Habitat Mapping
An example of marine habitat mapping.Copyright http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/
How do we study what we cannot see or touch? Students learn about technologies used for underwater mapping, such as benthic habitat images produced by GIS. They participate in a class discussion on why habitat mapping is useful and how current technology works to make bathymetry mapping possible. Through inquiry-based questions, students brainstorm about the importance of bathymetry mapping to help us explore and map the seafloor, marine habitats and the water column. They examine collected data and draw conclusions. Students learn how remote sensing and underwater vehicles designed by engineers give scientists more data to be able to better map marine habitats.
Many engineers design tools and equipment to enable us to investigate places unfriendly to humans or where traditional exploration approaches don't work. For example, the deep marine environment is unique and difficult to explore. With little available light, creative technologies designed by engineers use underwater sound and acoustical systems to gather information to characterize the seafloor, animal locations and habitat. Engineers also design remote sensing technologies and underwater vehicles. Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer applications that store, view and analyze geographic information, such as maps.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain current technologies employed to map resources.
- Draw conclusions from a set of collected data.