Human activities that cause a loss of biodiversity. Video by California Academy of Sciences. Created by California Academy of Sciences.

This module explores the introduction of the American bullfrog on their ecosystem. Using species diversity calculations and data collection techniques, students explore how the bullfrog affected the species in its community. Students are introduced to calculations like species richness, species evenness, and species diversity indices. Also, this activity provides students an understanding of how this information is gathered in the field and provides them an opportunity to learn how to collect data themselves.

Learn about the many types of interspecific interactions: competition, predation, herbivory, symbiosis, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism. Created by Sal Khan.

Students practice building food chains and webs, explore interrelationships in the EOL Food Webs Tool, then model the flow of energy in food webs.

This course examines the interconnections of international politics and climate change. Beginning with an analysis of the strategic and environmental legacies of the 20th Century, it explores the politicization of the natural environment, the role of science in this process, and the gradual shifts in political concerns to incorporate “nature”. Two general thrusts of climate-politics connections are pursued, namely those related to (a) conflict – focusing on threats to security due to environmental dislocations and (b) cooperation – focusing on the politics of international treaties that have contributed to emergent processes for global accord in response to evidence of climate change. The course concludes by addressing the question of: “What Next?”

This course examines the interconnections of international politics and climate change. Beginning with an analysis of the strategic and environmental legacies of the 20th Century, it explores the politicization of the natural environment, the role of science in this process, and the gradual shifts in political concerns to incorporate “nature”. Two general thrusts of climate-politics connections are pursued, namely those related to (a) conflict – focusing on threats to security due to environmental dislocations and (b) cooperation – focusing on the politics of international treaties that have contributed to emergent processes for global accord in response to evidence of climate change. The course concludes by addressing the question of: “What Next?”

This video explores what happens when exotic animal and plant species are introduced into ecosystems, and the impact of introduced species on biodiversity. Created by California Academy of Sciences.

In this field lab students will investigate the biodiversity around their school. Students will perform a biodiversity count using transect line. The students will develop multiple hypotheses relating to biodiversity and propose additional procedures for studying, collecting and testing these questions.

Giant clams are no myth. In New England, people love clam chowder, but in the Pacific, some of the clams are as big as a suitcase! In this video filmed in Micronesia, Jonathan goes in search of Giant Clams. These clams are so big that people used to think they caught people...and it almost looks like they could. It turns out that the real problem is that too many people are eating the clams. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

In this jigsaw activity, students of intermediate-level French will divide into five groups to become experts on each of the five biodiversity questions featured on the Curiosphere website. They will proceed to explain their assigned aspect of the issue to a small group of students.

This article highlights lessons that help K-grade 5 students understand that animals and plants can only survive in certain environments.The lessons support the theme of an issue of the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The theme is "We Depend on Earth's Climate."

This fun Web site is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they take a close-up look at biodiversity in a city park. The site opens by telling kids that, despite appearances, a great deal of biodiversity exists in cities. That from tiny mites to mighty trees, thousands of species thrive there. It then takes them to a slice of life from a thriving city park, where they are asked to find 10 hidden critters living alongside the trees, plants, and insects. Each time they locate one of the tiny critters, they are rewarded with a quick look at its importance to the habitat.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Long-term mono-cropping often suppresses plant growth, but the mechanisms behind this are poorly understood. The key may lie in the soil surrounding the plants’ roots. This region, the rhizosphere, is filled with important microbes and the carbon-containing photosynthesis products, rhizodeposits, that plants exude from their roots. Rhizodeposits are part of the link between plants and their rhizosphere microbes. So, a team of researchers examined the interactions among rhizodeposits, rhizosphere microbes, and mono-cropping long-term. They found that years of mono-cropping led to a gradual decrease in carbon deposition and the chemical diversity of the rhizodeposits. These decreases were strongly correlated with decreases in the rhizosphere microbial diversity and metabolic functioning. Mono-cropping long-term also slowly led to a decrease in the abundance of plant-beneficial microbial groups..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Organisms interact with the living and nonliving features within their environment which creates a cause and
effect relationship among populations in the ecosystem. Individual survival and population sizes depend on
factors, such as predation, availability of resources, and parameters of the physical environment (light,
temperature, space for shelter and reproduction). Additionally, organism interaction serves the purpose to
obtain matter and energy. Organisms obtain energy through photosynthesis or consuming other organisms in a
complex set of relationships within a particular food web. These complex food webs serve as a basis for
understanding the dynamic interdependence among organisms and the physical environment.

Coastal environments are by their nature ever-changing. This unit looks at the example of the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England, describing how the current state of the estuary came to be. It examines the contests and conflicts that center on the estuary in terms of managing the environment for human needs and the needs of the other species who make their habitat there.

Even experienced divers rarely get to see the Mandarinfish, a colorful reef fish that is so shy, it only comes out of hiding for a half-hour a day. In this video, Jonathan travels to the south Pacific to film spawning Mandarinfish and witnesses an incredible secret ritual. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

In this video, Jonathan travels to the Micronesian island of Yap in the middle of the Pacific to investigate large gatherings of the world's largest ray‰ŰÓthe manta. A research program there is tracking dozens of these animals and Jonathan learns what they're doing hanging around certain coral heads every morning. Please see the accompanying lesson plan on tides for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Lessons teach core knowledge about the science of climate change, explore conflicting views, and integrate critical thinking skills. Students will apply knowledge of climate change to a rigorous analysis of media messages through asking and answering questions about accuracy, currency, credibility, sourcing, and bias. Lessons address basic climate science, the causes of climate change, scientific debate and disinformation, the consequences of global warming, the precautionary principle, carbon footprints, moral choices, and the history of global warming in media, science, and politics.

This kit explores how sustainability has been presented in the media with a particular focus on issues related to food, water and agriculture. Each of the 19 lessons integrates media literacy and critical thinking into lessons about different aspect of sustainability. Constant themes throughout the kit include social justice, climate change, energy, economics and unintended consequences.

Meiosis is the process by which gametes (eggs and sperm) are made. Gametes have only one set of chromosomes. Therefore, meiosis involves a reduction in the amount of genetic material. Each gamete has only half the chromosomes of the original germ cell. Explore meiosis with a computer model of dragons. Run meiosis, inspect the chromosomes, then choose gametes to fertilize. Predict the results of the dragon offspring and try to make a dragon without legs. Learn why all siblings do not look alike.