{"id":3374,"date":"2023-04-11T18:12:57","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T18:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/?post_type=quills-posts&#038;p=3374"},"modified":"2023-12-05T13:14:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T18:14:51","slug":"the-importance-of-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"quills-posts","link":"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/quills\/the-importance-of-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Instructions:<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Teacher begins by facilitating a class discussion posing the following question(s) to students:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>In a rich ecosystem with lots of plant and animal species (like a meadow or forest) what\u00a0do you think\u00a0will happen\u00a0to the animals and plant relatives living in the area if one species is removed?\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Similarly, in an ecosystem with few plant and animal species living in it (like a mowed lawn) what do you think will happen to the other animals and plant relatives living in the area if a species disappears?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students share their thinking.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students find a \u201csit spot\u201d (introduced in the Teacher\u2019s Guide) in a rich ecosystem (Forest or Meadow). Students sit quietly by themselves and observe everything around them. Students record their observations in their Outdoor Learning Journals (Outdoor Learning Journals are introduced in the Teacher\u2019s Guide).\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Journals will\u00a0include space for students to write down (and draw) what they see, hear, smell etc., record their questions,\u00a0and indicate how they feel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teacher can then hold a Talking Circle (Proper protocols regarding how to facilitate a Talking Circle are introduced in the Teacher\u2019s Guide and in Teacher Professional Development Sessions). In the Circle, students share their observations with each other.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next, teacher repeats the above activity in a barren ecosystem ie: a mowed lawn or somewhere on the schoolground that starkly contrasts\u00a0with the first location.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teacher then facilitates the following activity twice. Once for the rich habitat and once again for the barren habitat. Instructions regarding how to facilitate will be included in the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Rich-vs.-Barren-Habitat-Activity_2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rich vs. Barren Habitat Activity Worksheet<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Instructions. Students make\u00a0a set of index\u00a0cards for the different components of the\u00a0first (rich)\u00a0ecosystem and a set of cards for components of the second (barren) ecosystem. Students should be encouraged to use specific examples that they\u00a0observed ie: producers\u00a0and consumers and\u00a0decomposers (bacteria and fungi).\u00a0There should be one card for each student.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students compare results\u00a0of what it was like running the activity in two different ecosystems.\u00a0At the end of both activities\u2019 students should see that the ecosystems with more diversity can withstand changes associated with invasive species, pollution, hunting, drought, climate changes\u00a0etc. more effectively than ecosystems with less\u00a0biodiversity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students make a record of their learning that they can be revisited later in their Outdoor Learning Journal or as a class (picture or mind map on chart paper that is displayed in the classroom)\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To consolidate learning students can watch clip embedded in the Gifts of the Earth video featuring Dr. Stephen Lougheed discussing how species diversity enhances biodiversity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Optional Extension: Habitat Lap Sit<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>In this activity, adapted from \u2018Project WILD\u2019 students explore how different elements in an ecosystem impact biodiversity and what happens to ecosystem resiliency when plant and animal relatives are negatively impacted. Activity instructions are found in the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Habitat-Lap-Sit_2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Habitat Lap Sit Worksheet<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Habitat-Lap-Sit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teacher closes activity by asking students what can be done to maintain biodiversity.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Rich-vs.-Barren-Habitat-Activity_2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rich vs. Barren Habitat Activity Worksheet<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Habitat-Lap-Sit_2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Habitat Lap Sit Worksheet<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/elbowlakecentre.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/03.-The-Importance-of-Biodiversity_2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Printer Friendly Activity<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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