Answer Key
6th -8th Grade South Carolina Aquarium Worksheet

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: The Mountain region covers approximately 2% of South Carolina's area.
Piedmont: The Piedmont region covers approximately 30% of South Carolina's area.
Sandhills: The Sandhills region covers approximately 8% of South Carolina's area.
Coastal Plain: The Coastal Plain region covers approximately 55% of South Carolina.
Coast: The Coast region covers approximately 5% of South Carolina's area.

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

Possible food chains in the Mountain Forest Aviary:
Sun > algae > stoneroller (fish) > river otter
Sun > hemlock (pine tree) > cardinal > copperhead
Sun > fern > cricket > salamander
Many other food chains are possible.

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?
Some species of insects are more susceptible to the effects of pollution than others. These are known as indicator species because their presence in a stream indicates that the stream is healthy. If the stream was unhealthy, they would have all died off and none would be found in the stream.

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.
Because the mountain forests of South Carolina are above 30 degrees north latitude, far from the equator, they could better be described as temperate rainforests than tropical rainforests. Though they come close, they do not receive enough rainfall to be considered a rainforest.

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?
Because the soils of the Piedmont are filled with impermeable clays, water does not seep through them easily, and rainfall is more likely to runoff along the surface than to become groundwater.

Why are Piedmont rivers often red?
Rivers in the Piedmont are often red because they are filled with clay particles eroded from the soil by surface runoff.

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

  1. Hydroelectric dams provide a cheap source of electric power to local communities.
  2. Dams help control flooding in areas of the river downstream.
  3. Dams provide increased recreation opportunities for boating and for fishing.

Cons
  1. Dams and reservoirs alter the environment, destroying the habitat of many fish and other aquatic species that are adapted to river environments.
  2. Dams stop the transport of nutrients and sediment downstream which means nutrients in the soils downstream of the river are not replenished as quickly, and little new sand is brought to the coast to replace the sand lost on the beach to erosion.

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?
The earth's climate goes through periodic changes where the temperature rises and falls. When this happens the sea level will rise and fall as well. At different times in South Carolina's history the coastline has been as far inland as the Sandhills near Columbia and as far offshore as forty miles. For this reason, marine fossils can be found in the Sandhills and terrestrial fossils can be found twenty miles offshore, because these animals lived there at one time.

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?
  1. Black bear have declined drastically in population because of habitat loss due to development and introduced diseases that destroy trees, such as the chestnut blight. Because of improved management strategies, black bear have begun to make a comeback, though loss of habitat remains a problem.
  2. Bald eagles were almost extinct, but have made a comeback because of habitat restoration and because of the banning of pesticides such as DDT, a pesticide that was killing bald eagles and other birds.
  3. Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes continue to decline in number because of loss of habitat due to development.
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?
Along with the nutrients left behind by the vegetation growing in the swamps, frequent floods bring nutrients into the swamps that are filtered out by mud and vegetation. These nutrients make swamp floodplains very fertile.

Provide three reasons why swamps are vital ecosystems.

  1. Swamps improve water quality for areas downstream by filtering out excess nutrients, sediment and other contaminants in rivers and streams.
  2. Swamps help control floods by holding excess rainfall and slowly releasing it.
  3. Swamps provide a crucial habitat for many plants and animals.

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

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

Saltmarsh Aviary
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.

  1. Development of coastal areas removes salt marsh habitat.
  2. Pollution seriously affects salt marsh water quality and the animals that live there.
  3. Dredging, channeling, erosion and siltation all effect salt marshes by removing needed soils or by depositing sediment in the marsh, burying existing habitat.

What do archaeologists learn from salt marsh middens?
Middens are ancient refuse piles. From the ones found in salt marshes, archaeologists can learn what the diet of coastal Native Americans was like, as well as what organisms were prevalent in the salt marsh environment during historical times.

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
 A   All of the pinfish
 C   Salt marsh grass, a producer
 D   All of the plants and animals in the salt marsh, plus the pluff mud and water
 E   All of the gar
 C   Great blue heron, a consumer
 E   Brook trout, a consumer
 A   Diamondback terrapin, an omnivore
 E   Box turtle, an omnivore
 A   All of the red drum
 E   Pitcher plant, a producer
 B   All of the plants and animals living in the salt marsh
 E   All of the sunfish

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

In what season is the least sand deposited?
In the winter more sand is eroded off the beaches than is deposited.

Besides seasonal changes, what else causes beaches to be eroded?
Beaches are eroded by winds, waves, storms and hurricanes.

What role do humans play in this cycle?
By developing beaches, humans help increase the rate of erosion. Buildings and sea walls on sand dunes remove natural barriers that slow down erosion. The building of dams on rivers stops the transport of sand that could reach the coast and help to replenish the sand eroded from the beaches. Groins built to slow erosion on one beach will be robbing the sand of another beach farther down the current.

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.

  1. The temperature of water affects the populations found in different ocean environments.
  2. The depth of water affects how much sunlight penetrates, which affects the populations found.
  3. The salinity of water affects the populations found in different ocean environments.
  4. Ocean currents move the water, affecting the populations that live there.
  5. The amount of nutrients in the water supports food chains and affects how large the populations can be.

How would you expect the characteristics of water at the surface of the ocean to be different from water in the deep ocean?
Water at the surface of the ocean will tend to be warmer, have more light and therefore more visibility, and have more plant-life and more oxygen than 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?
Fish living near the surface tend to be silver in color, to camouflage themselves in the glare of the sunlight, while fish living in deeper water tend to be darker in color. Also, deep water fish tend to have much larger eyes than surface fish, to help them see in the darker waters.

short bigeye(The common name of this deep-water fish is Big Eye)

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

  1. Pick up any trash you find not in a garbage can and put it in the right place.
  2. Recycle plastic, metal, paper and glass.
  3. Plant native plants in the home of your yard or school.
  4. Join a conservation organization.