Summary
When salmon swim upstream and die, they feed a whole forest -- their bodies release nutrients that end up inside the trees. Deep Look reveals the surprising way matter cycles from the ocean to the fish to the forest.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Salmon carry ocean nutrients inland. When bears and other animals eat them and their bodies break down, those nutrients enter the soil and feed the trees. Matter moves from ocean to salmon to forest -- a cycle that links them all.
- How do nutrients from the ocean end up inside forest trees?
- What role do animals like bears play in this cycle?
- Why does a dead salmon matter to a living tree?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: nutrient, cycle, ecosystem, decompose.
Try it: Draw arrows from ocean to salmon to bear to soil to tree. Write how matter cycles from the sea into the forest.