Lesson Plan

Wolverines and Climate Change

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A wolverine with brown fur stands on a rocky outcrop with a few plants nearby.

Wolverines live in high mountain habitats.

National Park Service

Grade Level:
Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Subject:
Science
Lesson Duration:
60 Minutes
State Standards:
Wyoming Science Standards: HS-LS2-6,7; WY HS-LS4-5-6
Additional Standards:
NS.K-4.3, and NS.K-4.6; N.S5-8.3; NS.9-12.3
NGSS: MS-ESS3, MS-ESS2-5, MS-ESS3-5, MS-ESS3.D;HS-ESS3, HS-LS2.C, LS4.C, LS4.D

Essential Question

How does climate change effect animals’ habitats?
Which species are most susceptible to the effects of climate change?
What adaptations and behaviors do wolverines have that allow them to survive in their habitat?

Objective

Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of adaptations that have helped animals such as the wolverine survive in climates with harsh winter conditions. Students will also gain an understanding of evolution and climate change.

Background

Many animals have adapted to specific, harsh environments, like Yellowstone’s alpine and subalpine zones. To survive in these unforgiving environments, certain species like the wolverine adopted physical and behavioral characteristics favorable to high sun, wind, and snow levels. Wolverines are scavengers that traverse long distances in snowy landscapes in search of carcasses and large montane prey, such as moose and/or mountain goats. They primarily dig snow dens, and their thick fur and high metabolism are adapted primarily for cooler climates. In this lesson, students will ‘become’ wolverines fighting to survive in wake of decreasing habitat. As the game progresses, decreased habitat access will beget decreased access to food to meet each wolverine’s caloric need to survive and reproduce.

Preparation

Gather the following materials:

  • Playing Field (“Habitat/Range”) Markers
  • Start and finish line cards (or anything to indicate playing field, such a rope, sticks, water bottles, etc.)
  • Food Tokens – need 3 per class member (print-out included)
  • ½ Food tokens– need 1/4th number of players (print-out included)
  • Death Tokens – need 1/4th number of players (print-out included)
  • Year-in-the-Life Scenario Cards (print-out included)
  • Background information and photos (print-out included)

Procedure

Introduction

  1. Discussion: What adaptations (behavioral and physical) do wolverines in North America have to thrive in extreme winterconditions?
    1. Examples: territorial aggression to help acquire and maintain limited food sources; wide, fluffy paws to help withsnow travel; multiple layers of fur (guard hairs and ground hair) to stay warm; large heart and lungs relative tobody size to help with snow travel and aerobic capacity; muscular body relative to size; sagittal crest on skull togive stronger bite force.
  2. Define Vocabulary:
    1. Species – a group of living organisms with similar characteristics, capable of interbreeding/reproducing.
    2. Population – a group of members of a species within a region that reproduce with one another.
    3. Adaptation – an inheritable physical or behavioral change by which an organism or species becomes better able tosurvive and reproduce in its environment
    4. Habitat – the natural home of an organism; four major components of good habitat include food, water, shelter,and space.
    5. Home Range – the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis
    6. Geographic range – the area in which the collective members of a species live and travel
    7. Territory - an area defended by an animal or group of animals; may coincide with the home range of an animal
    8. Climate Change – a change in global and/or regional climate patterns, especially the accelerated change in the late20th century onward attributed largely to increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use offossil fuels
    9. Snowpack – seasonal accumulation of slow-melting packed snow
  3. Introduce Key Concepts
    1. Wolverines are large, solitary mustelids that require high calorie intake and vast habitat extent. They are notablyferocious for their size, and fill an important and challenging niche driven by hunting at high elevations and insnowy conditions. Wolverines are opportunistic eaters, with a diet consisting of: rodents, birds, eggs, beavers,marmots, whitebark pine nuts, and other small to mid-sized creatures; in other regions, wolverines have beendocumented hunting/eating ungulates such as mountain goats and deer. Wolverines have also been documentedeating carcasses of large ungulates and other animals, including bone matter.
    2. Human Development can impact wildlife species by cutting off migration pathways; reducing habitat to constructhousing, agricultural development, or other industries; and disturbing wildlife through increased human access towild spaces (including for recreational purposes). This may impact some species’ abilities to survive and reproducein areas formerly part of their geographic range.
    3. Climate Change: The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has experienced average temperature increases ofapproximately 0.3°F/decade since 1894, with increasingly dry conditions (including in the winter) below 6,500 feet.As minimum temperatures rise, winter snowpack is expected to decrease, especially at lower elevations. Summertemperatures, even in alpine areas, are also expected to continually rise in the coming decades. Many scientistsare concerned for the survival of wildlife species specifically adapted to high elevation conditions, including the wolverine. It is expected that by 2050, the spring snowpack needed for wolverine denning and hunting will be limited to portions of the Southern Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada Range, and certain portions of Yellowstone; of these three areas, currently only Yellowstone has a population. Between 2006 and 2009, a total of 7 wolverines were documented in eastern Yellowstone and adjoining National Forest Land.

Rules of the Game

  1. Walking feet – you don’t want to use too much energy by running!
  2. Players should not move or touch start/finish lines.
  3. No swapping or stealing tokens from other players
  4. Have a positive attitude

Game Play Overview

  1. Set up the playing field (roughly the extent of a small classroom or schoolyard). Place the START line at one end and the FINISH line at the other. Scatter the food tokens in this area UPSIDE DOWN (so that in later rounds, students can’t tell which cards are ½ food or death tokens) – at least one per student!
    1. Explain to students that this space between the start and finish line represents the this space is the wolverine habitat that they can occupy. This habitat provides food, water, shelter, and space (from humans, other wolverines, etc.), and meets the climate requirements that female wolverines will need to dig snow dens for their pups in the winter.
  2. Explain: Students will become wolverines. Each season, you must traverse your entire range extent (from START line to FINISH line using START and FINISH cards supplied) and gather enough calories to do so. Each season your goal is to collect is 1 food token. You must cross the finish line to represent that you explored your entire habitat area.
  3. Each YEAR (one full round) will be comprised of two SEASONS (winter and summer). The players’ goal is to get the minimum amount of food (2 food tokens) by the end of the year (use food tokens and death cards provided—3 per player). However, each year, more challenges will be introduced.
    1. Year 1 will provide all wolverines with enough food to survive (everyone should be able to get 2 tokens – one in the summer, one in the winter).
    2. Year 2 will make “summer” more difficult by adding in “death” tokens to replace some food tokens and reduced habitat extent.
    3. Year three, both winter and summer “habitat” playing fields are reduced, and food tokens are reduced and replaced with both “death” tokens and partial food tokens (to represent limited food availability). Instructors may choose to count a smaller number of tokens instead of simply replacing them with ½ food tokens, at their discretion.
    4. Note: see "scenario" cards for teacher script and further details.
Post-game Discussion
  1. Discussion Questions
    1. During which season was it easiest to find enough food (two tokens)?
    2. What habitat changes made acquiring enough food more difficult?
    3. How did the introduction of human development impact your ability to forage food? How did this differ or compare to the introduction of reduced snowpack and warmer temperatures?
  2. Review: What adaptations do wolverines have that would help them in a world similar to Year 1 (minimal development, lots of snow, etc.)? How might these adaptations affect the wolverine’s ability to survive in Year 3 (development, reduced snowpack, warmer temperatures, different prey behaviors)?
  3. Key question: If wolverines are so well adapted to their environment as it is, why can’t they adapt again to a new climate? Why is this species now listed as Threatened on the Endangered Species List?
    1. Discuss with students the idea of populations. Outside of Alaska and Canada, wolverines live in isolated populations with minimal ability to geographic barriers to access each other. Imagine that each mountain range with suitable wolverine habitat is an island. If there aren’t enough wolverines within those “island” sub-populations, they won’t be able to reproduce very well, and they might be very susceptible to going locally extinct on that “island” if they lose even just a few members of their population.

Vocabulary

  1. Species – a group of living organisms with similar characteristics, capable of interbreeding/reproducing.
  2. Population – a group of members of a species within a region that reproduce with one another.
  3. Adaptation – an inheritable physical or behavioral change by which an organism or species becomes better able to survive and reproduce in its environment
  4. Habitat – the natural home of an organism; four major components of good habitat include food, water, shelter, and space.
  5. Home Range – the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis
  6. Geographic range – the area in which the collective members of a species live and travel
  7. Territory - an area defended by an animal or group of animals; may coincide with the home range of an animal
  8. Climate Change – a change in global and/or regional climate patterns, especially the accelerated change in the late 20th century onward attributed largely to increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels
  9. Snowpack – seasonal accumulation of slow-melting packed snow

Enrichment Activities

Extensions below are suggested for older students.

  • Researching the Wolverine: Have students pursue online research related to wolverine population dispersion and climate vulnerability.
    • As a class, read excerpts from Doulas Chadwick’s, The Wolverine Way, which focuses on wolverine research conducted in Glacier in the 2000’s, and answer the following related discussion questions:
      • Pages 23-24: What hazards do wolverine populations face today? Where do wolverines live in North America? What is genetic diversity, and how might wolverine dispersion within the lower 48 states affect sub-population resilience to outside stressors (disease, habitat loss, inbreeding, etc.)?
      • Pages 24-27:
        • Why might wildlife biologists and other scientists be interested in wolverine research, based off the information contained in this excerpt?
        • How can information on wildlife behavior impact wildlife management? Education? Understanding? When might information on a species unveil questions or information transferrable to other species or environments?
        • What challenges do scientists and their research technicians encounter when pursuing information about wildlife?
  • Judge Gulo: Federal protection of wolverines has been a controversial subject between state, federal, and private agencies. In 2020, the USFWS determined that wolverines did not need to be listed on the Endangered Species List. This decision was revisited, and in November 2023, the wolverine was listed as a “threatened” species on the Endangered Species List by US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Additional Resources

Related Lessons or Education Materials

Please note that, with the exception of those resources pulled from the National Park Service Website, these articles are provided exclusively for context and information regarding wolverines and the controversies surrounding their conservation status over the last few decades, and do not reflect any official policies or opinions of the National Park Service or its employees.

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Tags: climate change adaptations animals evolution

Last updated: December 11, 2024