Recognize the consequences of the losses of biodiversity due to catastrophic events, climate changes, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species.
| Name |
Description |
| Florida Statute Analysis: Nonnative Species - 369.251 | Students will explore the importance of biodiversity and interdependence within ecosystems by analyzing Florida Statutes related to nonnative species. They will interpret the statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan. |
| Florida Statute Analysis: Nonnative Species - 369.252 | Students will explore the importance of biodiversity and interdependence within ecosystems by analyzing Florida Statutes related to nonnative species. They will interpret the statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan. |
| Florida Statute Analysis: Nonnative Species - 379.26 | Students will explore the importance of biodiversity and interdependence within ecosystems by analyzing Florida Statutes related to nonnative species. They will interpret the statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan. |
| Florida Statute Analysis: Nonnative Species - 379.231 & 379.2311 | Students will explore the importance of biodiversity and interdependence within ecosystems by analyzing Florida Statutes related to nonnative species. They will interpret the statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan. |
| Florida Statute Analysis: Nonnative Species - 379.28 | Students will explore the importance of biodiversity and interdependence within ecosystems by analyzing Florida Statutes related to nonnative species. They will interpret the statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan. |
| Human Impact on Biodiversity Loss and the Role We Play as Citizens | In this lesson students will be instructed on the importance and benefits of biodiversity as well as human impacts on biodiversity loss. They will explore the roles and responsibilities of citizens as it pertains to these issues. Students will work collaboratively to perform online research on examples of human impacts on biodiversity and how it relates to them as individuals and as citizens within their community. Each group will participate in a class discussion using their roles as citizens to determine the responsibilities and obligations they have to help limit biodiversity loss. |
| Stop Invading My Space | Students will work in small groups to review information about an invasive species in Florida and learn to recognize scientifically reliable sources. Groups will teach their classmates about the assigned species and discuss some of the impacts that species has on the biodiversity of the local ecosystem where they have been introduced.
Students will explore the role of the state government, specifically the Florida Wildlife Commission and the Florida Department of Agriculture, in preserving the biodiversity of Florida. Students will relate the creation of invasive species laws to the impacts government can have on the environment and daily lives of citizens. |
| Lesson 5: Harmful Algal Blooms |
•What harmful algal blooms are
•How harmful algal blooms occur
•Different types of harmful algal blooms and where they occur in Florida
|
| Lesson 2: Currents and Temperature | This lesson covers:
- How wind influences ocean currents
- How currents transport heat and water around the world
- Florida specific currents and oceanography
- How currents connect the world’s climate
|
| Bonefish Genetics |
Recent research has shown that bonefish (Albula vulpes) found all around the Florida Keys, The Bahamas, and many other places across the Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean are genetically related. In this lesson, students will learn about what it means to be “genetically related,” how genetics are determined, and how this could change how we manage bonefish populations locally and internationally. They will work together in to create a “model treaty” that protects bonefish between countries.
|
| Gr 9-12 Adaptations in Everglades Ecosystems, Lesson 1: Living on the Edge | Students will be able to distinguish among the types of mangroves common to Florida and understand their zonation within the coastal community. They will also be able to describe how mangroves, as an essential biotic component, help stabilize the coastline and protect it from erosion and storm surges. Lastly, students will provide argumentation supported by evidence for the protection of mangroves. |
| Gr 9-12 Environmental Factors of the Everglades, Lesson 1: The Heart of a Watershed | In small groups, students build a model landscape to illustrate the uniqueness of the Kissimmee-Lake Okeechobee-Everglades (K-O-E) watershed and use a model to demonstrate how alterations have affected it. |
| Helpful Herbivores | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that explains how a smaller species of organisms are filling a niche of larger organisms that have been reduced due to overfishing and disease. These smaller organisms have been shown to reduce algal communities that can lead to the destruction of crucial coral reefs. This discovery may have large, beneficial impacts on endangered coral communities around the world. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes use of a seed discussion organizer, a vocabulary handout, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, sample answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| ComBATing Extinction | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article explains how Caribbean bat species are uniquely suited for studying the consequences of extinction. By reading this article, students will get a better understanding of geographic isolation and speciation, which are major themes when discussing the theory of evolution. In addition, students will gain an understanding of the devastating effects human impact can have on populations of species. |
| Will We See More White Nose Syndrome in Bats? | In this lesson, students will read an informational text that discusses the spread of White Nose Syndrome in North American bats and how bat colonies are being affected in both size and number. The article also provides a comparison between European and North American bat colonies suffering with this disease. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, and answer keys. |
| Bad News for Starfish | In this lesson plan, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The National Science Foundation article discusses research on the effects of the Sea Star Associated Densovirus, a virus devastating sea star populations. The article further explains the implication of the virus for the tidal ecosystems of the Pacific West Coast. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| The Importance of a Baboon's Birthday | In this lesson, students will read an article from the National Science Foundation that discusses how a drought affected the savannas of southern Kenya during 2009. It further addresses how baboons are affected later in life based on when they are born and the social status they are born into. Based on the research on baboons, the implications on human health are also discussed in the latter portion of the article. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Loss of Sea Ice Leaves Polar Bears in the Cold | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article showcases recent research into the declining Arctic sea ice and its effect on polar bear populations. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Bee Faithful! | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses a study that confirms the impact of removing just one bumblebee species from an ecosystem. The text describes how removing just one bumblebee species from an ecosystem causes less effective pollination and lower seed production. Bumblebees, as most bees do, stick with one species of flower until it's finished blooming. Scientists have found that when one bee species is removed it causes the remaining bee species to "cheat" on their original flower species. This causes a decrease in pollination and in seed production. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys and a writing rubric. |
| Looking for the Loris | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the research and efforts by scientists to save the slow loris from extinction. It discusses the complexity of conservation today and details how there are many different layers that need to be addressed on this issue. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Helping the Honey Bee! | In this lesson, students will analyze an article that discusses the problem of declining honey bee populations in the United States and lists the possible factors involved. The text then describes the study on African honey bees to determine if there are genetic or physiological causes in their positive response to the Varroa parasite. Researchers are hoping the data they gather will help them improve breeding programs or management practices in U.S. bee populations. This lesson plan is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Winter Ecologists Explore Effects of Climate Change | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses the consequences of climate change on living organisms in snow ecosystems, particularly those who live in the subnivium beneath the snow's surface. The text describes a new field of researchers called winter ecologists and their findings that show how climate change is causing lighter snows in some areas, diminishing the amount of insulation in the subnivium that many living organisms need to survive the winter. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Lionfish: Invasive Predators! | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The text concerns lionfish, an invasive species in the Atlantic, and the environmental and economic damage the species threatens. The lesson plan includes text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Ideas for extending the lesson are also included. |
| Humans: The Leading Cause of Extinction | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text selected to support reading in the content area. The article describes how wildlife is impacted by natural events and by humans, focusing on scientific data gathered in the Caribbean (specifically Abaco Island). It explains how humans impact the populations of species in ecosystems and why it is important for people to understand these interactions. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Flexing Their Mussels | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text examining scientists' studies of freshwater mussels in an attempt to develop methods for saving threatened species. Students will learn of the researchers' hope to be able to use other species that cohabitate local ecosystems to restore the threatened species. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Methods of Protecting Coral Reefs | This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. Students will read a short but complex article that describes the expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (a type of marine protected area) and the benefits of MPAs. The article identifies threats to coral reefs and how creating an MPA can help the coral reefs within this protected area and reefs in adjoining areas as well. The text provides some background information on how similar programs have helped other protected reefs near the Philippines, and both local and global threats to coral reef ecosystems are referenced. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Be Alert - I Am Invasive! | Through schoolyard exploration, class discussion, and group projects, students will investigate common invasive species and their impact to Florida ecosystems. Students will recognize the impact various invasive species have on biodiversity and the consequences of the subsequent loss of biodiversity. |
| Disentangling Food Webs | In this lesson, students create a food web using information about a group of non-existent species. They will use the food web to create food chains and a population pyramid that will show the flow of energy through the food web. Finally, they will explore how changing the population size of one species affects other species, often with unpredicted results. |
| Invasive Species - Air Potato Round Up | Students will be introduced to invasive species in the beginning of the lesson via YouTube video and guiding questions. The students will use digital and print media to explore (identify, describe and predict) the loss of biodiversity in several ecosystems due to the introduction of invasive exotic species.
The teacher/students will continue to identify and describe invasive species in a second YouTube video and a graphic organizer. The teacher will supervise students in small groups during this phase of the lesson.
The final product for students will be to complete a poster advertising a future "Air Potato Round Up" event sponsored by the local US Army Corp of Engineers.
Students will be guided by a rubric and have supplemental resources to access information for the poster project. |
| Measuring Biodiversity | Purpose: To compare the species diversity of an area with high human impact vs. less human impact.
Students will complete an investigation which will allow them to use the Simpson's diversity index formula to evaluate and compare biodiversity around their school campus. Students will draw conclusions based on their data set.
This activity can has many applicable extensions based on student needs and interests. It also can be easily modified to fit certain time constraints, or physical limitations on varying school campuses.
Resource includes lab sheet which provides instructions for students to complete the investigation, worked example of the Simpson's Index formula, space for students to record their findings at the various investigation sites, as well as apply their data to the formula. Students will also draw conclusions based on their data set. |
| Let's Pollinate Biodiversity | This is lesson introduces real-world examples of the consequences of the losses of biodiversity through a TED talk, detailed discussion, and group work. |
| Sea Turtle Sex and Climate Change | In this lesson students will examine how changes in an ecosystem result from environmental factors specifically demonstrating the consequences of climate change on sea turtles. The lesson is in four parts: 1) a fact finding/research component; 2) a group discussion and student presentation; 3) a multi-media component; and 4) a laboratory activity. |
| Save Our Dunes | Save Our Dunes is a literature-based research project suitable for 9-12 marine science or environmental science students. The lesson requires approximately 160 min. as well as computers/ internet access/ a printer. Students are guided through a series of brainstorming activities about the types of natural events and human activities that could affect dune ecosystems.
Students discuss the importance of dunes and what might happen if some dune organisms disappeared. Students then research background texts and use the research to create and defend a unique dune management plan. |
| Population Dynamics | This 7E lesson plan is broken down into 3 lessons used to teach high school students in grades 9-12 about the characteristics used to describe populations. There are inquiry based and project based inquiry activities incorporated within the lesson. Students will also learn the difference between exponential and logistic growth by doing hands -on activities. A Power Point is used to guide the activities, and learning. |
| Florida Panthers and Wildlife Corridors | Students will learn about the Florida Panther, threats to it's survival and the role of wildlife corridors as an attempt to reduce roadway fatalities. Students will participate in a game simulating panther crossings, learn about panthers from a guest speaker or teacher, and participate in a mock town hall meeting evaluating the construction of wildlife corridors. |
| Coral Reefs in Acid - What is Ocean Acidification? | The goal of this lesson plan is for students to be able to conduct mini-experiments that demonstrate what ocean acidification is and how it affects marine organisms. Students will perform mini-experiments and observe diagrams to help generate a definition of what ocean acidification is, why it is occurring, and how humans can reduce their impact. |
| Preserving Our Marine Ecosystems | The focus of this MEA is oil spills and their effect on the environment. In this activity, students from a fictitious class are studying about the effects of an oil spill on marine ecosystems and have performed an experiment in which they were asked to try to rid a teaspoon of corn oil from a baking pan filled with two liters of water as thoroughly as possible in a limited timeframe and with limited resources. By examining, analyzing, and evaluating experimental data related to resource usage, disposal, and labor costs, students must face the tradeoffs that are involved in trying to preserve an ecosystem when time, money, and resources are limited. |
| Cleaning Up Your Act | Cleaning Up Your Act Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) provides students with a real world engineering problem in which they must work as a team to design a procedure to select the best material for cleaning up an oil spill. The main focus of this MEA is to recognize the consequences of a catastrophic event, and understand the environmental and economical impact based on data analysis. Students will conduct individual and team investigations in order to arrive at a scientifically sound solution to the problem. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Genetically Modified Foods | Using short videos, articles and a scavenger hunt, students will learn the process of genetically modifying crops and understand the benefits and drawbacks of genetically modified foods. |
| Invasive or Not? | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that discusses new evidence regarding the status of the Arctic ground squirrel. The species was previously thought to be an invasive species on Chirikof Island off the coast of Alaska, but new evidence calls this belief into question. The lesson plan includes a vocabulary note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Invasive Species | This resource provides a lesson plan, a student assignment, and a power point presentation on invasive species with examples. |
| Name |
Description |
| The Invasive Squirrel That Wasn't | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. This article describes the discovery of evidence that contradicts the notion that a specific species of squirrel was introduced to an Alaskan ecosystem. It further discusses the implication of the new evidence and challenges the current meaning of invasive species. |
| These Itsy-Bitsy Herbivores Could Stage a Huge Coral Reef Rescue | This informational text resource supports reading in the content area. The article implies that human interactions that raise the global temperature (climate change) can have disastrous effects on coral reefs (coral bleaching). The article explains how a discovery of other organisms filling a previously occupied niche may help to rebuild and sustain coral reefs. |
| Polar Bears Across the Arctic Face Shorter Sea Ice Season | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Polar bears are among the animals most affected by the seasonal and year-to-year decline in Arctic sea ice, because they rely on ice for essential activities such as hunting, traveling, and breeding. A new research study has confirmed this finding. |
| Born During a Drought: Bad News for Baboons | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article discusses how a drought affected the savanna ecosystem found in southern Kenya during 2009. It further addresses how baboons are affected later in life based on the conditions when they are born and the social status they are born into. Based on the research on baboons, the implications on human health are discussed in the latter portion of the article. |
| Virus Fingered as Top Suspect in West Coast Sea Star Wasting Disease | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The National Science Foundation article discusses research on the identification and the effects of the Sea Star Associated Densovirus. The article further explains the importance of research on this virus because of its impact on the tidal ecosystems on the Pacific West Coast. |
| Hibernation Season Over, Will Disease-Ridden Bats Emerge from Caves and Mines This Spring? | This informational text resource supports reading in the content area. The article discusses the spread of White Nose Syndrome in North American bats and how bat colonies are being affected in both size and number. The article also provides a comparison between European and North American bat colonies suffering with this disease. |
| Caribbean Bat Species Need 8 Million Years to Recover from Recent Extinction Waves | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses how Caribbean bat species are ideal for understanding the implications of extinction and its effects on species. The article suggests that the geographic isolation of these species helps scientists to understand the causes of extinction and how long species may need to recover from natural and human impact. |
| New Zealand Announces Plan to Wipe Out Invasive Predators | This resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text explains the new Zealand government's plan to eliminate invasive predators from the country by 2050 and the challenges that may be involved in reaching this goal. The article also describes the effects the predators have had on the native wildlife to date. |
| For the First Time, Bees Declared Endangered in the U.S. | This resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes how for the first time bees have been declared endangered in the United States. Seven species of Hawaiian yellow-faced bees have been decimated by invasive species and habitat loss and are now federally protected. The text goes on to describe an innovative way scientists want to help the bees. |
| Panama Canal: Superhighway for Invasive Species? | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article describes the effects the Panama Canal expansion may have on the number of invasive species introduced to the East Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States. The article explains how ballast water and wet surface areas are the two ways the invasive species can travel from port to port. |
| Protecting the Honey-Bearers | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the problem of declining honey bee populations in the United States and lists the possible factors involved. The text then describes the study on African honey bees to determine if there are genetic or physiological causes in their response to the Varroa parasite. Researchers are hoping the data they gather will help them improve breeding programs or management practices in U.S. bee populations. |
| Peering into the Secret World of Life Beneath Winter Snows | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes a new field of researchers called winter ecologists who are examining the effects of warmer winters caused by climate change. The text describes how snow creates an insulating layer for the living organisms below the snow. When that insulating layer is thinner, due to increased global temperatures, the organisms suffer colder temperatures, stress, and even death. Winter ecologists are trying to learn more about this layer, which is called the subnivium, and how organisms are responding to these changes. |
| Invasive Lionfish Diet Could Impact Native Coral Reef Fishes | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article explains how lionfish, an invasive species in Atlantic waters, is threatening ecosystems there. The voracious diet of the lionfish will likely affect native species and the commercial fishing industry. |
| Ancient Fossils Show Effect of Humans on Caribbean Wildlife | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article focuses on scientific data gathered in the Caribbean (specifically Abaco Island). The authors describe how wildlife is impacted by natural events and by humans, and why it is important for people to understand these interactions. |
| Genetics Provide New Hope for Endangered Freshwater Mussels | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article explains the impact of scientists’ studies on a number of freshwater mussel species and their genetic makeup. The intent of the research was to find ways of protecting threatened and endangered species of mussels. The article explains that the genetic similarities of species that cohabitate a river could lead to development of new methods of protecting mussel species. |
| Good News and Bad News for Coral Reefs | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. Through discussion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in the central Pacific, this text offers perspective on how political factors can greatly influence ecology. The article explains some of the benefits of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) like the Marine National Monument, which often include pristine coral reefs and exceptional biodiversity, using the example of MPAs in the Philippines. It also briefly describes global threats to MPAs. |
| Introduced Species: The Threat to Biodiversity & What Can Be Done | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Invasive species are a global threat to biodiversity for many reasons. This article outlines the scope of the problem, explaining how invasive species are impacting native flora and fauna and offering potential solutions to prevent their spread. |
| Polar Bears and Climate Change | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Polar bears are highly specialized to living on sea ice in the Arctic including their dependence on two species of seals. Therefore, scientists expect polar bears to be greatly affected by climate changes due to their habitat (reduced sea ice) and prey availability. These effects include increased movement, fewer den areas, and decreased prey access, which are predicted to have a variety of negative consequences on polar bears in the future. |
| Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which summarizes the many environmental, climatic, social, and economic effects of global warming that are already occurring and will continue to take place. The report also predicts the environmental and socio-economic effects of climate change that will occur in the upcoming decades, especially those that will affect poorer countries. |
| Pesticides Spark Broad Biodiversity Loss | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article is about how agricultural pesticides are contributing to the biodiversity loss of invertebrates. Research teams examined streams in broad regions to study the effects of pesticides in those ecosystems. Up to 42% fewer species were discovered in streams that were highly contaminated. In another study, it was found that neonicotinoid insecticides accumulate in the soil at levels that kill soil invertebrates. |
| The Infinite Struggle Against Invasive Species in the Galapagos | The Galapagos Islands provide some of the most unique flora and fauna in the world, and the islands have served as a hot spot for modern evolutionary theory, thanks to the work of Charles Darwin. However, the island's unique biodiversity is threatened by invasive species. This article delves into the struggle we face to preserve the species which are native to the islands. |
| Salamander's Hefty Role in the Ecosystem | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This is a fascinating article about the large role one tiny organism plays in its ecosystem. The author explores the predatory habits of the salamander, how this amphibian can affect the carbon cycle, and the changes that have been taking place in the salamander populations over time. |
| Invasive Pythons Put Squeeze on Everglades' Animals | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This interesting article about Burmese pythons in the Everglades showcases the effect one invasive species has on a local ecosystem and habitat. This is a great way to discuss invasive species in the classroom and explore the causes and effects on biodiversity. |
| Will Snakes Inherit the Earth? | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The author discusses the effects that invasive animals can have on an ecosystem. She initially writes about the Burmese python's effect on the Everglades and follows with the effects of other non-native species on native species. Finally, she exposes the reader to the debate about whether something should be done to control invasive species. |
| Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article explains the causes and locations of deforestation and explores the environmental consequences that occur because of the practice. |
| The Hidden World under Our Feet | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the contribution that soil biodiversity has to the larger ecosystem. It addresses the consequences of the loss of soil biodiversity resulting from human activity. |
| A Century of Melaleuca Invasion in South Florida | This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. This article deals with the invasive exotic species of tree known as melaleuca, which is mainly an issue in Southern Florida and Everglades National Park. |
