Island Fox Module

Description

The Island Fox Module explores the origins and plight of the Channel Island’s most iconic fauna. This tiny endemic creature nearly went extinct in the early 2000’s, but experienced a miraculous recovery thanks to a massive multi-agency effort. It was the fastest that an animal has ever gone onto and off of the Endangered Species List. The fox’s story is an ideal case study in the perils of human impacts, our ability to right past wrongs, and the way that stories and societal values guide what species we save.

Key Themes

Endangered Species
‍
Endemic and Invasive Species
‍
Conservation

Useage

This module contains materials for roughly 5.25 hours of instruction.

Suggested Grade Level: 6-9

Lessons

The following sequence of lessons and activities walk students through the story of the island fox. Through this story, students will learn the broader ecosystem importance of protecting individual species, the true collaboration that such recovery efforts take, and how stories shape the way we save a species. These elements can be completed in sequence, or as separate lessons.

Engage

Reading: How much am I worth?

Students will examine a cute photo of an island fox, and an infographic showing how much it cost to save the island fox, and then discuss using the See Think Wonder format.
Island Visions, pages 194-5 and 198-199

Discussion Guide

Suggested Duration: 30 minutes

Explore

Independent Research: Saving a Species

Students will examine the resources below, completing a comprehension worksheet.

Web Experience: The Fox Story
Follow the journey of the island fox, from its unique evolution to near extinction to recovery.
‍islandvisions.org/islandfox
Read: “Why Save Them”
Biologist Peter Dratch discusses the importance of saving endangered species like the fox.
‍Island Visions pages 208-209

Comprehension Worksheet

Suggested Duration: 40 minutes self-guided exploration

Explain

Class Discussion: What did it take?

Students will revisit the question of what it took to save the island fox with the larger context of the Explore resources in mind.

Discussion Guide

Suggested Duration: 30 minutes

Elaborate

Activity: Species Story

Students will research and tell the story of other endangered species.

Activity Guide

Suggested Duration: 3 hours (some can be done as homework, total time dependent on whether activity is done individually or in groups)

Evaluate

Class Discussion: Facing Extinction

Students will discuss what we can learn from the stories of the island fox and the other species students researched, examining how our telling of these stories impacts which animals we save.

Discussion Guide

Suggested Duration: 40 minutes

6th Grade

Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. (MS-ESS3-3)

7th Grade

Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1)
Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared. (MS-LS2-2)
Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)
Small changes in one part of a system might cause large changes in another part. (MS-LS2-4),(MS-LS2-5)
There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. (secondary to MS-LS2-5)

8th Grade

Anatomical similarities and differences between various organisms living today and between them and organisms in the fossil record, enable the reconstruction of evolutionary history and the inference of lines of evolutionary descent. (MS-LS4-2)
Natural selection leads to the predominance of certain traits in a population, and the suppression of others. (MS-LS4-4)
In artificial selection, humans have the capacity to influence certain characteristics of organisms by selective breeding. One can choose desired parental traits determined by genes, which are then passed on to offspring. (MS-LS4-5)
Adaptation by natural selection acting over generations is one important process by which species change over time in response to changes in environmental conditions. Traits that support successful survival and reproduction in the new environment become more common; those that do not become less common. Thus, the distribution of traits in a population changes. (MS-LS4-6)

High School

A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions. If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient), as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem. Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability. (HS-LS2-2),(HS-LS2-6)
Environmental factors also affect expression of traits, and hence affect the probability of occurrences of traits in a population. Thus the variation and distribution of traits observed depends on both genetic and environmental factors. (HS-LS3-2),(HS-LS3-3)
Natural selection leads to adaptation, that is, to a population dominated by organisms that are anatomically, behaviorally, and physiologically well suited to survive and reproduce in a specific environment. That is, the differential survival and reproduction of organisms in a population that have an advantageous heritable trait leads to an increase in the proportion of individuals in future generations that have the trait and to a decrease in the proportion of individuals that do not. (HS-LS4-3),(HS-LS4-4)
Changes in the physical environment, whether naturally occurring or human induced, have thus contributed to the expansion of some species, the emergence of new distinct species as populations diverge under different conditions, and the decline–and sometimes the extinction–of some species. (HS-LS4-5),(HS-LS4-6)
Moreover, anthropogenic changes (induced by human activity) in the environment—including habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change—can disrupt an ecosystem and threaten the survival of some species. (HS-LS2-7)
Humans depend on the living world for the resources and other benefits provided by biodiversity. But human activity is also having adverse impacts on biodiversity through overpopulation, overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, and climate change. Thus sustaining biodiversity so that ecosystem functioning and productivity are maintained is essential to supporting and enhancing life on Earth. Sustaining biodiversity also aids humanity by preserving landscapes of recreational or inspirational value. (HS-LS4-6) (Note: This Disciplinary Core Idea is also addressed by HS-LS2-7.)
When evaluating solutions, it is important to take into account a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, and to consider social, cultural, and environmental impacts. (secondary to HS-LS4-6)
New technologies can have deep impacts on society and the environment, including some that were not anticipated. Analysis of costs and benefits is a critical aspect of decisions about technology. (HS-ETS1-1) (HS-ETS1-3)

Island Fox Module

Description

Key Themes

Useage

Lessons

Engage

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Evaluate

Optional Add Ons

Additional Resources

CA Environmental Principlesand Concepts (EPCs)

CA Next Generation Science Standards (NGSSs)

CA Environmental Principles
and Concepts (EPCs)

CA Next Generation
Science Standards (NGSSs)