Getting their name from their burrowing behavior, gopher tortoises play a vital role as a keystone species in the sandhills ecosystem they call home. It’s here that we will see why these creatures have one the “dirtiest job” and explore the impact of significant habitat loss to the species and ecosystem. We’ll then follow a partnership between wildlife management and a university working to restore the gopher tortoise population in the sandhills region.
Getting their name from their burrowing behavior, gopher tortoises play a vital role as a keystone species in the sandhills ecosystem they call home. It’s here that we will see why these creatures have one the “dirtiest job” and explore the impact of significant habitat loss to the species and ecosystem. We’ll then follow a partnership between wildlife management and a university working to restore the gopher tortoise population in the sandhills region.
Standards
- K-LS1-1. LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
- 1-LS1-1 Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
- 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare patterns of diversity within different habitats.
- 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.
- 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the effectiveness of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and affects organisms living there.
- 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function together in a system to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
- 7-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem
- B-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
- B-LS4-5 Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
- B-LS4-6 Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.
Resources
Conserving the Gopher Tortoise
High school Biology students will understand the ecological importance of turtles and tortoises, focusing on the gopher tortoise as a keystone species in the sandhills ecosystem of South Carolina...
View LessonGopher Tortoise Trivia Quiz | What's Wild
The season two premiere of What's Wild looked at a keystone species found in South Carolina’s sandhills. The gopher tortoise has one of the dirtiest jobs. If you caught this episode, come out of your...
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