Species Interaction Activity

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In order to help students better understand the interconnectedness of  species, assign a desert species to each student or pair of students.  The students will research their species, finding out where it lives, what it eats, what species it interacts with directly. As a class, construct a web of all of the species assigned, and connect each species as they interact in the wild.  If the species selected interact closely enough, students should be able to see how essential each species is, and the importance of protecting all species in an ecosystem. They should also be able to see the reason that removing even one important species can be detrimental to an ecosystem.   

This lesson can be connected to lessons on keystone species and endangered species. 

Species can be selected from the endangered species list or from the following list:

As students research their species, they may find more species that should be added to the web, to create a more accurate illustration of the importance of all species.

More species, as well as good descriptions of the species, can be found in: Tweit, Susan J. The Great Southwest Nature Factbook. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 1992.