6th -8th Grade South Carolina Aquarium Worksheet
Created by Aquarium staff and Aquarium Master teachers, Karey Santos and Colette Dryden

The Great Hall

South Carolina Regions

Draw a line from the name of each major South Carolina region to the region's location on the map above.

Using the map above, estimate what percentage each region of the state covers.

Mountains:
Piedmont:
Sandhills:
Coastal Plain:
Coast:

The Mountains
Design a representative mountain food chain using the animals and plants you find in the mountain forest aviary. Producers are living things that can turn the energy from the sun into food energy. Consumers are living things that must consume other living things to get food energy.

sun ______________ ____________ ____________
SUN PRODUCER CONSUMER CONSUMER

 

Circle the words which best describe mountain streams:

fast-moving slow-moving hot cold oxygen-rich oxygen-poor

 

How could insects be used to determine whether or not a mountain stream is healthy?

 

Would the mountain forests of South Carolina best be described as temperate rain forest (a forest that grows in midlatitude regions where temperatures vary through out the seasons, rainfall is high and humidity tend to be high) or a tropical rain forest (a forest found near the equator where temperatures do not vary much through the seasons and rainfall is high)? Explain your rationale.

 

Piedmont Gallery
The clays found in the Piedmont region of South Carolina are almost impermeable to water (meaning that water does not readily pass through the clay). How does this effect run-off in the region?

 

Why are Piedmont rivers often red?

 

Name two pros and two cons to damming a river.
Pros

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Cons

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Study the Shifting Shorelines Exhibit. How does this help explain how fossilized marine animals can be found in the Sandhills of South Carolina while those of terrestrial animals can be found twenty miles off the coast?

 

Coastal Plain Gallery
Name three animals whose populations have declined almost to the point of extinction. Are any of these animals making a comeback? If so, why?

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  3.  
 Compared to mountain streams, waters of the Coastal Plain are (circle all that are correct):
Faster-moving Slower-moving Colder Warmer
More oxygen-rich Less oxygen-rich Clearer Cloudier

Why are swamp floodplains so fertile?

 

Provide three reasons why swamps are vital ecosystems.

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River otters are mammals. Alligators are reptiles. Mammals have constant body temperatures and are endotherms (their source of heat is inside their bodies). Reptiles have body temperatures that vary and are ectotherms (their source of heat is outside their bodies). Draw a line from each characteristic to the right to the animal on the left that the characteristic best describes. Consider the information provided above and your observations of mammals and reptiles at the Aquarium.

American alligator

river otter

   During the course of a day, this animal would move around a lot
  During the course of a day, the animal would not move around a lot
  This animal would bask underneath a heat source
  Relative to its size, this animal would eat quite a bit in a month
  Relative to its size, this animal would not eat much in a month

Saltmarsh
Where does a salt marsh get its nutrients?        Land        Sea        Land and sea

Humans love to eat seafood. What percentage of the animals eaten as seafood depends on the salt marsh for at least some portion of their lives?
100%         88%         66%         50%         33%         25%

List three threats to South Carolina salt marshes.

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What do archaeologists learn from salt marsh middens?

 

Of the salt marshes that remain along the East Coast, what percentage can be found in South Carolina?
5%         15%         25%         35%         45%         55%

 

Given the list below on the left, place the letter(s) that best describe(s) each item on the right in the space provided.

A Population- a group of organisms that can breed with one another (usually the same species)
B Community- all the organisms that inhabit a particular area
C Niche- the ecological role an organism plays in an ecosystem
D Ecosystem- all of the organisms in an area along with the nonliving things with which they interact
E Not found in the salt marsh
       All of the pinfish
       Salt marsh grass, a producer
       All of the plants and animals in the salt marsh, plus the pluff mud and water
       All of the gar
       Great blue heron, a consumer
       Brook trout, a consumer
       Diamondback terrapin, an omnivore
       Box turtle, an omnivore
       All of the red drum
       Pitcher plant, a producer
       All of the plants and animals living in the salt marsh
       All of the sunfish

Coast
Sand is continually eroded and deposited.
In what season is the most sand deposited?

 

In what season is the least sand deposited?

 

Besides seasonal changes, what else causes beaches to be eroded?

 

What role do humans play in this cycle?

 

All Galleries
 Sound is a form of energy. Which of the animals below is capable of sound production?

whale oyster toadfish rattlesnake
American alligator shrimp green treefrog

 

Ocean
List three abiotic factors (nonliving factors) of ocean water that affect populations of fish living in the ocean.

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How would you expect the characteristics of water at the surface of the ocean to be different from water in the deep ocean?

 

 

How would you expect the adaptations of fish living at the surface of the ocean to differ from fish living in deep water? (The common name of this deep-water fish is Big Eye)short bigeye

 

 

List three things you can do to improve or to protect South Carolina habitats for other living things.

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