• Populations and Ecosystems
• Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms
  

• Describe some of the animals that are native to the Makalu-Barrun National Park in Nepal
• Explain how a camera trap is used by biologists in conjunction with other survey methods
• Describe the types of animal evidence scientists rely on when setting a camera trap

Animals highlighted in the Camera Trap Activity: Fir Forest Leopard Red Panda Himalayan Tahr Broadleaf Forest Asiatic Black Bear Indian Muntjac Wild Boar River Valley Leopard Cat Serow Dhole

There are five climatic zones in Nepal. The zones run the width of the rectangle and also roughly correspond to changes in elevation from the lowest in the South to the highest in the North. Climatic zones in Nepal include: tropical and subtropical zones found below 1,200 m altitude; temperate zone between 1,200 and 2,400 m; cold zone between 2,400 m and 3,600 m; subarctic zone between 3,600 and 4,400 m; and the arctic zone above 4,400 m. The Makalu-Barun National Park includes the upper part of the temperate zone - from 2,000 m - right up to the arctic zone at the top of Mount Makalu. The expedition team explored the upper region of the temperate zone and the cold zone.

There are five seasons in Nepal: summer, monsoon (heavy rain season), autumn, winter and spring. The team visited Makalu-Barun National Park in early autumn, hoping for mild and dry weather. Instead, the monsoon season ended gradually with persistent clouds and moisture. The weather changed during the 3rd week of the trip, on Oct. 30, after heavy snowfall. From then on, the team experienced unusually cool autumn weather, although it was clear and dry.

About The Everest Region
The area surrounding Mount Everest includes many different species of plants and animals that live there. This part of the eastern Himalaya region is widely recognized as a biological treasure. It is also considered one of the most threatened. The eastern Himalaya Mountain region is considered one of the 200 Global Ecoregions in need of protection by the Word Wildlife Fund. This region is also considered a "biodiversity hotspot" by Conservation International, and its value is recognized by the Nepali government. The region is protected by two national parks: Mount Everest (also called Sagarmartha) National Park and Makalu Barun National Park. A non-profit group called The Mountain Institute helped draft the management plan for Makalu-Barun National Park, which depends largely on the local community to protect the area.

The eastern Himalayas include soaring peaks up to 5 miles above sea level, alpine meadows, forested mountainsides, deep river gorges, desert plateaus, and subtropical jungles. The region includes portions of China, the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Nepal. In Nepal, the eastern Himalaya region spans all three geographic belts, Mountain, Hill, and Terai, and all five climactic zones.

The forested ridges and valleys of the upper Hill and lower Mountain regions - the destination of the expedition team - provide refuge for many threatened and endangered wildlife species. These include the snow leopard, musk deer, red panda, and Himalayan black bear. Over 400 bird species visit dozens of rhododendron and orchid plants. A variety of ethnic groups live in this region, speaking different languages and practicing distinct religions. The most well known are the "mountain people" or "people from the East", the Sherpas.

• Engagement: Students are introduced to images of animals found in the Makalu-Barrun rainforest and the story of the biologists who are studying it
• Students read passages about the expedition and the methods scientists use to study biodiversity
• The teacher demonstrates how the camera trap activity works and challenges students to complete the activity
• Students participate in the camera trap activity
• Students share the data they collected and discuss what this data would tell a scientist

Teacher Preparation

• Preview the web site and become familiar with the field guide and the camera trap activity.
• Prepare to project from the computer or copy to a transparency the two pdf files: Field Guide Entry (Download Field Guide Entry PDF), and Map of Nepal (Download Map of Nepal PDF) showing the Makalu-Barun National Park.
• Print out the passage called About the Expedition (Download About the Expedition PDF) for students to readIf some students have difficulty with middle school level reading, see if a reading teacher or specialist will preview the passage with them; if this is not possible, you may wish to mix students of different reading levels in groups
• Prepare a chart with the questions for the reading passage
• How did the scientists find out about the animals and plants in the park?
• Why were so many different scientists brought in to conduct this Rapid Assessment Program survey?
• Determine how you will organize students to use the computer(s) available.
• If a computer lab is available, you will need to reserve it for the second and third days.
  

Resources: Images of animals from the simulation (projected from the web
site or printed out)

Part 1: (Day 1)
Show students the animal image you have projected or printed out. Ask students to work in pairs to give the animal a name (common nouns, not proper) and describe where it might live based on its features. Usually names for animals describe their features or behaviors. Have student pairs offer to share their ideas and discuss.

Explain that this particular animal is found in several places, but one of them is the Makalu-Barun National Park in Nepal, near Mount Everest. Show the map on the screen for students to view. While many people think of the Everest region as rocky and icy, this park is lower in elevation and has forests that support a rich diversity of life. Write the word diversity on the board. Ask students if they can explain what it means in terms of animal habitats (that many different types, or species, of plants and animals live in the same environment). However, like many areas in the world, Makalu-Barun could become a place for human beings to vacation, which would impact the animals greatly. One of the things that biologists can do is to help keep track of the many species of animals that live here and report that back to the government. Several of the animal species are endangered, meaning there are very few of them left in the world. So if they can’t live here, they may not be able to live anywhere.

Pass out copies of the reading passage: About the Expedition (also found in the web site). Have students preview the text to find unfamiliar words. Post these words on the board. You may wish to discuss their meanings now, or see if students can work out the meanings from the text clues. Ask students to attend to the questions you’ve posted while they are reading.

Use the questions as discussion points or ask students to respond to them in writing to determine their comprehension of the concepts.

Resources: Computer(s) with printer(s) (color preferred); access to the Expedition Everest web site

Part 2: (Days 2 and 3)
Explain to students that today, they will learn about one of the ways in which the scientists collected data about the animals in the Makalu-Barun park. Ask students to discuss how they think scientists learn about plants in a habitat. How would finding out about animals in the habitat be different?

Scientists use several ways to find out about animals when they visit a habitat:

• They read what other scientists have written about the animals or talk with their fellow scientists
• They ask the local people about the animals
• They look for signs of animals
• They use a camera trap

Ask students what kinds of signs we might find of animals (tracks, plants eaten, and their poop). Explain that scientists use the term “scat” for wild animal poop that is found in a habitat. The kind of tracks they find, the plants that are eaten, and the scat tell scientists a lot about an animal.

Another method used is called a camera trap. Ask students to share with a partner about having seen an animal in the wild. It’s very unusual, so that makes it exciting. Animals are always there, but why don’t we see them often? Explain that animals survive best when they aren’t seen. Most animals are active at night, because then they can move around without being seen as easily.

Scientists “catch” these animals on film with the use of a camera trap. In a camera trap, an animal will cross an invisible infrared light beam. When the beam is broken, a sensor sets off the camera and a picture is taken, hopefully of the animal, but sometimes not. Because it is hard to set up the camera traps, scientists only set them when they’ve found evidence of an animal coming back to the same spot.

In the Camera Trap Activity, students will use the computer to look for evidence of animals, set camera traps, and try to capture pictures of animals in the Makalu-Barun Park.

Show students how to use the Camera Trap Activity and schedule time to use it. Explain that you will expect them to record and print out the images they capture as well as field guide information on the animals they find.

You will likely need to give students more than one session at the computer.
Students who get through the camera trap activity can either repeat it, or view other areas of the site such as the scientist biographies and field guide. More animals are represented in the field guide than in the camera trap activity.

When the students’ “expedition” is completed, place a chart on the wall that lists the regions and the name of each animal found. See how many of each animal were “captured” by the class. Or you may wish to have students chart this data on their own. What would data like this tell a scientist?

Assessment

Students should be able to explain:

• Why this type of study is important
• How a camera trap adds to the data
• What the data tell us about the biodiversity of a habitat