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Improving biodiversity
Look at us! A Primary Years’ investigation into Adelaide’s biodiversity: past, present and future.
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Contents
Big ideas / Page 1Essential questions / Page 1
Links to the SA Teaching for Effective Learning framework / Page 1
Links to the Australian Curriculum / Page 1
Key Words / Page 2
Learning activities / Page 2
Activity 1: How has the Adelaide environment changed since European settlement? / Page 2
Activity 2: How much have Adelaide’s landscapes and vegetation changed and how have these changes impacted on animals? / Page 3
Activity 3: What is biodiversity and why is it important? / Page 3
Activity 4: How we can improve biodiversity? / Page 3
Activity 5: Taking action / Page 4
Extension activities / Page 4
Resources / Page 4
Attachment one: Readings / Page 5
Attachment two: Assessing biodiversity group worksheets / Page 8
Big ideas
The South Australian landscape and vegetation profile changed significantly as a result of land clearance and land uses. As a result plants, animals, and the ecosystems they live in (i.e. biodiversity) are under increasing pressure. By examining the past and the present day vegetation profiles, through art and literacy, students come to understand the importance of biodiversity. They undertake a plant and habitat assessment of the school grounds and decide how to take action to improve its biodiversity. Teachers are encouraged to adapt the unit of work to suit the interests and needs of their students.
Essential questions
- How has the Adelaide environment changed since European settlement?
- Why is biodiversity important?
- What is the condition of the biodiversity in our school grounds?
- How can we improve the biodiversity in our school grounds?
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Links to the SA Teaching for Effective Learning framework- Domain 4
Personalise and connect learning / 4.1 build on learners’ understandings / 4.2 connect learning to students’ lives and aspirations / 4.3 apply and assess learning in authentic contexts / 4.4 communicate learning in multiple modesLinks to the Australian Curriculum - (teachers to determine specific links for year levels)
Learning Areas / History / Geography / English / The arts / ScienceCross-curriculum priorities
Sustainability / OI2. All life forms, including human life, are connected through ecosystems on which they depend for their wellbeing and survival. / OI5. World views are formed by experiences at personal, local, national and global levels, and are linked to individual and community actions for sustainability.OI7. Actions for a more sustainable future reflect values of care, respect and responsibility, and require us to explore and understand environments. / OI9. Sustainable futures result from actions designed to preserve and/or restore the quality and uniqueness of environments.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures / OI.3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have unique belief systems and are spiritually connected to the land, sea, sky and waterways.
General capabilities
Literacy / Numeracy / Information and communication technology (ICT) capability / Critical and creative thinking / Personal and social capability / Ethical understanding / Intercultural understandingKey Words
Key word / UseBio-indicator / Biological indicators are animals, plants and other life-forms used to monitor the health of an environment or eco-system. If an animal is an indicator, it is the first to respond to change; e.g. frogs indicate the health, or otherwise, of a waterway, as they are one of the first species to be impacted by pollution.
Biodiversity / All living organisms (trees, plants, genes, ecosystems).
Diversity / The number of different types (e.g. types of water macroinvertebrates) not the total number of individuals.
Habitat / A habitat is an area where a species lives and gets everything it needs; e.g. a pond is an ideal habitat for frogs.
Ecosystem / An ecosystem can consist of multiple habitats. A forest ecosystem may have a pond (for frogs), large trees (for nesting birds), and logs (for lizards).
Habitat diversity / The number of different types of different habitats in an ecosystem.
Habitat condition / The overall health of a particular habitat for a certain species.
Aquatic macroinvertebrates / Aquatic = lives in water. Macro = can be seen with the human eye. Invertebrates = animals without a backbone.
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Assessment tasks
Teachers are encouraged to design assessment tasks to suit their student learning needs, year level, and the achievement standards in the Australian Curriculum
Learning activities
Activity 1: How has the Adelaide environment changed since European settlement?
Materials:
•Art materials
•Map of the school grounds
•Download images of colonial and contemporary Adelaide using Google, to be displayed on the Smart Board. Take note of copyright restrictions.Colonial examples include:
- The City of Adelaide from Mr Wilson's Section on the Torrens, June 1845 painted by George French Angas
- Government House on North Terrace, Adelaide in 1845, painted by Samuel Thomas Gill
- North Terrace, view taken looking east s east painted by Martha Berkeley.
•Images of colonial and present day Adelaide from different perspectives (e.g. Torrens, Glenelg, Adelaide city). Take note of copyright restrictions.
Duration: 1 hour
Begin by asking students how much they think Adelaide has changed since European Settlement. Ask them to share their thoughts on how the vegetation and people have changed. In groups, using computers, compare and contrast images of colonial Adelaide with present day Adelaide. Ask students to look at similarities and differences. After some discussion bring students back and encourage them to share their finding and thoughts.
Ask students to go to various areas of the school grounds and sketch the landscape and plants. When they return ask them to talk about their sketches in groups highlighting what they discovered. Display the sketches around the map of the school grounds with a connecting link between the sketch and the relevant area.
Activity 2:How much have Adelaide’s landscapes and vegetation changed and how have these changes impacted on animals?
Materials: Reading sheets 1-4 (Attachment one). Map of Adelaide.
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Ask students if they think the vegetation has changed throughout Adelaide and how and why they think it has changed. If students say it has changed due to clearance ask them if there is anything else that has changed (this may start a conversation on animal loss, weeds or fire).
Divide the class into groups of about five students and give each group one of the Reading sheets. Ask them to skim and scan the text and look up any words they are unsure of in a dictionary. Then they take turns reading the sheet and finding any mentioned areas of Adelaide on a map and write the kind of vegetation on the area.
Ask them to discuss the evident differences in the landscape, vegetation and animals from then to now. Bring the four groups back together to summarise and compare their discussions. The key idea to reinforce is land clearing for housing, roads, other structures and farming has reduced the vegetation and therefore the habitat, leading to extinctions for some and serious problems for other wildlife. Note: as the fact sheet texts were written a long time ago the style of language and vocabulary can be quite challenging. Instead of the group activity, you may wish to choose one to read to the class and then discuss.
Activity 3: What is biodiversity and why is it important?
Materials: Video on Biodiversity – Click here
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Ask students what the term biodiversity means. Once you have determined as a class that it is the diversity of all life, ask students why it is important.
Following some discussion have a look at the video and confirm and/or extend their thinking about biodiversity. Ask them how they think biodiversity has changed since European Settlement. Some key discussion points may go beyond South Australia such as palm oil, clearing of rainforests, extinction of iconic animals such as the Tasmanian Tiger or those nearing extinction such as gorillas and tigers (some subspecies of tiger are already extinct).
You can bring back the discussion to a local level by talking about some of our local threatened species such as the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo or the Southern Brown Bandicoot. The key ideas to reinforce are that loss of vegetation = loss of habitat = a loss of biodiversity and that the loss of biodiversity impacts on humans, other animals and the planet, and it is up to us to improve biodiversity.
Activity 4: How we can improve biodiversity?
Materials:
A3 copies of an aerial map of the school, an original vegetation map of South Australia or use the Backyards for Wildlife Interactive map. Copy the Assessing biodiversity worksheets (Attachment two) for each group.
Duration: 1 – 1.5 hours (depending on level of engagement)
Using the aerial map or the Backyards for Wildlife Interactive map here, locate the area the school is in and identify the original dominant vegetation. Compare it with the vegetation on the aerial map of the school. Identify the similarities and differences. Hypothesise about the health or otherwise of the biodiversity in the school grounds. Explain to students that there is a way to now test the hypothesis and see how healthy the biodiversity of the school grounds really is.
The biodiversity assessment
Group 1 - Task 1: investigating trees and Task 2: investigating canopy cover
Group 2 - investigating understorey
Group 3 - Task 1: - investigating organic litter and Task 2: investigating logs and rocks
Group 4: - investigating weediness
The assessment process
The investigation tasks can be undertaken at the same time by groups of students. It is recommended to have an adult with each group to support the process. Students provide an assessment of the quality of factors of habitat and biodiversity in the school grounds. Ideally, the activities will be undertaken annually (or seasonally) to provide snapshots of the state of biodiversity over time. Before starting the activities it is recommended to go through them with students. The background notes will support their understanding of what they are looking for.
After their investigation in the school grounds, each group prepares a report on their results, including the nature of the investigation, the results (including a graph; e.g. bar graph, pictograph) and their opinion of the accuracy of the original hypothesis. Each group presents their findings to the class and discusses their original thoughts and recommendations. Collate the results and decide on the condition of biodiversity in the school grounds.
Activity 5:Taking action
Materials: results of biodiversity mapping from Activity 4.
Duration:30-40 minutes
After looking at the results of the survey, and reminding them of the importance of biodiversity, ask students for ways to improve the biodiversity of our school grounds into the future. Using the information collected through the assessment activity decide on priority areas for development in the next 12 months.
Prepare persuasive arguments to get staff and other students involved in your plans. Give preference to local provenance plants to return the vegetation (as close as possible) to its original state. Document plans in a SEMP (School Environment Management Plan). Undertake, monitor (e.g. using photo points) and evaluate actions. Record the types of wildlife that comes to visit your improved patch. Your local NRM Education Officer ( can provide advice and support.
Extension activities
•Research Adelaide’s Aboriginal groups and their dreaming stories that relate to animals and the land. Present the stories in a multimodal format to share with other classes.
•Ask students to choose a plant in the yard and to research what it is, either in a plant book or on the internet. Once they have found out if it is native or feral ask them to write a report for the grounds person recommending either the care or removal of the plant.
•Research the history of the local area and identify some significant natural landmarks.
•Research important names in Adelaide’s history, such as: Colonel William Light (including parklands in city design), Governor John Hindmarsh, G.F. Angas, Hans Heysen, John Glover. Find out who they were, what they achieved and what has been named in their memory.
•Students find out more about urban planning that includes green spaces (e.g. Beyond, Aldinga Eco-village and Christie Walk). Ask them to design their own eco-village based on what they find out.
•Ask students to consider their learning about biodiversity and list some biodiversity improvements they can make to their backyard.
Resources
•NRM Education resources on biodiversity – click here to view the resource
•Weeds - click here to view the resource (includes a weed identification tool)
•Primary Connections: Year 3, Feathers, fur or leaves?; Year 4, Friends or foe?; Year 5, Desert survivors; Year 6, Marvellous micro-organisms.
Attachment one: Readings
Reading 1
The hidden nature of Adelaide extract from the introductionto The Native Plants of Adelaide by Phil Bagust and Linda Tout-Smith, 2010(reproduced with the kind permission of The Wakefield Press).
“Quickly, think of the house or unit in which you live. Now try to imagine the landscape that existed before the Europeans built on it. What did the landscape look like? Was it farming land? And before it was farmed? Was it forest? Grassland? Wetland? …
For a start the Adelaide Plains are, by definition, quite flat. They are also rather fertile, and mostly have deep and arable soils. We have a delightful Mediterranean climate. This made the Adelaide Plains extremely attractive to the first settlers as farming land.
Another reason is that much of the Adelaide Plains was already quite open prior to settlement, having a kind of parkland appearance with large but scattered trees, a state at least partly attributable to the burning practices of the original Kaurna inhabitants. This open appearance, so attractive to the European eye, made further clearance much easier.
So the answer to our original question is that your dwelling was probably built on arable land that had already been farmed for many years. It is no wonder that most Adelaide inhabitants have little idea of what the pre-European vegetation looked like, because over vast swathes of suburbia, unless one knows exactly where to look, it is basically all gone and has been for over a hundred years. Add to this the interest in recent decades in planting Australian natives that may have been sourced from other regions over a thousand kilometres away and there is little wonder that confusion exists about the identity of the truly indigenous plants of the Adelaide Plains. …
The picture that emerges is one of a complex and diverse mosaic of woodlands, with different tree species dominating in various areas. Along the many streams, but stretching out over the eastern Adelaide Plains, huge River Red Gums and Blue Gums, some of which still exist, would have dominated a rich grassy woodland. To the west behind the coastal dunes, stately Native Cypress-pines and Sheoaks dominated.
South of the Torrens the dark-barked Eucalypt the settlers called ‘peppermint’ and which is now known as the Grey Box gave the early name to the present-day suburb of Black Forest, while on the drier northern Adelaide Plains the closely related but smaller Mallee Box predominated. Where the soils were sandier and less fertile, such as in parts of the north-eastern suburbs and on the coastal cliffs south of Marino, a dense heathland of colourfulshrubs and sedges developed, while along the beaches, a near continual sweep of coastal shrubland clothed the white dunes.
If there is one thing that would surprise a contemporary Adelaidean magically transported back to 1836 it would probably be how wet much of the Adelaide Plains area, particularly the area south of the Torrens River, really was. The many small creeks now confined within concrete drains once overflowed each winter to gently cover and irrigate the Adelaide Plains, and our larger streams discharged into a vast wetland of rushes, reeds and sedges behind the coastal dunes between Brighton and Port Adelaide. This western coastal area, which must have been a wildlife wonderland, has now been almost obliterated.
This fantastic variety of environments, amongst the most diverse on South Australia, supported a population of native mammals, birds and reptiles that would amaze the present-day Adelaideans. Emus, goannas, quolls, bandicoots, platypuses, bettongs, wombats, and even that Australian icon of rarity, the bilby, were plentiful on the Adelaide Plains prior to European settlement.
It would surprise few to learn that in almost no area of the Adelaide Plains are naturally occurring, local native plants still common. Over ninety percent of the original vegetation has been destroyed, and if one removes the large, relatively intact mangrove area of the Port River estuary, that remnant fraction falls to a few percent at most.”
Reading 2
Adelaide in 1839 from theSouth Australian Register 15 January 1878 (reproduced with the kind permission of The Wakefield Press).
“You feel you have done something heroic in leaving a civilised land to come to where swans are black instead of white. Where indigenous quadrupeds travel in leaps, erect on their hind legs, instead of walking or running on all four. Where trees shed their bark instead of their leaves, and rivers flow sometimes underground, sometimes on the surface, and instead of broadening as they near the ocean, narrow to a trickle or disappear completely as they approach it. Where the aboriginal population, instead of sporting the orthodox white and red, have skins the colour of the finest quality ebony.