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  • Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder: Dams and Pipes and River Shrimp Movements
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Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder: Dams and Pipes and River Shrimp Movements

  • Article
  • Middle School
  • 1 Classroom Period
  • Water
  • Wildlife
  • Dam
  • Ecosystem
  • Freshwater
  • Life cycle
  • Shrimp
  • Stream
  • Tropical
A black and white drawing of river shrimp
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Tropical streams provide many benefits to people and animals. For river shrimp that spend part of their life in the mountain streams, the streams provide a place to reproduce and develop. River shrimp are important to the streams as well. Tropical streams also provide people with the fresh water they need for drinking, cooking, and washing. To provide water for people, small dams are often built in tropical streams. The scientists in this study want to know how to protect shrimp in areas where people take water from streams.

Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder: Dams and Pipes and River Shrimp Movements

Part Of

Tropical Forest - Vol. 3 No. 1

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  • For this FACTivity, you will answer the question: What is the difference between having a 50 percent chance of having something happen and having less or more than a 50...

    FACTivity – Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder

    • Activity
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • 1 Classroom Period
    • Water
    • Wildlife
    • Experiment
    • Hands-on
    • Modeling
    • Rivers and Streams
    • Sampling
    • Shrimp
    For this FACTivity, you will answer the question: What is the difference between having a 50 percent chance of having something happen and having less or more than a 50...
    Explore Activity Download FACTivity (PDF)
    Explore Activity Download FACTivity (PDF)

    Part Of

    Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder: Dams and Pipes and River Shrimp Movements

  • Test you knowledge on ecosystems, population, and migration.

    Word Search – Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder

    • Activity
    • Middle School
    • Less than 30 minutes
    • Water
    • Wildlife
    • Algae
    • Ecosystem
    • Life cycle
    • Maturity
    • Migrate
    • Population
    • Species
    • Vocabulary
    Test you knowledge on ecosystems, population, and migration.
    Explore Activity Download Word Search (PDF) Answer Key (PDF)
    Explore Activity Download Word Search (PDF) Answer Key (PDF)

    Part Of

    Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder: Dams and Pipes and River Shrimp Movements

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Glossary

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  • alga

    (al gǝ): Plural form: algae (al jē); Any plant or plantlike organism (like a seaweed) that includes forms mostly growing in water, lacking a system of vessels for carrying fluids, and often having chlorophyll masked by brown or red coloring matter.

  • conserve

    (kǝn sǝrv): To avoid wasteful or destructive use of something.

  • ecosystem

    (ē kō sis tǝm): A system made up of an ecological community of living things interacting with their environment especially under natural conditions.

  • fish ladder

    (fish la dǝr): A series of pools arranged like steps by which fish can pass over a dam in going upstream.

  • larval

    (lär vǝl): Characteristic of or relating to the early form of an animal or insect that at birth or hatching is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose before growing into the adult form.

  • life cycle

    (līf sī kәl): A series of stages through which something (such as a plant or animal) passes during its lifetime.

  • migrate

    (mī grāt): To pass, usually periodically, from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding.

  • population

    (pä pyǝ lā shǝn): The total of individuals occupying an area.

  • species

    (spē sēz or spē shēz): A category of living things that ranks below a genus, is made up of related individuals able to produce fertile offspring, and is identified by a two-part scientific name.

  • tropical

    (trä pi kǝl): Of, relating to, occurring in, or used in the tropics, which is the area between two parallels of the earth’s latitude that are approximately 23½ degrees north of the equator and approximately 23½ degrees south of the equator.

  • A black and white photo of Dr. Benstead

    Jonathan Benstead

    Freshwater Ecologist

    I like being a scientist because I am excited about the natural world and want to help conserve it for future generations to enjoy.
    View Profile
  • Dr. Catherine Pringle in a body of freshwater. She is holding a net.

    Catherine Pringle

    Conservation Ecologist | Ecology

    I like being a scientist because I like working outside, in the stream, getting my feet wet. I also like doing research that will help conserve the environment.
    View Profile
  • A black and white photo of Dr. James March

    James March

    Aquatic Ecologist | Ecology

    I like being a scientist because I enjoy learning how natural systems work. Also, for part of the year my office is a beautiful stream!
    View Profile
  • A black and white photo of Dr. Scatena

    Frederick Scatena

    Hydrologist

    I like being a scientist because I like the challenge of trying to understand how natural systems work so that we can manage and preserve them for future generations.
    View Profile

Jump To

  • Education Standards
  • Educator Guide
  • Education Files

Standards addressed in this Article:

Social Studies Standards

Social Studies Standards are educational guidelines outlining the essential knowledge, skills, and concepts students should learn in subjects such as history, geography, civics, and economics, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of societal structures, historical events, and global perspectives.
  • People, Places, and Environments
  • Science, Technology, and Society
  • Time, Continuity, and Change

Note To Educators

The Forest Service's Mission

The Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. For more than 100 years, our motto has been “caring for the land and serving people.” The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), recognizes its responsibility to be engaged in efforts to connect youth to nature and to promote the development of science-based conservation education programs and materials nationwide.

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What Is the Natural Inquirer?

Natural Inquirer is a science education resource journal to be used by students in grade 6 and up. Natural Inquirer contains articles describing environmental and natural resource research conducted by Forest Service scientists and their cooperators. These scientific journal articles have been reformatted to meet the needs of middle school students. The articles are easy to understand, are aesthetically pleasing to the eye, contain glossaries, and include hands-on activities. The goal of Natural Inquirer is to stimulate critical reading and thinking about scientific inquiry and investigation while teaching about ecology, the natural environment, and natural resources.

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  • Meet the Scientists

    Introduces students to the scientists who did the research. This section may be used in a discussion about careers in science.

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  • Thinking About Science

    Introduces something new about the scientific process, such as a scientific habit of mind or procedures used in scientific studies.

  • Thinking About the Environment

    Introduces the environmental topic being addressed in the research.

  • Introduction

    Introduces the problem or question that the research addresses.

  • Method

    Describes the method the scientists used to collect and analyze their data.

  • Findings & Discussion

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  • Number Crunches

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  • Glossary

    Defines potentially new scientific or other terms to students. The first occurrence of a glossary word is bold in the text.

  • Citation

    Gives the original article citation with an internet link to the original article.

  • FACTivity

    Presents a hands-on activity that emphasizes something presented in the article.


Science Education Standards

You will find a listing of education standards which are addressed by each article at the back of each publication and on our website.


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