Background
BRD is collaborating with NASA GSFC on the creation of a multimedia educational product for the use by third through sixth grade students and their teachers. The project is part of the BRD Program for Outreach through Educational Multimedia (PEOM). A project plan is available under separate cover. However, milestones and deliverable dates are yet to be determined and will vary based upon the amount of multimedia included, the delivery mechanisms, and the length of the completed product.

What is NatureMapping
The NatureMapping Program collects wildlife observations so university researchers and fish and wildlife agencies can learn more about all the different kinds of wildlife; where they go from month to month, what habitats they use and which ones adapt to being around cities. Studying wildlife includes what they need to survive, and how they are a major component of biodiversity.

This high level storyline is intended to teach 3-6th graders about the complexities of biodiversity in and understandable way, and at the end ask them for help to tell NatureMapping what they see and know about the wildlife around them. this will be a positive step into life-long learning and will further the goals of the NatureMapping program and foster additional participation.

Storyline
This is a basic storyline with considerable detail to come. This storyline can serve as a starting point for the storyboard and script for the biodiversity part of the multimedia project. The learning theme is capitalized. Storyline was developed in conjunction with BRD's University of Washington Cooperative Unit and NatureMapping Head, Karen Dvornich.

1. A colony of bats live in Central America with another colony of bats. Each colony has its own cave, and in the spring, they leave their winter homes to travel to the US to their summer homes and raise their babies.

(SOME BATS ARE NEOTROPICAL MIGRANTS; THEY LIVE TOGETHER)

2. An earthquake causes the entrance of the cave to be covered in rocks, but there are small openings for the bats to leave. They decide to leave early. (Possible point for addition of map (aerial photograph?) of where they are and where they are going.)

(NATURAL DISASTERS OCCUR AND MANY ANIMALS ADAPT TO THEM).

3.This spring is colder and has rained more than others, so enough of the insects which these bats eat are not out. Without the insects, there isn't enough food for the bats to completely fill up their stomachs. They alter their course to warmer areas in search of food.

(CLIMATE AFFECTS PLANTS AND ANIMALS)

4. They come across a large farm, but there are no bugs! They see inside the barn and spy bags of pesticides that tell them all the bugs are dead and the ones that aren't are poisonous to them. They are getting really hungry, but find another farm and this farmer doesn't use any pesticides. The colony of bats feast on the insects and thank the farmer by eating almost all of the bugs before they leave. The farmer likes bats because he doesn't have to buy pesticides as long as bats are around at night and swallows and other birds are around during the day.

(ANIMALS ARE FEEDING ALMOST 24 HOURS A DAY.)

5. The farmer also likes the bats roosting in his barn. Their droppings (guano) is great fertilizer for his garden.

(BATS CAN EAT UP TO 10,000 BUGS A NIGHT (WILL VERIFY FIGURE) THEY ARE VORACIOUS EATERS, AS ARE SWALLOWS (AND OTHER INSECTIVORE BIRDS)

6. They continue on their journey, and an adult bat tells a teenage bat that they used to travel in a straight line to their summer homes, but now have to detour because a big city, full of lights, smog and no place for them to rest is in their way. But outside the city, is a small neighborhood where the people have put up bat boxes, didn't fill in the wetlands and even put in some old trees, the bats visit this neighborhood every year.

(HABITAT LOSS IS A MAJOR REASON FOR THE DECLINE OF WILDLIFE. BUT, PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO HELP OFFSET THE LOSS BY PROVIDING FOOD, WATER AND SHELTER FOR THE DISPLACED WILDLIFE.)

7. The teenage bat got nosey and flew down a chimney right into the house! The people were frightened of the little bat. The little bat was TERRIFIED of the monsters on 2 legs screaming loud noises that hurt his ears. Luckily, the father of the house turned off the lights inside the house, opened the windows and turned on the patio lights to attract bugs.. The father made the other monsters sit still and stop yelling. The teenage bat saw the insects and was happy to escape form the monster people. The bat was breathing very hard and had to rest for a while. The people were breathing very hard and had to rest for a while.

(BATS PREFER TO STAY AWAY FROM PEOPLE AND ALTHOUGH THEY MAY FLY NEAR YOUR HAIR IN DESPERATE ATTEMPTS TO FLEE, THEY DON'T PURPOSELY FLY INTO PEOPLE'S HAIR. THEY ALSO ARE AFRAID OF THE PEOPLE AS THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF THEM.)

8. Along their flight, the bats met up with another colony of bats. These bats were heading for the desert to feed on pollen and nectar from the cactus, thus pollinating the cacti. This was very important for the cacti, because that was the only way the cacti could reproduce and grow more cacti. These bats also looked different. They had cute faces and bigger ears. They also ate fruit (frugivores), which our colony of bats thought was silly. Our colony of bats ate insects (insectivores).

9. The bats arrived at their summer home, which was a large forest with 2 lakes. One lake was very big and it had inlets in and out of the trees. It's name was Polygon Lake. The other lake was much smaller and was surrounded by rocks. Since the rocks wouldn't let the lake expand and stretch, it stayed in the same shape, and almost looked like a square from space. It was called Raster Lake.

(WE CAN BEGIN USING REMOTE SENSING WORDS AND SHOW WHAT THESE LAKES WOULD LOOK LIKE FROM AN AERIAL PHOTO. RASTER LAKE COULD BE A MUNICIPAL POND AND YOU COULD COMPARE THE WATER QUALITY, INSECTS (LESS IN DIRTIER WATER), OR IF RASTER LAKE WAS CATCHING RUNOFF FROM THE ROADS, ETC.)

10. The lakes provided clean water and open space for the bats to fly and feed. The forest provided protection for the summer rains, and the very large trees had bark sticking out where the bats could crawl inside and sleep during the day. The big trees had enough bark so lots of bats could sleep in the same tree and the moss provided a nice cushion to land on. The bark provided protection from animals that might eat them. This was where they would raise their babies and get them ready for the long flight south for the winter.

(AERIAL PHOTO: CLEAN WATER, LARGE TREES...NO POLLUTION OR ALL YOUNG TREES IN A MANAGED FOREST.)

11. The summer was almost over, when the colony heard strange noises. Chainsaws were cutting down the trees near Polygon Lake. More and more tree fell, scattering all sorts of wild life. They were lucky, though, the trees next to the lake were spared. The colony needed to head south, and hoped that their summer homes would be there when they returned to following year. Even if the trees were there, they didn't know if other animals might use the trees and keep them out. But now they were worried about going home.

(MORE IMAGERY - MAYBE CLEAR-CUT VS GOOD CUTTING PRACTICE) INTRODUCED SPECIES OR COLONIZING SPECIES DUE TO THE CHANGE IN THE HABITAT. GOOD CUTTING PRACTICE SHOULD PROVIDE RIPARIAN BUFFER ZONES AND SOME SNAGS LEFT FOR VARIOUS SPECIES OF WILDLIFE AND TO PROTECT THE QUALITY OF THE WATER)

12. It was late summer and lots of forest fires were raging. The bats couldn't breathe or see in the smoke, and they tried to fly around the fires. One was very big, so they looked for a place to stay and eat, while the fire burned out.

(IMAGERY OF FIRES)

13. Finally, they return home and just knew their cave was still covered, so they finally went to another cave. The other bats had just returned home and didn't want to share it with anyone else. The poor bats tried cave after cave, and thought, maybe they could squeeze into their cave to sleep, then search for another cave the next night. But, aftershocks for the earthquake had opened up the cave and even made it larger for the bats. They were back home for the winter and ready to rest their long journey.

(COMPETITION FOR LIVING SPACE...ANIMALS JUST DON'T MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, THERE IS ALWAYS SOME TYPE OF COMPETITION BETWEEN THE SAME SPECIES OR OTHER SPECIES.)

14. Students are asked to help NatureMapping map the wildlife they see. They can only record bats or choose to record any other animals. Students mark their observations on maps and create locations, point locations, so we can track their migratory routes and plan to keep enough habitat available for them so they can make their trip, year after year. We know where a lot of animals begin their trip and where they will end it, but little about everything going on in between; especially what habitats they use.

(POSSIBLE VIDEO CLIPS OF STUDENTS DOING NATUREMAPPING; INSTRUCTIONS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.)

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