Biodiversity of species (Secondary) - Lesson Three

• Social Studies
• History
• +3
• 7th,8th Grade

Introduction

Lesson Three – What is threatening biodiversity? This lesson looks at the issues of climate change and introduced/invasive species. Learning activities:  Research the impacts of climate change, or ocean farmed fish, on ecosystems.

Instructions

Time: 45 minutes

Contact: [e-mail]
© Sea Shepherd 2022

Lesson 3 - What is threatening biodiversity?

This lesson is provided by Sea Shepherd.  Sea Shepherd was founded in 1977 and is a marine conservation organisation working to protect the oceans and marine wildlife.  Sea Shepherd works globally on a range of issues impacting the oceans, running numerous direct action campaigns each year. 

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During the lesson we will use these icons to identify the learning actions.

Introduction to IUU fishing and the impact of overfishing.

Review - Key features of habitat?

Last lesson we looked at the threats from pollution and started to consider how that might impact species, but how do they impact the habitat.
Ask students “What were the key features of habitat that we discussed in first lesson?”

What are the impacts of
pollution on habitat?

Ask students “Thinking about the types of pollution we discussed what could the impacts be on different habitats?”

Climate change - What are
the impacts on marine wildlife?

The next threat we are going to look at is climate change, which is starting to impact the ocean ecosystem and could impact both the diversity and strength of species.   The main changes identified with climate change are warming air and water temperatures, rising sea levels and changes in the PH level which is called ocean acidification.
Ask students: “What changes, resulting from climate change, could impact marine species?
Some of the changes could be:
    Changes to where species live, as coral reefs are bleached and die.
    Changing water temperatures will change the areas in which species live in. 
    This could impact where species find their food sources and how abundant they are, impacting migration patterns.
    Impact breeding for some species – eg sea turtle nesting beaches are changing with rising sea levels and air temperatures.  Rising water is flooding nests on low beaches. Temperature changes impact the sex of hatchlings, warmer temperatures mean more females.

Introduction to IUU fishing and the impact of overfishing.

Climate change - impacts on habitat

Thinking about habitat and the key needs to maintain diversity of species, what do you think the impacts of climate change could be in coming years?  What examples can you think of?

Introduction to IUU fishing and the impact of overfishing.

Invasive species

Thinking about the change in where species live, such as the movement of species closer to the north and south poles, as water temperatures are rising.  What implications could this have for food chains, how will this effect predators?
Movement of species could mean new predators, like sharks, being introduced into an ecosystem.  
What about where species have been introduced to an ecosystem, such as where they have been imported to be used in fish farms, like Atlantic salmon being farmed in the Pacific Ocean.  Or with the large number of ships that move across the ocean they could have hitched a ride on ship, migrating to a new area.
What could these species bring with them?

This video introduces Sea Shepherd’s Operation Virus Hunter and the impacts of farmed salmon on the local ecosystem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kJvpFMPLVw&list=PLNmnNu36NAjg23X_HuS9FrxM0QiJtlHTq&index=34

This video shows some of the impacts of farmed salmon identified during the campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ7yFHEU7x4&list=PLNmnNu36NAjg23X_HuS9FrxM0QiJtlHTq&index=25

www.seashepherdglobal.org

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Refer Lesson Guide for activity suggestions.