lesson title: Why is Biodiversity Important?

grade level: 9-12

Prepared by: Ashley Andersen

Ashley andersen, East Bay Senior High School

Ashley Andersen is a teacher at east bay senior high school. she works with grades nine through twelve. She is also the assistant teacher for the environmental club.

dr. ryan locicero, Civil and environmental engineering depart, USF

dr. maya trotz,Civil and environmental engineering depart, USF

Subject Area(s)Biology

Associated Unit: Biodiversity

Lesson Title: Why is Biodiversity Important?

Image

Grade Level9-12

Lesson #1 of 1

Lesson DependencyNone

Time Required:1 week

Summary: Students learn about how engineers, researchers, and scientists collect data on biodiversity. They will acquire knowledge about where it is important to implement a rain garden to increase the biodiversity. They will learn about the health of an ecosystem, how to increase biodiversity in a particular ecosystem. They will also further investigate the negative and positive human impact on the environment.

Engineering Connection

Environmental engineers must fully understand the concepts biodiversity, or the lack of biodiversity, of an ecosystem when they are deciding to implement Green Infrastructures in an environment. With this information of biodiversity, environmental engineers can understand, evaluate, and determine the health of ecosystems, what is needed for a healthy rain garden, and what kind of species of plants need to be planted for the environment, and region. Like environmental engineers students will implement and analyze data based off calculations of biodiversity.

Engineering Category

  1. Relating science and/or math concept(s) to engineering

Keywords: Biodiversity, Ecological Biodiversity, Biodiversity Index, Species,Species Richness, Species Evenness, Simpson’s Index, Biosphere, Green Infrastructure, Rain Garden, Invasive species, Native Species

Educational Standards

Science

  • SC.912.L.17.10(alsoSC.912.E.7.1)Diagram and explain the biogeochemical cycles of an ecosystem, including water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle.
  • SC.912.L.17.5Analyze how population size is determined by births, deaths, immigration, emigration, and limiting factors (biotic andabiotic) that determine carrying capacity.
  • SC.912.L.17.9Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers. Explain the pathway of energy transfer throughtrophiclevels and the reduction of available energy at successivetrophiclevels.
  • SC.912.L.17.2Explain the general distribution of life in aquatic systems as a function of chemistry, geography, light, depth, salinity, and temperature.
  • SC.912.L.17.4Describe changes in ecosystems resulting from seasonal variations, climate change and succession.
  • SC.912.L.17.11Evaluate the costs and benefits of renewable and nonrenewable resources, such as water, energy, fossil fuels, wildlife, and forests.SC.912.L.17.8Recognize the consequences of the losses of biodiversity due to catastrophic events, climate changes, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species.
  • SC.912.L.17.20Predict the impact of individuals on environmental systems and examine how human lifestyles affect sustainability.

ITEEA Educational Standard(s)

ITEEA:

Standard 3. Students will develop an understanding of the relationships among technologies and the connections between technology and other fields of study.

Benchmarks

In order to appreciate the relationships among technologies and other fields of study, students should learn that:

Grade Level 9-12:

H. Technological innovation often results when ideas, knowledge, or skills are shared withina technology, among technologies, or across other fields.

J. Technological progress promotes the advancement of science and mathematics.

Standard 5. Students will develop an understanding of the effects

of technology on the environment.

Benchmarks:

In order to discern the effects of technology on the environment, students should learn that:

Grade Level: 9-12

J. The alignment of technological processes with natural processes maximizes performance and reduces negative impacts on the environment.

K. Humans devise technologies to reduce the negative consequences of other technologies.

Multidisciplinary Subject Area Standards

  • Language Arts
  • Mathematics

Pre-Requisite Knowledge

Students should already know the tropic levels.

  • Students should be able to identify components of the water cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and phosphorous cycle.
  • Students show know and be able to identify abiotic and biotic factors in the ecosystem. They should know how abiotic and biotic factors affect each other and how they interact to make a more diverse ecosystem.

Learning Objectives

After this lesson, students should be able to:

Students should be able to:

Understand / Know / Do
-The Importance of Biodiversity
-How the ecosystem uses biodiversity to keep the system healthy
-How do rain gardens positively impact the hydrology cycle and biodiversity. / -Know how to apply Biodiversity to a green infrastructure at home and school
-Know how to explain the importance of biodiversity
-Know how humans are impacting the ecosystem, how to limit human impact on the environment, and how human impact on the environment will in the future impact humans. / -Develop a diverse and healthy green infrastructure at school
-Analyze sites where green infrastructures have been implemented and where green infrastructures should be implemented.

Introduction / Motivation

Have you been affected by too much rain? Have you ever seen a river or stream reach over its banks and threaten a building? There are solutions to these issues, but with these solutions you should ask yourself some more questions. How do engineers implement rain gardens into the ecosystem to help with both ecosystem issues, like water infiltration back into the ground after it has rained to prevent flooding? How do scientist use rain gardens to increase biodiversity? Also how would you as a researcher measure the biodiversity of the rain garden?

In our urban communities issues like flooding and stagnant water has been increasing. This is becoming a large issue because many people live, work and shop in the majority of areas that are seeing issues with flooding. Environmental engineers have come up with many solutions to solve this issue. It is called Green Infrastructureor specifically a Rain Garden. Rain Gardens not only help solve the hydrology issues of an area, but they also increase biodiversity in an area that would mainly be impervious surfaces. So within an urban area we are actually seeing an increase of species where, in the past, we would have seen just sidewalks, streets, and buildings. But how do we measure this increase in biodiversity? Well we can use many equations to do this, but the equation/index that we will be using today is the Simpson’s Index (Show the Index through Elmo, White Board, or Powerpoint).

Environmental Engineers, scientists, and people who live in urban areas want to see both a solution on hydrology issues and want to have some biodiversity in the urban jungle.

Lesson & Background Concepts for Teachers

The Simpsons Index is just one of the many equations that researchers use to measure biodiversity. It is not a hard equation to use, but there are many steps to it. It can be used in a smaller environment, like in the laboratory or it can be used in larger research settings like in the Amazonian Jungle. Here are a few steps of the Simpson’s Index that should be used to become

familiar with the equation:

Simpson’s Index:

•D: is the Simpson’s Index, this is what we are calculating

•n: total number of organisms of a species

•N: total number of organisms of all species

•∑: This is sigma, it is the mathematical sum

Vocabulary and Definitions

Word / Definition
Biodiversity / Describes the number and variety of all forms of life.
Ecological Biodiversity / Is the diversity of ecosystems, natural communities and habitats.
Biodiversity Index / Are measures of species diversity expressed as ratios between numbers of species and “importance values” (numbers, biomass, productivity and so on) of individuals.
Species / An individual belonging to a group of organisms (or the entire group itself) having common characteristics and (usually) are capable of mating with one another to producefertile offspring. Failing that (for example the Liger) It has to be ecologically and recognizably the same
Species Richness / Pertains to a number of different species represent in a given ecological community.
Species Evenness / Evenness is a measure of the relative abundance of the different species making up the richness of an area.
Simpson’s Index / The index is a measure of diversity. In ecology, it is often used to quantify the biodiversity of a habitat. It takes into account the number of species present, as well as the abundance of each species
Biosphere / The part of the earth (or planet) that is capable of supporting life
Green Infrastructure / Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments
Rain Garden / Rain gardens (also known as bioretention or bioinfiltration cells) are shallow, vegetated basins that collect and absorb runoff from rooftops, sidewalks, and streets.
Invasive species / As an organism (plant, animal, fungus, or bacterium) that is not native and has negative effects on our economy, our environment, or our health.
Native Species / Those that do live in the same place they are originally from. Can be either endemic (found only within a particular region) or indigenous (found both within the region and elsewhere).

Associated Activities

None

Lesson Closure

Have you seen a difference in the hydrology cycle due to our implementation of the rain garden at our school? Did the data that you collected at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year indicate that the rain garden actually had a positive impact on increasing biodiversity? Are rain gardens a solution to the urban issues of lack of biodiversity and urban flooding after storms? (Answers should be yes).

Humans must interact with the environment in a positive way by finding solutions to issues that our culture is having, but not further impacting the environment in negative ways. With global climate change storms will be more severe and rain will not be able to infiltrate back into the ground as quickly as it needs to, which leads to flooding and stagnant water. There are many ways to help urban hydrology stay consistent with fast infiltration of water and help ecosystems become more biodiverse.

While the current solutions for hydrology health and biodiversity are being implemented and are great solutions, there are still more ways that humans can implement better conservation and solutions to help some of the issues we are seeing due to global climate change. Young scientists and environmental engineers can come up with solutions that can be implemented in your communities. As you saw in your hands on activities and laboratory there are ways you can already implement and improve in your lives.

Assessment

Pre-Assessment:

1. Bell work questions: Multiple Choice Question and Short Answer Question that students should work on individually:

  1. Explain what Biodiversity is (1-2 sentences)?

2. Which of the following are abiotic factors that shape ecosystems?

A. worms, plants and temperature

B. wind, precipitation, and soil type

C. niches, trees, and bacteria

D. sunlight, mushrooms, and wind

2. Biodiversity Quick Write: Students will read and write, answering the following

  • Explain the characteristics of biodiversity that the poet is talking about within the poem.
  • In your own words define biodiversity.
  • Based from the poem explain how are humans impacting the ecosystem and what is happening to the biodiversity in many ecosystems.
  • Find evidence from the poem that the culture of humans will be affected by the disappearing biodiversity within our global community.

Post-Introduction Assessment

1. Completion of Cloze Notes: Teacher should pay attention to the computations to gather data about student understanding

2. The debate that they use developing a claim, justification and evidence poster/large sticky note

Lesson Summary Assessment

Students will develop a Powerpoint that will need to have the components of pictures of pre and post rain garden, method/procedure section, calculations for pre and post rain garden, analysis of the data.

Lesson Extension Activities

None

Additional Multimedia Support

References

Maryland Sea Grant How to Calculate Biodiversity? Last Updated July 28, 2015. University of Maryland. Accessed on July 1, 2015.

Attachments

  1. Biodiversity_Andersen Powerpoint
  2. Cloze, Notes, Poem and Quick Write Prompt
  3. Biodiversity Bingo
  4. Informational Reading_CEJ Template_Biodversity Cards
  5. Mini_ADI_biodiversity
  6. Biodiversity _ADI_OutsideintheRG
  7. Powerpoint Expectations_Rubric

Engage
(hook, demonstration, free write, brain-storming, analyze a graphic organizer, KWL, etc) / Do Now: (5 minutes)
  1. What is biodiversity?
  2. Which of the following are abiotic factors that shape ecosystems?
A. worms, plants and temperature
B. wind, precipitation, and soil type
C. niches, trees, and bacteria
D. sunlight, mushrooms, and wind
Biodiversity Quick Write: (15 minutes)
  • Place the quick write prompt on a projector or under the ELMO. Provide students 1-2 minutes to read prompt and10 minutes to write. There should be at least one paragraph from each student
  • Students can share their responses aloud with the whole group or partner, as time permits this should only be 5 minutes.
The purpose of this activity is to recall any prior knowledge of the interrelationship of biodiversity and human impact.
Teaching note: be looking for misconceptions and appropriate/inappropriate use of relevant vocabulary
Teaching note: do not provide any answers as to how the biodiversity works, what it is, how it effects the entire ecosystem, and how humans are impacting the global ecosystems
Poem:
Writing Prompt (students should answer all parts of the prompt):
  • Explain the characteristics of biodiversity that the poet is talking about within the poem.
  • In your own words define biodiversity.
  • Based from the poem explain how are humans impacting the ecosystem and what is happening to the biodiversity in many ecosystems.
  • Find evidence from the poem that the culture of humans will be affected by the disappearing biodiversity within our global community.
Introduction Vocabulary Game: BINGO!
The students will have laminated vocabulary sheets and dry erase makers, with boards with the vocabulary words for this unit. The teacher will read the vocabulary cards with definitions on them. For the winners the teacher should have some classroom reward for the student to use in class (i.e., extra bathroom pass, free homework pass for the day, or 5 points increase on a test) Templates for the vocabulary sheets have been provided.
Explore
(investigation, solve a problem, collect data, construct model, etc.) / 1. Guided Exploration: Students will explore and investigate ways of data collection to measure biodiversity. The first part will be a 10-15 minute guided Powerpoint or webquest. They will use cloze notes to explore and take notes with the teacher.
2. They will then read this informational website, answer short answer questions based on the article information. They will then have a debate about the threats of biodiversity and which one is the most impactful to the decrease of biodiversity. Using Claim, Justification, and Evidence template.

Explain
(student analysis, structured questioning, reading and discussion, teacher explanation, compare, classify) / In Class Hands-On Activity: Students will use their knowledge of the Simpson’s Index, biodiversity, how to design an experiment, carry out an experiment, calculate the Simpson’s Index to do a mini-hands on activity.
Guiding Question of Hands-On Activity:
Students will be given this guiding questions: How do Scientists Collect and Calculate Biodiversity?
Procedure of Activity Student Centered-Student Directed:
Working in Groups of Three, students will need to come up with both a hypothesis and methods to collect, analyze data, and answer the guiding questions.
They will be provided with:
Materials:
  • Tupperware container: which symbolizes sample area.
  • Neon Beads of Various Colors
  • Chart (Template Included) to collect data and use for calculations.

Elaborate/Extend
(problem solving, decision making, experimental inquiry, compare, classify, apply) / Outside Classroom Hands On Activity: Students will use their knowledge of the Simpson’s Index, biodiversity, how to design an experiment, carry out an experiment, calculate the Simpson’s Index to do a pre-rain garden data collection on 3 areas around their school. This will help them analyze where a rain garden should be implemented, how biodiversity will increase after rain garden implementation, and the importance of a rain garden within an ecosystem.
Guiding Questions of Hands-On Activity:
1. Students will be given this guiding questions: How do Scientists Collect and Calculate Biodiversity and How Do They Use This Information to Understand the Health, Needs, and Human Impact on an Urban Ecosystem?
2. Where Should We Put Our Rain Garden?
Procedure of Activity Student Centered-Student Directed:
Working in Groups of Three, students will need to come up with both a hypothesis and methods to collect, analyze data, and answer the guiding questions.
They will be provided with:
Materials:
  • Surveyor Flags (To Mark Different Varieties of Plants)
  • Hoola-Hoops (To mark their Sample Areas)
  • Chart (Template Included) to collect data and use for calculations.
  • Clip-Boards
  • Camera or Cell Phone with Photographic Abilities
The rain garden will be planted and implemented. This activity should have a follow up activity after the rain garden has become established (around 6-8 months). Students should now do the calculations again for the Simpson’s Index for the rain garden, take pictures of the now established rain garden, and answer these questions:
  1. Looking at the pre-rain garden and the post rain garden how did the biodiversity increase?
  2. What did the rain garden bring to the ecosystem?
  3. How will you use this information in your life? Home? Community?

Evaluate
(any of above, develop a scoring tool or Rubric, performance assessment, produce a product, journal entry, portfolio, etc.) / Working in the same groups of three from the hands on activities, students will produce a Powerpoint showing their work from the pre and post rain gardens. In the extra document section there is a rubric for the powerpoint criteria.

Supporting Program