A river that came back, and a city growing its own food.
The Detroit River was once so polluted it could catch fire near industrial outfalls — today lake sturgeon spawn in it again. Meanwhile Detroit has one of the largest urban agriculture movements in the country. This unit covers ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity, and human impact using both stories.
NGSS Standards Addressed High School
- HS-LS2-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems.
- HS-LS2-6 Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
- HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
- HS-LS4-6 Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse effects of human activity on biodiversity.
NGSS Standards Addressed Middle School
- MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
- MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
- MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
- MS-LS2-5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Bell-Ringers
Project one at the start of class. Each has a click-to-reveal discussion note. More formats (Notice and Wonder, CER, Fact or Fiction, and more) are in the Bell-Ringer Bank.
Lake sturgeon — a species that had nearly disappeared from the Detroit River due to pollution and habitat loss — have been spawning there again since man-made reefs were installed in the 2000s. What does the return of a sensitive species like sturgeon suggest about an ecosystem?
Discussion notes
Detroit has thousands of vacant lots left after decades of population decline, and many have been converted into urban farms and community gardens. How might converting a vacant lot to a garden change the local ecosystem, including soil, insects, and birds?
Discussion notes
Detroit has one of the highest childhood asthma rates in Michigan, especially in neighborhoods near industry and highways. What's the biological link between air pollution and asthma?
Discussion notes
Lake sturgeon nearly disappeared from the Detroit River, but they've come back since engineers built rocky reefs for them to lay eggs on. What does a species needing one very specific habitat feature — like a rocky spawning reef — tell you about what that species needs to survive?
Discussion notes
When a vacant lot in Detroit is turned into a garden full of flowers and vegetables, new insects and birds start showing up that weren't there before. Where does the energy that supports those new animals come from?
Discussion notes
Detroit has one of the highest childhood asthma rates in Michigan, especially near industry and highways. Which body system does asthma affect, and what happens inside the body during an asthma attack?
Discussion notes
Labs
Belle Isle Biodiversity: Sampling an Urban Ecosystem
Students use quadrat sampling (in the schoolyard, a local park, or with the provided Belle Isle Nature Zone species dataset) to estimate species richness and evenness, then evaluate what their data suggests about ecosystem health and human impact.
Urban Soil Health for Community Gardens
Students test soil samples for texture, pH, and organic matter, then design an amendment plan (compost, cover crops) suitable for a real Detroit urban farm plot.
Invasive Species Case Study: Zebra Mussels
Students research how zebra mussels altered Great Lakes food webs after arriving in ballast water, then model and graph the population growth curve of an invasive species with few natural predators.
Simulations
Invasive Species Population Lab
Compare exponential and logistic growth by changing growth rate, carrying capacity, and predation for a zebra-mussel-style invader.
Launch Simulation →Natural Selection
PhET Interactive Simulations — model how environmental pressures shift traits in a population over generations.
Open Simulation →Gene Expression Essentials
PhET Interactive Simulations — visualize transcription and translation to connect genetics to organism traits.
Open Simulation →MiEJScreen (Michigan EGLE)
Michigan's public environmental justice mapping tool — explore environmental, health, and community indicators for Detroit neighborhoods.
Open Tool →Project Ideas
Detroit River Species Recovery Timeline
Build a visual timeline of species (sturgeon, bald eagles, walleye) returning to the Detroit River, paired with the habitat interventions that made each recovery possible.
Urban Farm Ecosystem Plan
Design a planting and soil-management plan for a vacant Detroit lot that maximizes biodiversity and food production while minimizing water and fertilizer use.
Asthma & Air Quality Story Map
Using publicly available air-quality and health data, build a story map connecting industrial corridors to childhood asthma rates in specific Detroit zip codes.
Detroit River Food Web Poster
Create an illustrated food web showing how energy flows from sun to plants to sturgeon, insects, and birds in the Detroit River ecosystem.
Pollinator Garden Plan
Design a small pollinator garden for a vacant lot using native Michigan plants, and explain which insects and birds each plant would attract.
What Does a Sturgeon Need?
Create a before-and-after diagram comparing Detroit River habitat conditions before and after reef restoration, labeling what changed and why it mattered.
Show What You Know: Exit Ticket
Three quick questions to close the lesson. Answers are hidden until you click. Use Project Mode to display them full-screen.
Quadrat A has 5 species with similar numbers of individuals. Quadrat B also has 5 species, but one species makes up about 90% of all individuals. Compare richness and evenness.
Answer
Name two factors that eventually stop an invasive species such as zebra mussels from growing exponentially forever.
Answer
Lake sturgeon spawning on restored Detroit River reefs is a good sign. Why doesn't it prove the whole ecosystem is fully healthy?
Answer
In the chain sun → garden plants → insects → birds, which organisms are producers and which are consumers?
Answer
What usually happens to a population if its food supply shrinks over time?
Answer
Name one way turning a vacant Detroit lot into a garden can help the local ecosystem.
Answer
Biology, built on Detroit
The Detroit River's recovery — from a polluted industrial waterway to a spawning ground for lake sturgeon — is one of the Great Lakes region's clearest real-world examples of ecosystem resilience and restoration.
Detroit's thousands of vacant lots have become an unplanned experiment in urban agriculture and ecological succession, giving students a living case study just outside the classroom.
Community and nonprofit-led urban farms across the city increasingly use soil testing, hydroponics, and data tracking — connecting biology directly to food-system technology and careers.
Industrial corridors near power and manufacturing infrastructure shape local air quality and public health, linking environmental biology to where people actually live and breathe.
Who works on this in Detroit?
Real roles and organizations in and around the city where this science is part of the job.
Fisheries / wildlife biologist
Monitors sturgeon, walleye, and other species and designs habitat restoration along the Detroit River.
Urban farmer / agronomist
Manages soil health, crop selection, and pest control to grow food on formerly vacant city lots.
Public health epidemiologist
Tracks patterns such as asthma and lead exposure across neighborhoods to guide prevention programs.
Zoo biologist / conservation educator
Cares for animals, runs conservation research, and teaches visitors about ecosystems.
Biomedical researcher
Investigates genetics, disease, and cell biology in university and hospital labs.