Who Done It?
A Coral Reef Mystery!
Web Quest Sections


Introduction
What is a Coral Reef?
Adaptations for Marine Organisms
Who's Who in the Coral Reef?
Who Done It??
Present Your Findings

 

 Three coral reefs have been damaged and are in trouble!

You and your team have been selected to be part of the crew on the ship, Detective Divers. You will be investigating these reefs to discover the cause of the reef damage. 

When you complete this mission you should be able to:

Describe problems that are currently endangering the coral reefs.
Determine the "villain" in each of these cases.
Research methods for protecting coral reefs and develop a plan to stop the damage at these sites.
Present your findings in a multimedia presentation. You and your teacher may choose which format to use. Some examples of possible formats include a slide presentation, a web page, vodcast, Voicethread, or digital story.(Directions for this part are in "Present Your Findings")

Click here for the Scoring Rubric
Here are the Cases of Reef Damage:

Coral Reef Damage Case A
Coral Reef Damage Case B

Coral Reef Damage Case C

Coral Reef Mystery Questions Use the links below to help you find clues to identify the "villain" in the above cases. Write your clues and answers in your ocean journal. You will use your journal notes to create your presentation when you are finished with your detective work.

  • Work with your team to identify each of the 9 suspects (problems) that endanger reef ecosystems. List all the suspects in your journal.
  • Write a short report on one of the problems in your journal.
  • Then you will try to determine which of these suspects are the "villains" that caused the problems in case A, case B, and case C. Write your answers in your journal.
  • Finally, you will describe possible solutions to stop or fix the damage. 
Suspects:
1. W- - - r  P - - luti - n 2. Sedi - - - - - - - - n 3. Coast - -  D- v-l - - ment
4. Careless D - v - - g  and Sn- - - - - ing 5. B - at    A n - h - - s 6. Ov - - f - s - - - g
7. Fishing With Cy - - - d -  or Ex - - - - - v--s 8. Global W - - - - - -  and C - r - l  B- - a - - ing 
9. Coll - - - - -g and S - - - - - g of C - - - l, F - sh, Sh - lls and Other Animals

                                           
Links: Special Instructions:
The Coral Reef Alliance- About Coral Reefs Click on "Coral Reef Threats" and "Why Care?"
The Coral Reef Alliance- Guides and Best Practices Find out what everyone, businesses and tourists can do to help preserve coral reefs
Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary- Resource Protection Go to both of these:
1. Mooring Buoys
2. Coral Reef Restoration
Broward County, Fl- Mooring Buoy Program Read about how using mooring buoys helps protect coral reefs


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Intro | What is a Coral Reef? | Adaptations  | Who's Who in the Coral Reef? | Who Done It?| Present Findings

© 2000 - 2012

Karen Muska
kmuska@kmuska.com
 

Picture Credits
The majority of the photographs were taken and edited by the author, Karen Muska.
Video footage courtesy of Mark Riha; used with permission. Edited by Karen Muska.
Some pictures are from The Florida Marine Sanctuary Web Site:  Florida Keys Photo Gallery
Clip art: Art Today, The Animation Factory, Microsoft Office