Part of Ocean Literacy Principle 5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. On this webpage there are resources about how to apply the fifth principle to the Mediterranean Sea.
A short video explaining how the 5th principle applies to the Mediterranean Sea, link. Part of the Fins into the Water Library on the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) website.
This very cute video on YouTube made by Earth Gardeners, an Italian non-profit that works a lot to promote citizen science and overall improved education about biodiversity, tells the story of a Mediterranean monk seal from the point of view of the seal, link.
iNaturalist is a citizen science platform that is used to collect observations of biodiversity around the world. You don't need to be a scientist to contribute! In this activity explore how the lionfish entered into the Mediterranean Sea by looking at the observations made by other people, link.
-First open the iNaturalist website
-Click on "Explore"
-Search for the lionfish, scientific name "Pterois miles" (there are severl lionfish species, be careful to select this one)
-Go on the filter tool and change the interval of the dates, start with 01-01-2014 to 31-12-2014 (the year of 2014) and then change the dates year-by-year until you discover when the lionfish entered into the Mediterranean and watch how it spreads.
Summary: We've learned about the Mediterranean Sea and how it supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.
Q: What did you discover? How did it make you feel? Write in your ocean journal and do a beautiful drawing!