Download 5-10 Biodiversity Activities

Biodiversity Snapshots
Yr 5-10 Biodiversity Activities
1. Biodiversity audit
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity (biological diversity) is a measure of the variety of life in a particular area,
such as a park or school ground. This includes the different plants, invertebrate
animals (butterflies, spiders, other insects and ‘bugs’) and vertebrate animals (native
and introduced).
What is a biodiversity audit?
A biodiversity audit is a way of counting how many species are present. This can be
very difficult, since some species, especially birds, can move in and out of the area
being measured. Also, if you were to count every species of plant and animal it would
take a very long time. Because of this, scientists use shortcuts to get an approximate
measure of biodiversity. This rough measure gives you a good idea of the health of
an area being studied – the more species present, the healthier the area.
Performing your audit
There are three main groups that need to be measured for a biodiversity audit –
(1) plants, (2) invertebrate animals and (3) vertebrate animals.
(1) Plants
Plants are grouped as follows:
• Grass and groundcover are any plants that don’t have a woody trunk.
• Shrubs have a woody trunk, but are less than three metres tall when mature.
• Trees have a woody trunk, but are over three metres tall when mature.
Count how many trees and shrubs are in your school ground and record your
findings in a table. For grasses and groundcover you will need to estimate the
number of square metres of ground covered, since counting every grass plant is
impractical, if not impossible.
When you return to the classroom, use printed or online resources to identify the
plants present in your school ground and to discover whether they are native or
introduced.
If you don’t know the name of a plant, these books can help:
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Wildflowers of Victoria and Adjoining Areas by Margaret Corrick and Bruce
Fuhrer - Bloomings Books, 1999.
Flowers & Plants of Victoria by Cochrane, Fuhrer, Rotherham and Willis AH and AW Reed, revised edition 1973.
Trees of Victoria and Adjoining Areas by Leon Costermans Costermans Publishing
Artist: Sharyn Madder
Source: Museum Victoria
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Biodiversity Snapshots
(2) Invertebrate animals
Invertebrate animals are animals without a spinal cord, such as worms, insects and
spiders. Invertebrates are an important food source for many larger animals, so the
more bugs you have, the more birds and other animals you are likely to attract to
your school. Again, it is impossible to count every invertebrate in your school yard, so
a shortcut is used –
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You will need a large hoop with an area of approximately one square metre.
Choose a variety of surfaces around your school, for example grass, leaf
litter, bare dirt, woodchips or bark. Different groups might want to look at
different surfaces.
Lay the hoop on each surface. Within the area of the hoop, record the small
creatures you can see. You may need to look under loose leaves or bark.
Have one person in your group record each animal you find, not each
individual creature. (If identifying species is too difficult, try to identify orders
instead).
By looking in several places around the school, you will get a good idea of how many
species are present. You should also record any extra evidence of invertebrate
animals you find, such as webs, cocoons or shells.
Artist: Sharyn Madder
Source: Museum Victoria
(3) Vertebrate animals
Vertebrate animals have a spine, like mammals, reptiles and birds. You will need to
observe and record the vertebrate animals in your school ground at three different
times of day – morning, midday and afternoon.
Be very patient for this. Find a quiet spot for your group to sit and observe. Record
every animal you see, as well as what it does in the yard. For example, you might
see a Crimson Rosella feeding from a Grevillea bush.
When you return to the classroom, use print or online resources to identify unknown
animals and research whether the species identified are native or introduced.
Artist: Sharyn Madder
Source: Museum Victoria
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Biodiversity Snapshots
2. Nature photos
If you enjoy nature, then it’s great to be able to share it with people. Create a
slideshow to show your friends and family the animals and plants around your
school.
You will need: A digital camera, a computer, Photostory (free with Windows) or
iPhoto (free with Mac)
1. Take your digital camera out into your school yard. If you can, have your teacher
arrange a walking trip to a local park.
2. Photograph every animal and interesting plant you can find. If you are
photographing birds, you may need a camera that can zoom. If you are
photographing bugs or flowers, check that the photo isn’t blurry after you take it.
3. When you get back to school, download all your photos onto your computer.
Choose the best ones to go in your slideshow.
4. Using Photostory or iPhoto, put your photos together into a slideshow.
5. Add captions and music to go in the background.
6. Write a speech to go with your slideshow.
7. Invite parents, guests or friends to your classroom to watch your slideshow and
listen to your speech.
© schoolplaten.com
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Biodiversity Snapshots
Increasing biodiversity
Use the results of your biodiversity audit to improve the biodiversity in your school
ground. To do this you will need to encourage more species of animals to come onto
your school ground.
Here are some ideas to include in your action plan:
Some possible ideas
• Install structures like bird feeders or nesting boxes.
• Plant indigenous plants, including trees, shrubs and groundcover.
• Remove threats to biodiversity, like litter or weeds.
• Put up signs to raise awareness among students and parents.
• Restrict access to sensitive areas to avoid damage to plants, etc.
Some things to consider
• Who do you have to get permission from to make these changes?
• Which changes are practical and achievable?
• Will it cost the school money? If so, where will this money come from?
Could you hold a fundraising event?
• Could parents be involved? If so, how could we convince them to help?
• How are you going to publicise your action plan?
When your action plan has been implemented, perform another biodiversity audit to
see if new species have been attracted to your school ground.
Why not tell even more people about
the great work you are doing?
Does your school have its own website?
Why not type up your findings and put them
and some digital photos on the website.
You could even create your own wiki about
your school and every time you spot a new
animal you could add it with a photo. Free
wikis are available here:
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
Artist: Sharyn Madder
Source: Museum Victoria
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Biodiversity Snapshots
3. Sounds around us
Take students to an area outside the classroom. Ask them to close their eyes and
listen to the sounds. After a minute or two, the students open their eyes and discuss
the sounds they heard.
Now ask the students to close their eyes a second time, and to focus on the natural
sounds that they hear. They could be asked to listen especially for bird calls, and to
raise one finger for each different bird’s noise they hear. Children can also use digital
recorders to capture the sounds they here.
When back in the classroom, discuss the birds and other animals that the students
have heard. Use Internet and library resources to find out more about the animals
they have heard.
4. Tracks and traces
Go on a field trip with your children to an area where you are likely to find tracks and
traces made by invertebrates, birds or other animals. This could be in your back
garden, school ground or nearby park. Look for undisturbed sandy or loamy areas,
particularly after rain. You may find tracks made by birds, lizards, snails, worms,
beetles, or, if you are lucky, a larger animal. Collect feathers, and insect, spider and
reptile sloughs (outer skins discarded as they grow). Note bird droppings and
evidence of nesting.
5. Bird watching
Here are some things to remember when you are bird watching:
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Obtain a good guide book – either a simple one such as the Gould League’s
Australian Guide to Birds, or a more advanced one such as Pizzey and
Knight’s
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia.
Be aware of habitat type as an indicator of the bird species you might see.
Make notes about the appearance, behaviour and calls of the birds that you
see. Note also the habitat, time of day and time of year of the sighting. These
things will assist later identification.
Use centre-focusing 8 x 30, 8 x 42 or 10 x 42 binoculars to look more closely
once you have found a bird.
Wear loose-fitting, non-rustling clothes with blending colours and big pockets.
Move quietly. Stand still, look and listen frequently.
Speak softly if you have to. Don’t whisper as this will disturb some birds more
than soft speech.
Watch for foliage movement, listen for scratching noises.
Don’t rely entirely on the call of a bird for identification. Calls can vary with
location, time of day and season, while some birds are excellent mimics.
In some species, the colours of juvenile and adult birds vary greatly. The
colour and markings of males and females can also be quite different.
For more information, consult the following websites:
Museum Victoria:
http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/birds-and-birdwatching/
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Biodiversity Snapshots
Gould League:
http://www.gould.edu.au/html/documents/ActivityNationalBirdDayPrimaryActivities_000.pdf
Backyard Birdwatch (ABC): http://www2.abc.net.au/science/birds/default.htm
6. Compost animals
Use magnifiers and microscopes to examine a variety of soil and compost samples.
Be sure to include samples of rich, damp compost, which should contain a great
variety of insect and other invertebrate decomposers.
Which of your samples contains the most animals? What are they all doing?
Try to identify some by consulting a suitable reference.
The Gould League sells a Compost Creatures poster and other material on this topic
for teachers and students. (Telephone: (03) 9555 5565).
http://www.gould.edu.au/shop/product.asp?pID=122&cID=8
7. Where to search for bugs
Look for bugs or evidence of bugs:
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holes that have been eaten in leaves
spider webs or little silk egg sacks
cocoons
eggs often in rows glued on leaves or sticks
galls on twigs or bumps or tracks in leaves are places where insects live or
have laid eggs
holes in the ground
worm castings.
Where to look:
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through leaf litter
under plant pots or rocks
under bark on a tree
through some top soil
in the top of the compost bin
through some mature compost.
under trees – shake a branch and see if any
bugs fall on to a light coloured sheet below.
Be a field naturalist:
• Students can be field naturalists in their own school ground or on an
excursion.
• Provide a small shoulder bag containing a pocket guide to garden animals, a
magnifier, small plastic containers with lids for collecting, a length of rope for
creating a circular zone for counting animal types or numbers, a pair of plastic
tweezers and a pair of binoculars
Safety issue
Watch out for spiders! It is best if adults help young students to look under logs or in
other areas that may not have been disturbed for some time.
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8. Bug activities for Years 7-10
Museum Victoria’s Bugs website describes a variety of classroom activities focussing
on insects and spiders: http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/2084/insects-spidersactivities.pdf
9. ‘Bugs’ field trip
This classification activity encourages students to find, look, record, sketch, identify.
What to do
Organise a ‘bugs’ field trip in the school ground. Encourage students to continue
their exploration over several weeks and then report their findings. Instruct
students to cause minimal disruption to the areas they are exploring.
Where to look
In soil, under bark, in grass, in trees and bushes, in garden beds, under rocks and
logs, on plants, in water, in the air.
Record class observations
Use Museum Victoria’s Bugs website to assist students to identify bugs and discover
food preferences: http://museumvictoria.com.au/bugs/resources/classification.aspx
Name of bug
Number of legs
Number of
wings
Food type
Habitat
Classify the bugs
Collect photographs or draw pictures of each insect or bug found. Your collection
can be used in a variety of classification activities.
Bugs can be classified in a variety of ways:
Body structure
Slugs, snails and worms have no legs. Insects have six legs. Arachnids have eight
legs. Yabbies and slaters (crustaceans and isopods) have up to twenty legs.
Centipedes and millipedes (chilopods) have more than twenty legs.
Food preference
Herbivores
Carnivores
Decomposers
Habitat
Trees and bushes
logs
Under bark
plants
Soil
Grass
Rocks and
Water
Buildings
Garden
Insect groups
Non-insect hexapods
insects
Wingless insects
Rigid winged insects Folded winged
Odonata
Lepidoptera
Mantodea
Hymenoptera
Class or Order
Thysanura
Diptera
Phasmatodea
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Biodiversity Snapshots
10.
Bug research
Make a ‘Bug Journal’ to research how bug life changes with the seasons.
A large book (or computer) can be used by the class to record observations and
information about bugs in the school and school ground over the year. Make records
on a regular basis and include photographs, descriptive statements, stories and
drawings.
You can also make a ‘Bug Chart’ to research the different bugs that you observe.
Take photographs of bugs found in the school and school ground and identify them
using references. Paste the photographs onto a large sheet of card and label them.
Students and teachers can use this as a reference each time a bug is found.
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