an ecologists, is to create a Field Guide for the Conservation of Salt Marsh Plants and Animals. A detailed description of your guide may be found under PROCESS. This guide will then be given to members of the E.P.A. who are investigating the preservation of salt habitats on Cape Cod. Therefore, please include an ACTION PLAN for the CONSERVATION of SALT MARSH HABITATS on CAPE COD within the Field Guide.

Questions:

• · To what extent are the life forms (plants and animals) found in a Salt Marsh the same or different than those found in the Woodlands and/or Ponds?
• · Why should we strive to preserve these life forms within their natural habitat?

In order to answer the first question, you will need to have knowledge about Woodlands and Ponds. Remember, you may visit two of our other ecological websites-

Woodlands

Ponds

When you have completed this WebQuest, you should have achieved the following:

• · Review the life forms of plants/animals in woodlands and ponds (highly recommended)).
• · Check the websites to peek an interest and general understanding of a salt marsh habitat.
• · Develop an interest in conserving the salt marshes on Cape Cod.
• · Duplicate a cross-section map of a salt marsh noting distinctive plants/ animals found in each portion of the Salt Marsh Community.
• · Tour a salt marsh with your fellow ecologists to observe and collect data.
• · Draw a scaled reproduction of a Salt Marsh on Cape Cod.
• · Discover the vegetation zones of a Salt Marsh.
• · List five suggested activities for preserving Salt Marshes on Cape Cod.
• · Discuss and evaluate suggested activities for preservation with your group.
• · Write a Field Guide by collating information collected by each ecologist in your

Complete each task/question.

•  Write a general introduction for your Field Guide. Take notes first.
• Describe tbe the food web cycle of the salt marsh. Include the desciption in your Field Guide.

• Gather general information on the location and general features of a salt marsh. What lives in a salt marsh? Describe its plants and animals. Draw the plants/animals that you observe to scale. Note the scale used.

• What attempts have been made to conserve coastal marshes? How may you use these methods to recommend the conservation of Cape Cod marshes?
• Read about the attempts made by Rachel Carson, a leading environmentalist.Write a list of recommendations and include in your Field Guide.

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge

• Check ecology threatened and endangered animal's species at KSC. The soil, plants and animals may be different, but how is the problem of conservation the same in Florida as it is on Cape Cod?

Kennedy Space Center

• Check the species under threat.
• What has man done to change the habitat?

World Conservation Monitoring Center

• Check out the endangered habitat of the wetlands in Southwestern United States.
• How has man changed the habitat? What tips may be gleaned for your Action Plan?

Species Under Threat

• Become acquainted with how man has destroyed natural habitats that once were accessible to fish and macrocrustaceans. Discover the impact on plants and animal.
• Gather evidence to foster conservation of marshland. Write an outline including key words and phrases needed to convince your group to conserve marshland. You will find this information at the Missouri Botanical Gardens website.

Marine Resources Division, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

NOW IT IS TIME TO Check Cape Cod marshes. Evaluate the information listed in the sites above. Take a field trip tour of a Cape Cod salt marsh. Suggestions follow. Include information you will gather on your guided tour of Cape Cod marshes. Once you think you have sufficient information to include in your Field Guide, meet with your group to compare and contrast facts. Then discuss what is to be included in you FIVE POINT ACTION PLAN to conserve the natural habitat of plants and animals within the marshes of Cape Cod.

• Thornton Burgess Society
• Mashpee River Woodlands (woodlands, marsh, river)

  Located off Rt. 28, Mashpee, MA

• South Cape Beach Nature Trail

  Walk along the Salt Marsh. See endangered Species of birds.

  Located off Mashpee Rotary, Mashpee, MA

• MA Audubon Society

  Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary The Boardwalk

• Cape Cod Museum of Natural History - Brewster, MA

Off-Cape Cod Site

Salt Marsh Habitat

Rt. 1 ,Salem, MA

Each member of your group has become an expert ecologist from the perspective of having studied animals, plants, water, and insects found in the salt marsh. Your task is to come up with a Field Guide. Included in this Field Guide will be an Action Plan, which will address the need to preserve this natural habitat. Your Field Guide will include an introduction, maps, scaled drawings and a Five Point Action Plan to present to the EPA. Your group will recommend conservation of the salt marsh as a natural habitat.

Conclusion

Through the combined efforts of each member of your group, you have learned stategies for studying a complex problem- the conservation of ponds, woodlands, and the salt marsh on Cape Cod. Your group has analyzed sll of the complex information that you have found either on the Internet or a field trip. Your group then formulated a Five Point Action Plan. It is this Action Plan which your group will give to the EPA as an effective solution for the conservaion of these habitats. Finally, your group will include this Action Plan in a Field Guide .

Now that you know what needs to be done,WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO BEGIN?