SENIOR THESIS
WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY
Objectives
Students will learn terms necessary to understand the rest of the lesson
Students will understand the IUCN Red List and different categories within it
Students will learn how biodiversity ties both sections together
Lesson
Begin with having students define different terms such as biodiversity, conservation, ecology, and for 3-5 minutes. (Green).
Have real definitions on the slide, then compare answers with definitions
Discuss how all of these terms are related
Show how biodiversity is “Biodiversity is the glue that holds every ecosystem together” (Green).
Teach different kinds of ecosystems to help explain biodiversity
Go into lecture about the different forms of environmental degradation that have caused this.
Make clear humans involvement in this.
Logging, overfishing, pesticides, etc.
Discuss how animals,plants and humans are affected by these problems.( "The Extinction Crisis.")
Go over endangered categories and criteria
Interactive activity for 2-4 minutes where students try to match animal with its endangered status
Discuss the great extinctions and raise question of if we are in the 6th great extinction
Discussion of Extinction will lead into conservation methods ("Methods and Importance of Environmental Conservation.")
Reiterate what conservation is and show some examples of conservation.
Discuss how we can slow down human destruction of the environment through conservation.
End with reiteration of what biodiversity is and tie everything together
Materials: Handout
Annotated Bibliography
Biomes Group. The Desert Biome. UCMP Berkeley Edu, 1999. Web. 05 Mar. 2019.
This source helped to describe each type of biome that occurs on Earth. This includes the slides on Freshwater, Marine, Desert, and Forests. This source showed me what kinds of habitats different animals live in.
Crooks, Mary. "Endangered Species Categories and Criteria."
Endangered Species Categories and Criteria.
National Geographic, 09 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2019.
This source helped define the different levels of endangeredness and provided a chart that made these categories clear. I used this chart to describe each category of endangerment.
"Defining Desertification” NASA, 3 Jan. 2007.
Web. 06 Feb. 2019.
This source discusses the definition of desertification. It gives multiple sides to the argument of “what is desertification?” This source is helpful because it shows how humans destroy places for 100s of years with just a little bit of involvement. I think this can be very powerful to teach.
Green, Hank. “Conservation and Restoration Ecology: Crash Course Ecology #12.”
Youtube. Crash Course. Web. Jan 1, 2013. Feb 3, 2019.
In this source hank Green describes how conservation biology and restoration ecology work. He lists different ways that conservation and ecology work together to help restore the environment. This also discusses how important biodiversity is.
"Invasive Species." The National Wildlife Foundation, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2019.
This source describes how invasive species helps to intensify extinction. Invasive species are a problem that are not usually discussed
Kukreja, Rinkesh. "Methods and Importance of Environmental Conservation."
Conserve Energy Future. N.p., 25 Dec. 2016. Web.
06 Feb. 2019.
This source describes different ways to conserve energy and how to not pollute the environment. This source is very didactic and offers at home solutions to environmental destruction which is what I need for the lesson plan.
Lam, Paulina. "5 Big Causes of Deforestation and How You Can Stop It."
5 Big Causes of Deforestation and How You Can Stop It.
One Green Planet, 10 May 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2019.
This source discusses the different causes of Deforestation. This source will help me illuminate how forests are a part of environmental destruction and how conservation helps these forests.
Motivans, Elena. "The Different Types of Forests: Everything You Need to Know." ZME Science. N.p., 20 Nov. 2017. Web. 05 Mar. 2019.
This source helped define the different kinds of forests and where they occur. This helped for my slide on the different forest biomes.
"Ocean Desertification."Cymbiotika, 31 May 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2019.
This source discusses how the ocean floor is desertifying because humans are taking up all of the life. This helps to tie into the bigger picture of environmental destruction and conservation of the oceans.
Palomares, Francisco et. al.
"Possible Extinction Vortex for a Population of Iberian Lynx on the Verge of Extirpation."
The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. Wiley-Blackwell, 25 June 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2019.
This source describes what the extinction vortex is and why it is so important to population biology. This source is about a study done on the Iberian Lynx and how the extinction vortex is affecting their species.
"The Extinction Crisis." The Center For Biological Diversity, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2019.
This source describes the extinction crisis occurring in the world right now. This talks about the 6th mass extinction. This source helps to give data on extinct animals and number of endangered animals.
"The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species." Background and History. IUCN Red List.
Web. 05 Mar. 2019.
This source helped me find which animals fit into the different kinds of endangered categories. This helped me to design my activity and to explain how each animal became endangered.