Ecology Activity: Spongy Moth and Lyme Disease

This is an active learning activity know as a jigsaw.

To start the activity, trainees are broken up into four groups.  Each group will receive information about one of the following topic(s):

• Oak trees and white tailed deer
• Oak trees and white-footed mouse
• Black-legged tick
• Spongy moth

They will work in these groups to talk about the information provided and answer the a few questions. See the attached document ‘Species Information’ to see what each group will receive.

Then comes the jigsaw part where new groups will be formed that include at least one member from each of the initial groups.  Using all of the information they have they will complete the ‘Community Connections’ worksheet.

Once each group has completed the ‘Community Connections’ worksheet, we will review it and make sure that everyone is on the same page. Then the groups will be given a second worksheet on ‘Population Trends’ that looks at the relationships between the organisms to determine what will happen to their populations as a result of a mast or a non-mast year for oak trees.

In the end we will review that even though there is no direct connection between spongy moths and Lyme disease, an outbreak of spongy moth indicates a low incidence of Lyme Disease while a low population of spongy moth indicates a high incidence of Lyme Disease.