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Life on the Coast

English Version

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ANIMAL FAMILIES WE KNOW

Work in small groups to have students name as many animals that they know from the region and that rely on the ocean

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Fish & Marine Mammals

Fishing is Greenland’s largest source of revenue

Whales & Seals are both mammals

Did you know that the whale’s ancestor was a land dweller that resembled a crocodile?!

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Seaweed, Algae & Crustaceans

Shrimp are crustaceans.
Crustaceans are in the insect family!
Algae are single-celled organisms that carry out photosynthesis.
Groups of algae can go together forming seaweed.

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Birds & Jellyfish

Jellyfish have hardly changed for at least 580 million years!
Birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs.

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Sharks & Rays

Sharks & Rays are related to each other!
The do not have calcium in their bones like we do so their ‘skeleton’ is much softer and made of cartilage

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Starfish & Sea Urchins

Starfish and Sea Urchins are closely related.
There are many of both in Greenland
Like no other organism they have no heart and no brain!

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Where do animals live?

A habitat is the natural home of an animal, plant, or other organism. It is where the best food and conditions are for that species.
For example a sculpin fish lives around the seabed in a place with seaweed, rocks and sand. It has food there and it blends in because its skin looks like seaweed and stone.

Where Do Animals Live?

Natural Home

A habitat is where an animal or plant naturally belongs. A fish can naturally be found in the water. And more specifically, you can see where the different fish can be found. They prefer to live in different places in the water. The places they prefer in the water are their natural habitat. This is where they can best get food and live best. With plants is where they want to grow, but the same thing happens with plants. They grow in the soil that they are developed to grow in. What type of soil gives them the most food. example, a cactus likes dry soil and gets its best food there. They can hold water for a long time, therefore they can live there.

Example for animals: Sculpin lives around the seabed and beach because it looks like its skin is seaweed and stone. Its habitat is seabed with seaweed, rocks and sand.

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Example of a habitat and a resident.

This sculpin blends into its habitat.

It eats other animals that live in this habitat like kelp, fleas and smaller fish.

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Ecology

All habitats and their inhabitants are connected through a Food Chain!
What are our human relationships with habitats and their inhabitants?
Why is it important for us to take care of them?

ECOLOGY

- How all habitats and their inhabitants are connected, Food chain

- What are our (human) relationships with habitats and their inhabitants.

Why is it important to take care of them?

1) All habitats are connected and all the residents from the different habitats are also connected. If you remove a habitat and a resident who lives there is also removed, it will have an effect on other habitats and residents.
2) We eat and use many of the habitats. Even if we don't see them every day, it is important to understand the context. If, for example, there were no more cod in our water, there wouldn't be very many seals either, which we eat so often. The prisoners will lack money because there is no cod or seals to catch. It all ties together. Who eats what and what does it mean for us that it is so.
3) That is why it is so important to look after our nature. If the shrimp die out, or the krill die out, there won't be any more whales or very many fish because so many live on these.
4) It can form a kind of chain reaction with other habitats and residents if a habitat and a resident are exterminated. It can mean a lot to us humans because it is so important for us in Greenland to live from the sea. If we overfish and eradicate 1 species, it may mean that we also harm the other species.
5) Ecology is the whole large interplay between all habitats, their inhabitants and all the small interactions between them. It's about all the small interactions between the habitats and their inhabitants - how things work

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What will happen if?

The cod disappeared?
The shrimp disappeared?
If the water gets warmer?

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Next Activity 6.3