Show video clip on Salt Marshes, have the students list everything that they see that lives in the salt marsh or that makes a salt marsh a unique habitat.
Go over what the students picked out.
Show live examples of some of those things (oysters, mussels, clams, crabs, juvenile fishes, snails, spartina, etc.), asking the students what they are and what their role in the salt marsh might be.
Model-
Work in partners
Pass out poster paper and markers
Using the lists of organisms the students just made have them draw their own salt marsh, including interactions the organisms might have with each other
Students should use colored arrows to show relationships
Have each student/group present their diagram, explaining the organisms and their interactions. While they are doing this present the following terms as they appear.
Abiotic
Biotic
Mutualism (bees and flowers, fungus and algae), within the salt marsh- oysters and mussels,
Commensulism (clownfish and anemones, cattle egret and cows), within the salt marsh- juvenille fish and oyster reefs, barnacles/sponges/worms/isopods and oysters/mussels
Parasitism (flea and dogs/cat, hookworm and human intestine)- don't see, why??
Predation (lion and gazelle, shark and seal), within the salt marsh- crabs and oysters/mussels/clams, juvenille fishes and arthropods/worms/isopods, black drum/ray and oysters