Educatio biologiae, No. 3., 2017.
Stručni rad
https://doi.org/10.32633/eb.3.6
Urban streams – accessible habitats for conducting ecological research within natural science and biology school classes
Mirela Sertić Perić
orcid.org/0000-0002-4744-7884
; Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Biološki odsjek, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Ines Radanović
; Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Biološki odsjek, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
By expanding urban zones and increasing the urban population, cities have become the largest source of pollution. Contemporary urban activities increase the quality of life of the city's population, and they change the natural state of the environment. Therefore, urban ecology has emerged in modern biology - one of the newer disciplines crucial for urbanism and urban planning, which enables the assessment of environmental status in cities and the implementation of systematic monitoring for the purpose of preserving and protecting urban ecosystems, including urban watercourses. In this paper we present an example of a research dealing with urban streams, i.e., exploring the scale and possible consequences of urban impacts on ecology of aquatic ecosystems and likely serving as a basis for explaining basic ecological concepts and contents such as the structure of biological communities, nutritional network, oligotrophy. Furthermore, by linking urban ecology topic with the problem of endangered water resources, and using urban streams as model habitats to explore ecological themes (and concepts) in natural science and biology school classes, pupils (besides important ecological concepts) meet the modern ideology of "green growth", "green" cities, sustainable development, environmental protection and regional development. Described study is appropriate for upper secondary school students (Biology 7 and 8) and/or secondary school students (in form of short- and/or long-term ecological survey of urban streams close to school/student environment). It includes the investigation of ecological status of urban streams through monitoring: (i) water quality (physical-chemical properties of water); (ii) the composition of aquatic fauna, which forms the basis of feeding chains in aquatic ecosystems (benthic macroinvertebrates and periphytic organisms); (iii) dynamics of transport (downstream drift) of organisms in urban watercourses; (iv) a biotic index based on observed macroinvertebrates as water contamination information. It is important to note that selected activities can be applied in exploring basic biological indicators of all - not just urban - aquatic ecosystems. In this respect, the methodology described may be adapted and applied for similar research of other types of aquatic habitats (i.e., running waters) available to students. In the implementation of the activities, it is encouraged to use the GLOBE Leaders Manual, available at http://globe.pomsk.hr/prirucnik.htm, which is already used by more than one hundred Croatian schools involved in the GLOBE network. However, we also propose newer (quantitative) sampling methods for macroinvertebrates and periphytic organisms, as well as simplified taxonomic keys for organisms to be applied in natural science and biology school classes.
Ključne riječi
urban ecology; macroinvertebrates; drift; Hess sampler; biotic index; taxonomic determination keys
Hrčak ID:
192684
URI
Datum izdavanja:
27.12.2017.
Posjeta: 3.527 *