Unit Goals While most study in the natural world tends to focus on the living, the return of once-living material back to the ecosystem in a useable form is equally deserving of our attention. In this unit, the students will learn to recognize decomposers and shredders and their important role in the nutrient cycle, further understand the interdependent relationship between the living and non-living components of nature, and explore these concepts in relationship to their own lives. Summary Before your visit, please review with your students: Distinguish between producers, consumers, and decomposers Identify the non-living parts of cycles in natures (air, water, sunlight, rocks) Review a food chain/web, either theoretical or observed, that incorporates all the components of a nutrient cycle. At River Bend: A worksheet packet will be used, see a sample. Meet at the Trailside Center. During the introduction we will review the above material Students will be divided into groups and then work in pairs within the groups. Students will: Identify sources of organic material Examine five different groups of shredders and decomposers and their roles: Fungi Earthworms, slugs, etc. Arthropods Moss Lichen Students will follow the scientific method and record detailed observations to share with the group during the conclusion In closing we will: Inquire about students' results Remind the students of their next visit Talk of upcoming events at River Bend Invite the students to return on their own with family and friends. Back in the classroom: Compare decomposition principles of the natural world to how waste is dealt with in their own lives Identify components of our waste Describe current avenues for waste management or disposal Contemplate various options based on appropriate criteria

What is organic material?

Organic material is matter that either is or once was a part of a living plant or animal. Fur, feathers, bones, meat, blood, scat, leaves, bark, wood, are all examples of organic matter.

What is inorganic material?

Matter that is not or never was living tissue. Rocks, water, sunlight, air are best examples. While not living, all are important in the nutrient cycle.

What is the the nutrient cycle?

Organic material is always being used and reused, over and over again. Taken from the soil by plants, called producers, it is then passed on to herbivore consumers, which in turn are eaten by carnivore secondary consumers. The organic material from each, upon dying, are made available for the plants to use again by the decomposers. In many ways, the nutrient cycle resembles a food chain, since, in fact, any complete food chain you can imagine is actually a nutrient cycle as well.

There are many, many types of decomposers that take dead plants and animals and break them down into nutrients in the soil so that plants can use them to grow. Almost all creatures, including ourselves, are decomposers in some way since we pass food through our systems and create decomposing waste. But there are many forms of life that break down dead matter directly and are the primary factors of decomposition. Here are just a few you will find at River Bend.

Your field experience at River Bend will basically be one of exploration and investigation. With your partner, you'll use the scientific method and observation skills to learn more about decomposers and shredders:

• You'll scour rotting logs and the forest floor for decomposers, and note specifics of the individual decomposers and their habitats.

1. The quieter you are the more will see.
2. Listen to your leader or whomever's turn it is to talk.
3. Raise your hand if you have something to say.
4. Leave things growing unless your leader says you can pick something.
5. Nature needs all that is here - what lives here, grows here, dies here, stays here.
6. Stay with your group and follow the leader's directions.
7. Be respectful of nature - and of each other!

Send us your ideas by email!

• Create an experiment using several different containers with similar waste material. Add different decomposers (such as worms) to each sample, and none to one of the samples, and record the changes over time.
• Discuss what happens to our own waste. Where does it go? Is it still a part of the nutrient cycle? What implications do your findings have on our society? On our ecosystem?

The following links contain some interesting information on decomposition or soil: Send us your ideas by email!

MN DNR's Conservation Volunteer piece on the subject
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/young_naturalists/soil/index.html

An extensive site on fungi
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/

How to Build a Compost Bin
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6957

Worm Watch home page
http://www.nrri.umn.edu/worms/

More about lichens
http://www.backyardnature.net/lichens.htm