Investigating endangered species

The Eastern sand darter is an endangered species of fish in Ontario.

Endangered means there’s a real risk of it becoming extinct, like dinosaurs.

There are only a few creeks in Southern Ontario where the Eastern sand darter is now living.

Investigate the following image of an Eastern sand darter.

What do you notice, think, and wonder about the sand darter?

What questions do you have for scientists who are studying this fish?

Record your ideas in the following fillable and printable Think, Notice, Wonder document. You can also record your ideas using a method of your choice.

Animal adaptations

Let’s check out some animal adaptations!

Behaviour and appearance

Animals adapt to where they live and who they live with. This means that they have special body parts and behaviours that help them survive in their environment.

For example, animals who live in the far north adapt to the cold with fur and fat.

Adapting behaviours

Animals who live in warm areas adapt the to the heat by finding shade, drinking water, or swimming to cool down.

Animals who cannot adapt to the extreme weather migrate to another place where they are comfortable. Hawks and salmon are two migrating animals.

Adapting appearances

Another animal adaptation is their physical features. Animals can’t change their physical features, but over many generations the animals that are best able to live in their environment are the ones who survive. These animals pass down their traits to their young.

This is how we have animals who are camouflaged to their surroundings. For example:

• an Eastern screech owl can camouflage against a tree to help hide while hunting
• a Snowshoe hare can camouflage itself against the snow to protect itself from predators
• the sand darter can camouflage into sand and rocks at the bottom of a stream

Explore the following images of animals using camouflage!

Let’s check your learning!

In the following Matching activity, choose the animal that best fits the adaptation!

Eastern sand darter

The Eastern sand darter gets its name from:

• the way it moves: by darting in quick short movements
• where it lives: in the sand
• how it behaves: it stays close to the sand to camouflage and buries itself into the sand to hide from bigger fish who might eat it

The following are two adaptations the Eastern sand darter uses to protect itself:

• its physical appearance (colours and spots)
• the way it behaves

Let’s investigate further!

Let’s investigate with scientific researchers to understand how such a small fish can teach us about our changing environment.

You will be using research skills to do this investigation. Scientists observe the world around them using clues from words, images, sounds, smells, things they taste, and things they feel. To observe is a great way to learn!

We are going to explore a video clip about the Eastern sand darter. In the video, Sayat and Christian team up with some researchers to learn more about the Eastern sand darter.

The question these researchers and Sayat and Christian are trying to answer is:

Knowing the answer will help scientists help fish in a changing climate where water becomes warmer.

The young scientists are about to conduct an experiment to learn more about the Eastern sand darter. When scientists conduct experiments, they follow certain rules and procedures that help to keep them safe and find answers to their questions and predictions.

Let’s explore some ways that scientists can experiment!

What equipment and materials are needed to conduct their experiment? Using the following checklist, check off all the equipment and materials that you notice in the video:

Now, let’s access the video “Leo’s FishHeads: Hot Water” to find out more about the Eastern sand darter.

When conducting an experiment, it is important to think about:

• what materials you need
• what steps you will take
• how you will stay safe
• how much time you will need

The Eastern sand darter can act as an indicator species. An indicator species gives clues to scientists about the temperature of the water and how it is affecting animals who live there.

Let’s explore the next part of Sayat and Christian’s experiment.

As you explore the video, try to follow along with the steps in the experiment.

Use your observations to put the experiment steps in order by following along with Sayat and Christian.

The Eastern sand darter experiment is run on many fish each day. Running an experiment many times helps to make sure that your answers to your research question can be confirmed.

If all fish behave the same way, then your results are reliable.

Drawing a conclusion

At the end of an experiment, scientists put their learning together into a conclusion. Most of the time the scientists create a list of new questions!

Create your own conclusion about the Eastern sand darter experiment. You can record your ideas using a format of your choice.

Use the following sentence starter to come up with your conclusion:

Scientists also create a conclusion that are related to their research question. For this experiment, the question was:

This learning activity connects new and existing approaches for young scientists to create positive changes in their communities.

Animals like the Eastern sand darter can be helpful to scientists to understand how humans can better protect the habitat where these animals live. Through studying the Eastern sand darter, scientists can make some plans to protect and restore their habitat.

What can people do? Press ‘Helping Ideas’ to check out how a Grade 2 student can help!

Helping Ideas

Reflection

How do you feel about what you have learned in this activity? Which of the next four sentences best matches how you are feeling about your learning? Press the button that is beside this sentence.

Now, record your ideas about your feelings using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.