Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes – Part A: Why Is Biodiversity Important?
20 minutes – Part B: Case Study
30 minutes – Part C: Letter To The government
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Why Is Biodiversity Important?

Step 1. Explain to students that Bush Blitz is an organisation that conducts species discovery expeditions in the outback. They may have come across their work in previous lessons in this unit. Show them the Statistics and list of species found in Australia by Bush Blitz that were unknown to science, the majority being insects. Show them some of the insects on the Bush Blitz Information Sheet, if they haven’t already used it in other lessons.

Step 2. Explain that Australia has incredible biodiversity and that scientists actually know very little about the plants and animals that exist here. It is estimated there are 435,000-510,000 undiscovered species in Australia; 45% of the land and over 90% of our marine areas have never been comprehensively surveyed by scientists.

Step 3. Distribute one copy of the Student Worksheet to each student and invite them to navigate to the first section.

Explain that they will be watching a clip about biodiversity and then answering a series of questions. They may want to take notes as they watch the clip.

Share the following clip:

Why is biodiversity so important?

One complete, allow students time to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What is biodiversity?
Suggested answer: the variety of plant and animal life in an ecosystem.
What kinds of features of biodiversity are there?
Suggested answer: ecosystem, species, genetic.
Why does the removal of one species from a highly biodiverse ecosystem have little impact? Hint: Think back to food webs and the connections between species.
Suggested answer: The ecosystem has lots of connections so when one species is removed, all the interconnected species have others to consume or be consumed by.
Coral is what we call a keystone species. What happens to the ecosystem if coral is removed?
Suggested answer: The ecosystem cannot survive as so many organisms in the ecosystem depend on coral.

You can then work with the class to check through their answers, using the suggested answers above to clarify any ideas or concerns students have.

Step 4. Now invite students to suggest a definition of ‘keystone species’. Write their answer on the board.

You might like to share and compare the students’ answers with this definition of ‘keystone species’ from National Geographic Encyclopedia:

“A keystone species is an organism that helps hold the system together. Without its keystone species, ecosystems would look very different. Some ecosystems might not be able to adapt to environmental changes if their keystone species disappeared. That could spell the end of the ecosystem, or it could allow an invasive species to take over and dramatically shift the ecosystem in a new direction."

Step 5. Ask students to form pairs and choose one of the following Australian keystone species to research:

Southern cassowary
Mangrove forests
Bilby
Grey-headed flying fox
Gilbert’s potoroo
Grey nurse shark
Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle
Great white shark
Northern quoll

Invite them to use the following questions to guide their research about their species (questions also available on their Student Worksheet):

Which species did you choose and what about it appealed to you?
Describe the habitat the species lives in.
How do other organisms interact with this species within the ecosystem?
If this species were to disappear, give specific examples of what would happen within the ecosystem. Hint: think about food webs and the flow-on effect.
What are threats to this species’ survival?

Step 6. Invite pairs to form groups with one or two other pairs and share their findings.

If time permits, you might like to invite groups to share one or two of the most interesting facts about their species with the whole class.

Part B: Case Study

Step 1. Explain to students that they will now work in pairs or small groups to research an event in Australian history that resulted in significant loss of biodiversity - the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires.

During their research, they should answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Describe the event.
Possible answer: Multiple parts of Australia had significant bushfires, starting in NSW in early July 2019; 33 people died, 3094 houses lost across Victoria, NSW, Queensland, ACT, Western Australia and South Australia. Over 17 million hectares were burned.
What areas of Australia were affected?
Possible answer: All states were affected to varying degrees and not all fires were included in the official account. The most extreme fires and loss of land were in NSW.
What were the factors that contributed to the bushfires being such a huge event?
Possible answer: Weather and vegetation affected the severity of bushfires; 2019 was the driest year on average since 1990 and many parts of Australia had been in drought for years. Southern and Eastern Australia had a record low rainfall and record high temperatures. This led to very dry vegetation conditions, which allowed the fire to spread easily. Climate change is also known to lead to longer and more intense bushfire periods.
How much biodiversity was estimated to have been lost in the bushfires?
Possible answer: There is no accurate number but over 1 billion animal lives were predicted to have been lost.
What initiatives were put into place to help the wildlife during the bushfires? What types of animals were the ones focussed on?
Possible answers: Wildlife water stations were built, many donations were made to rescue and rehabilitation centres, and food was dropped from helicopters. Mammals, especially koalas, were targeted by wildlife carers.
What was the response from the public?
Possible answers: The public demonstrated collective sadness, a huge amount of donations were made and there were calls for tough climate change policy. Discussions about effective land management and fire prevention became prevalent.
How were humans impacted by the bushfires (e.g. health effects and mental health/morale)
Possible answers: There was a loss of human lives and the destruction of homes and businesses displaced a lot of people. Many people had no source of income. Some affected areas were difficult to get to so food and supplies were limited. Schools closed in some areas, the smoke made air quality very poor for vast distances, the death and destruction upset a lot of people all around the world.
What was the response from the Australian and State Governments? Research your State’s initiatives.
Possible answers: Individual state governments funded different programs towards the recovery of humans and wildlife. Some launched investigations into the bushfires and how to prevent them from happening at this scale again. The Federal Government also contributed towards recovery, including money to stimulate tourism in the affected areas.

Step 2. Provide a set amount of time for students to complete their research: 10-15 minutes is a good starting point.

Step 3. Go through the responses with the class. Ask students how they felt as they read about the loss of biodiversity.

Part C: Letter To The Government

Step 1. Explain to the class that in this activity they will write a letter to the state or federal government, explaining why biodiversity is important and what they must do to prevent more events such as the 2019/20 bushfires.

The letter must include:

The purpose of your letter
Explain what you have learnt from the 2019/20 bushfires
Why biodiversity is important to:
1. Australian ecosystems
2. The Australian people and the economy
The effect these major events have on the Australian people’s health and mental states
What could happen if species in our ecosystems, such as keystone species, disappear
The importance of working with traditional landowners to manage the land effectively
The impact biodiversity has on you personally and why you care about conservation efforts in Australia

Step 2. Instruct students to swap letters with other students to give and receive feedback. They will then use the feedback to improve their letter.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How did reading your classmates’ letters improve your understanding of how to improve your letter?
What feedback from other students was most useful to you in improving your letter?
How has this lesson changed your understanding of the importance of biodiversity in Australian ecosystems?

Differentiated Learning

Extension -

For the case study, students could research another event in Australia where biodiversity was lost.

Provisions for Learning Support –

When writing the letter, they could work in small groups so they can help each other. Some students may need instruction on writing a draft before finishing their letter - they could first answer each question in dot points and then on the second draft formulate proper sentences.

Teacher Reflection

Backyard Bush Blitz - Events Impacting Biodiversity

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