GRADE LEVEL: 9-12

SUBJECT MATTER: Science

TIME ALLOTMENT: Two or three 45-minute class periods

OVERVIEW

In this lesson, students will use segments from Nature: Wild Balkans to explore the roles and interrelationships of organisms in the varied environments of the Balkan Peninsula. In the Introductory Activity, students will identify the Balkan Peninsula on a map and hypothesize what natural environments and wildlife might be present there. Students will use an interactive map to identify different regions of the Balkan Peninsula and the wildlife that resides in each region. In the Learning Activity, students will explore the regions of the Balkan Peninsula in more depth by viewing and discussing segments from the episode. Students will explore the habitats and wildlife of each region and the ways in which species collaborate and compete, as well as the role of humans in these environments. In the Culminating Activity, students will explore one species in depth and create a 3-D diorama or computer-generated simulation of the species in its environment. Students will discuss their projects with the class.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:

• Describe at least three different habitats in the Balkan Peninsula and the species that reside in each.
• Explain how species cooperate and compete within an ecosystem.
• Describe the roles that humans play in the Balkan Peninsula.
• Discuss one species in depth, including its preferred habitat and how it cooperates and/or competes with other species.

STANDARDS

National Science Education Standards

Grades 9-12:

Content Standard C: Life Science
Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard include:

• The Interdependence of Organisms
  • Organisms both cooperate and compete in ecosystems. The interrelationships and interdependencies of these organisms may generate ecosystems that are stable for hundreds or thousands of years.
  • Living organisms have the capacity to produce populations of infinite size, but environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension has profound effects on the interactions between organisms.
  • Human beings live within the world’s ecosystems. Increasingly, humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, technology, and consumption. Human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, atmospheric changes, and other factors is threatening current global stability, and if not addressed, ecosystems will be irreversibly affected.
• The Behavior Of Organisms
  • Organisms have behavioral responses to internal changes and to external stimuli. Responses to external stimuli can result from interactions with the organism’s own species and others, as well as environmental changes; these responses either can be innate or learned. The broad patterns of behavior exhibited by animals have evolved to ensure reproductive success. Animals often live in unpredictable environments, and so their behavior must be flexible enough to deal with uncertainty and change. Plants also respond to stimuli.
  • Like other aspects of an organism’s biology, behaviors have evolved through natural selection. Behaviors often have an adaptive logic when viewed in terms of evolutionary principles.

MEDIA COMPONENTS

Nature: Wild Balkans, selected segments

• Danube Delta (Delta Dunarii)

A close look at the Danube Delta (Delta Dunarii), Europe’s most extensive wetland.

• Dobrudza

A look at the dry and stony region of Dobrudza.

• Durmitor

A look at the wildlife and terrain of Durmitor region of the Balkans.

• Kopacki Rit

A look at Kopacki Rit, one of Europe’s most extensive and important wetlands.

• Skadar Lake

A look at Skadar Lake, the largest lake in the Balkans.

• Tikves

A look at the terrain and the vultures & other inhabitants of the desolate, mountainous region of Tikves.

Access the streaming and downloadable video clips at the Video Segments Page.

Websites:

• Interactive Map: Wilderness of the Balkan Peninsula

This map on the Nature: Wild Balkans website highlights the different regions highlighted in the episode. This map is used in the Introductory Activity to provide an overview of the different regions of the Balkan Peninsula.

• Balkan Peninsula Map

This map features the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.

• Photo Gallery: Rare Animals of the Balkans

This page on the Nature: Wild Balkans website features images and descriptions of some of the Balkans’ rarest species. Students could use this as a resource in the Culminating Activity.

MATERIALS

For the class:

• Computers with internet access.
• Computer, projection screen and speakers (for class viewing of online/downloaded video segments).
• 1 copy of the “Regions of the Balkan Peninsula” answer key.

For each student:

• 1 copy of the “Regions of the Balkan Peninsula” student organizer.

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:

Preview all of the video segments and websites used in the lesson.

Download the video clips used in the lesson to your classroom computer(s) or prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.

Bookmark any websites that you plan to use in the lesson on each computer in your classroom. Using a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or diigo (or an online bookmarking utility such as portaportal will allow you to organize all the links in a central location.Print out one copy of the “Regions of the Balkan Peninsula” student organizer for each student.

Print out one copy of the “Regions of the Balkan Peninsula” answer key.

Proceed to ACTIVITIES

Excerpts from the NATURE episode, Wild Balkans.

Danube Delta (Delta Dunarii)
(View full post to see video)
Dobrudza
(View full post to see video)
Durmitor
(View full post to see video)
Kopacki Rit
(View full post to see video)
Skadar Lake
(View full post to see video)
Tikves
(View full post to see video)

1. Danube Delta (Delta Dunarii)
A close look at the Danube Delta (Delta Dunarii), Europe’s most extensive wetland.

2. Dobrudza
A look at the dry and stony region of Dobrudza.

3. Durmitor
A look at the wildlife and terrain of Durmitor region of the Balkans.

4. Kopacki Rit
A look at Kopacki Rit, one of Europe’s most extensive and important wetlands.

5. Skadar Lake
A look at Skadar Lake, the largest lake in the Balkans.

6. Tikves
A look at the terrain and the vultures & other inhabitants of the desolate, mountainous region of Tikves.

To reverse the trend, lion conservationists are enlisting every ally they can find. In early 2006, for instance, two groups — the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Wildlife Conservation Society — held a “lion summit” in Johannesburg, South Africa. They invited Africans from all walks of life to share their views on what it might take to keep lion numbers from dwindling.

Community leaders, for instance, discussed the threat that lions pose to Africa’s growing livestock operations. As cattle herds push into lion habitat, some of the cats have developed a taste for the easy-to-kill cows. Farmers desperate to protect their livelihoods often kill the predators. One key to protecting lions, summit delegates agreed, is to find ways to help farmers better protect their herds. Sometimes the solution is just a stronger fence.

Other delegates discussed the importance of protecting the lion’s natural habitat and sources of food, such as large herds of gazelle. “If there is nothing for them to eat, they turn to livestock and people too, occasionally,” IUCN cat specialist Kristin Nowell told reporters. One key will be making sure prey species have enough room to roam, perhaps by creating new protected areas or better protection in existing parks.

Innovative ways of conserving lions were also on the agenda. In some areas, for instance, tourists will pay big money to see the big cats. If that income can be funneled into local communities, it can create a strong financial incentive to protect the animals, the delegates agreed. Local people often know best “how to live together with lions; they have been doing so for a very long time,” said James Murombedzi, who directs the IUCN’s office in Zimbabwe.

Ironically, even lion hunting might help protect the species, some delegates noted. As NATURE’s The Vanishing Lions shows, trophy hunting for lions can be an important source of income for guides and local inns. The trick is to make sure that hunters don’t kill too many, researchers explained. If limits are set correctly, delegates said in a statement, “trophy hunting [is not] a threat but rather a way to help alleviate human-lion conflict and generate economic benefits for poor people to build their support for lion conservation.”

Overall, organizers are optimistic that the summit will set a new course for lion conservation in Africa. “It helped us to understand where other people are coming from — different backgrounds, different philosophies,” said Julius Kipng’etich, who directs Kenya’s Wildlife Service. “At the end of the day, we boiled it down to one main problem: unsustainable lion populations.”

Now the challenge will be finding the money and political support needed to translate plans into action. Conservationists recall that last century, African governments created parks and reserves in order to to protect lions threatened by overhunting. That success proved fleeting, however, as other problems, including human population growth, emerged. Addressing these problems will take far more sophisticated and cooperative solutions, cautions the IUCN’s Kristin Nowell. But she says the history of lion conservation has provided an important lesson: “We don’t want this century to be a repeat of the last.” This time, conservationists say, people will need to learn how to live with lions…or end up living without them.

Some are big, some are small. They wear feathered coats of amazing colors, or drab plumage that wouldn’t turn a head. Some are loud and raucous, others remarkably mellow. They are the world’s macaws — long tailed parrots that are both greatly beloved — and terribly endangered. And, for the most part, poorly understood.

Macaws are the world’s largest parrots. There are 17 different kinds, ranging in size from the magnificent cobalt-blue hyacinth, which can weigh in at 3 pounds, to the petite Hahns, which might weigh just a tenth as much. Whatever their size, however, macaws are marked by long, graceful tails that can be longer than their bodies. And, in general, larger macaws are more brightly colored than their smaller cousins.

Macaws can be found throughout Central and South America, from wet tropical rainforests to dry scrub lands. But many species prefer to be near rivers or streams; indeed, some of the most famous macaw-watching spots are muddy banks, where macaws apparently gather to harvest minerals and salt from the soil.

For heftier meals, macaws tackle everything from fruit and nectar to seeds and nuts. Often, they will forage over vast distances to find trees flush with ripe pickings. And they can be choosy about nesting sites, taking time to find just the right cavity in a tree or bank.

Scientists, however, know remarkably little about macaw family life. Some believe they mate for life, and produce just a few young a year. Some may live for 60 years or more.

Increasingly, however, they aren’t getting the chance. Habitat loss and hunting are taking a terrible toll. While a few of the 17 macaw species are still abundant, more than half a dozen are considered critically threatened or endangered. There are believed to be less than 3,000 hyacinth macaws in the wild, for instance, and less than 1,000 red-fronted and blue-throated macaws. Just a single Spix’s macaw may still be in the wild. The glaucus macaw is probably already extinct.

Conservationists are racing the clock to prevent that fate from overtaking other macaws. They are monitoring populations and weighing chicks — often working high in dangerous treetops. Others are recording habits and behavior, looking for clues to designing better protection strategies or reserves. Its often exacting, but necessary, work. “Unless we understand their wild biology,” says macaw expert Charles Munn, who is featured in NATURE’s The Real Macaw “we may not be able to avoid the extinction of species after species of these spectacular New World parrots.”

At most, 20,000 orangutans still exist in the wild, which is 30 to 50 percent fewer than were estimated 10 years ago. Once ranging throughout Southeast Asia, the species now occupies only small pockets of habitat on the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. While their future is tied to their habitat, putting their fate primarily in the hands of the Indonesian and Malaysian people whose land they share, it also depends on the global economics that drive the timber market, as well as the worldwide market for illegal pets.

Orangutans are not stay-at-home animals. Every day, they travel through large areas of forest, gathering the variety of bark, insects, and different types of fruit they eat, which are spread throughout thousands of forest acres. But increasingly, the orangutan has had to compete for space with the logging industry. Timber is being harvested out of the orangutan’s habitat, stripping the forests. And most recently, a series of forest fires has devastated the area, causing untold damage to the already fragile habitat.

In addition to suffering the effects of logging practices, the orangutan’s habitat has fallen victim to agricultural development. In Malaysia, palm oil plantations have taken the place of forests, and one plantation can occupy as many as 50,000 acres. As forests are cleared for planting, orangutans’ homes shrink to small clusters of trees on which they are marooned, living in and eating from the trees that are farmers’ livelihoods.

Palm hearts make a delicious meal for an orangutan, who can easily go through 100 or more plants in a single evening. After unsuccessfull attempts to deter the animals by setting out scarecrows and building fences, plantation owners have sometimes resorted to killing the orangutans.

On the island of Borneo, farmers in the Malaysian state of Sabah have the option of capturing orangutans they find and bringing them to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, run by the Sabah Wildlife Department. This facility provides medical care for orphaned and confiscated orangutans, as well as for dozens of other wildlife species. The center also puts wildlife on exhibit for the public as part of an education program. Much like the orangutans at the Wanariset Orangutan Reintroduction Center, the rescue organization in Kalimantan, Borneo, featured on the NATURE program, the animals at Sepilok range from newborns to adults.

Many orangutans are victims of the illegal pet trade, which skyrocketed in the 1980s after a 1986 television show in Taiwan featured a family with an orangutan as a pet. Demand grew quickly, and poachers descended on the rainforests to grab baby orangutans and sell them on the black market. Taiwan is still the biggest illegal importer of baby orangutans. Once these babies mature, however, they become too strong and bossy for their owners, many of whom abandon them.

Even if these abandoned orangutans make it to the safety of a rehabilitative center like Sepilok or Wanariset, great damage has been done: in the process of taking a baby orangutan from the wild, hunters invariably kill the mother, leaving one fewer reproductive female. While a rescued baby may eventually return to the wild, it will be years before he or she will have offspring.

The work at Wanariset to reintroduce orangutans into the wild, as you see on NATURE, is making some headway in counteracting the combined threat of deforestation and kidnapping.

But first, the workers there must spend a lot of time teaching the resident apes how to survive in the wild: kidnapped before they can absorb the crucial lessons of life from their mothers, many of these animals have no idea how to perform basic skills like climbing, swinging, or harvesting fruit. As long as the animals reintroduced into the wild are disease-free and can fend for themselves, there is a chance that they will produce a new generation of wild-born offspring.

If you are interested in learning more about Wanariset and the work they do, visit their Web site, where it is possible to help the cause by sponsoring an individual orangutan and watching its progress from halfway around the world via the Internet.