Connecting Invasive Species to Ocean Science Literacy

Recent efforts by NOAA, the National Geographic, COSEE's, the College of Exploration and the National Marine Educators Association have resulted in an articulation of what ocean literacy is and what are the fundamental principles and concepts (P&C) that an ocean literate person should understand. This effort went one huge step further, and that was to map these P&C's to the National Science Education Standards in a concise tabular matrix see: http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy.

The issue of invasive species can be easily linked to two of the fundamental P&C's to provide a national context for studying this topic:

Principle #5. The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.

Concepts:

c. Some major groups are found exclusively in the ocean. The
diversity of major groups of organisms is much greater in the
ocean than on land.

d. Ocean biology provides many unique examples of life cycles,
adaptations and important relationships among organisms (such
as symbiosis, predator-prey dynamics and energy transfer) that
do not occur on land.

e. The ocean is three-dimensional, offering vast living space and
diverse habitats from the surface through the water column to
the seafloor. Most of the living space on Earth is in the ocean.

f. Ocean habitats are defined by environmental factors. Due to
interactions of abiotic factors such as salinity, temperature,
oxygen, pH, light, nutrients, pressure, substrate and circulation,
ocean life is not evenly distributed temporally or spatially, i.e., it
is "patchy". Some regions of the ocean support more diverse
and abundant life than anywhere on Earth, while much of the
ocean is considered a desert.

Principle #6. The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected.

Concepts:

e. Humans affect the ocean in a variety of ways. Laws, regulations
and resource management affect what is taken out and put into
the ocean. Human development and activity leads to pollution
(such as point source, non-point source, and noise pollution) and
physical modifications (such as changes to beaches, shores and
rivers). In addition, humans have removed most of the large
vertebrates from the ocean.

g. Everyone is responsible for caring for the ocean. The ocean
sustains life on Earth and humans must live in ways that sustain
the ocean. Individual and collective actions are needed to
effectively manage ocean resources for all.