emammal-racoon

Camera Trap Stakeout Lesson 1

Students will deploy camera traps to collect information about the types of mammals present in a particular location. They will use custom software to upload and analyze the images captured, accurately identify the mammals photographed and share data with researchers.

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Lesson Plan

Objectives

  • Students will use camera traps as a tool for scientific investigation.
  • Students will demonstrate how to set up a camera trap correctly.
  • Students will accurately identify regional mammals in the community.
  • Students will use software to upload images and data to eMammal, a citizen science project.

About eMammal

Academic Standards Addressed

NC Essential Standards

  • 6.L.2 Understand the flow of energy through ecosystems and the responses of populations to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.
  • 6.L.2.3 Summarize how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater, marine, forest, grasslands, desert, Tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive and/or create their own food through photosynthesis.
  • 8.L.3 Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic components of their environment.
  • 8.L.3.1 Explain how factors such as food, water, shelter and space affect populations in an ecosystem.
  • 8.L.3.2 Summarize the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers including the positive and negative consequences of such interactions including:
    • Coexistence and cooperation
    • Competition (predator/prey)
    • Parasitism

Next Generation Science Standards

MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics

  • MS-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
  • MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
  • MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
  • MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.