Download Assignment 1 – Key Knowledge Resource

Title of Unit Unit 3: Relationships with Outdoor Environments
Area of Study 1: Historical relationships with outdoor environments
Key knowledge bullet point
An overview of Australian outdoor environments before humans, including characteristics of
biological isolation, geological stability and climatic variations.
The content knowledge required to teach to the bullet point
Overview of Australia’s Natural History
The Australian outdoor environment before humans can be broken down into three distinct sections.
The three distinct sections include Precambrian, Gondwanaland and Isolation phases of geological
time. In the Precambrian phase three early pieces of the continental crust, known as craters formed.
It is the beginning of life; it recognises a period where single celled organisms such as bacteria begin
to form. During the late Precambrian phase the first multicellular soft bodies animal such as jelly fish
arise. Gondwanaland land formed along with Laurasia, when the super continent Pangaea broke up
(refer to image below). Gondwanaland is when Australia was still connected to Antarctica and India.
During this stage the earth began to get warmer and there was the development of crocodiles,
dinosaurs and mammals. This splitting of Gondwana land caused natural isolation or biological
isolation and has a range of effects on the environment. During the Isolation phase Australia
separated and remained warm and humid with rainforest vegetation. This isolation has resulted in
Australia’s geological stability and climatic variability. Inland Australia also had an abundance of
rivers, plants and wildlife. During this period of Isolation is where the development of Australia’s and
other countries natural environment formed (Australian Government, 2009).
Precambrian Period
(Canadian Geographic, 2010)
For more information refer to the Canadian
Geographic website (See references).
Gondwanaland
(Ancient Australian History, 2010)
For more information refer to the Ancient
Australian history website.
Biological Isolation
Biological Isolation refers to when a collection of species do not have contact with another species
that they are able to breed or mate with. This process can be man made or natural. An example of
man made is a scientist in a laboratory segregating species, an example of natural is natural disasters
such as floods. Looking at the Natural History of Australia before humans, we will be focussing on
the effects of Natural biological Isolation. Natural Isolation occurred when Australia split from
Gondwanaland to form its own land form in isolation. For example this can occur when organisms
travel to islands and then can no longer breed with organisms from the main land. Sometimes
natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and mud slides can force populations into
separate areas. This means that these organisms will either die out or evolve separately. When a
specific organism gets geographically isolated they can no longer mate due to not being able to
reach the opposite sex. Therefore after many years they can evolve into a different species and
would not be able to mate with their original species (Wilderness bohanson, 2008).
Geographical Isolation contributed to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. This
theory evolved from the evidence and movement that scientists had found about how Australia
formed before humans. In short, Charles Darwin’s theory was that species change over time, or
evolve in response to the environment. This is basically what biological isolation is; the change of
species over time by being isolated from one another. An example of Biological Isolation and the
evolution can specifically be seen when looking at the platypus. Large water rats were around in the
Gondwana period. When Australia split with England, water rats in Australia where left without
breeding partners. As suggested by Charles Darwin, biological isolation resulted in the water rats in
Australia forming into their own species, as we know as the platypus (Australian Government, 2010).
Geological Stability
When looking at the Natural History of Australia it has been relatively stable. There have been little
volcanic eruptions in comparison to other counties. This is due to the fact that Australia is situated
away from the Tectonic boundaries. Geological stability in Australia is relatively stable, except when
looking at erosion and the uplift of the Great Dividing Range. This geological stability is the cause of
Australia’s Natural Environment today. The erosion over the past millions of years has resulted in the
display of many amazing rock formations including the 12 Apostles in Victoria, Remarkable rocks in
South Australia and Wave rock in Western Australia.
The geological stability of the climate of Australia is what causes the soil to be red in the Northern
Territory. Soil is the product of rock erosion and this erosion is caused by weathering. Australia has a
hot climate which causes the change to be chemical and reactions such as oxidisation occur resulting
in this red colour. Geological stability means that there is little new fertile soil developed; therefore
the old soil is blown away. This makes it difficult for new plants to fasten their roots and this is
particularly evident in the dryer regions of Australia such as in the Northern Territory. Therefore
Australia is more prone to droughts and floods, and especially with the effect of climate change
these are becoming more and more frequent (Australian Government, 2008).
Australia has a relatively stable resource of water, heat and light in the rainforest areas. Therefore
the flora that is seen in these regions flourishes. Because Australia has been separated from the rest
of the world for millions of years it has learnt to adapt and the flora and fauna has evolved to be of
varying shapes, sizes and colours. Eucalypts is a perfect example of a plant that has learnt to live in
Australia, in all its diverse environments learning to adapt to live in both the snow and the arid
desserts, and in turn separating into over 900 other species (Tourism Australia, 2009).
Climatic Variations
Climatic variations refer to the changes in climate over time and also the variability that Australia
experiences from decade to decade. The degree of climate variability can be described by the
differences between long term statistics of meteorological elements and measuring tools. There are
many different climatic variations that can occur over time ranging from periods of high rain fall to
periods of no rain fall (Australian Government – Australian Arctic Division, 2012).
The climate of any region is determined by four geological aspects including latitude, distance from
the sea, direction of winds and elevation. These factors all change depending on geological stability
and many other contributing factors, even simply just time. As the climate changes it effects living
things on earth and obviously the planet in which we live via altering the environment and weather
patterns. For the past 2 million years or more the climate of Australia has been dominated by
extended periods of globally cooler temperatures then present. This is known as the “ice age.” These
ice ages are interrupted by briefer periods of warm weather known as the “interglacial” periods.
Currently, we are in the Interglacial period in Australia and it has lasted approximately 10000years.
Although weather is complex and there are many integral changes that occur, these are two semi
stable states which have been identified. A change to the interglacial period can be triggered by the
earth’s orbit which effects the heat distribution by the sun. The large climate changes have in the
past controlled human migration in pre history.
These are very large climatic changes that can occur and there are also smaller climatic changes of
only a few degrees which can affect regions for decades. The El Nino and La Nino effects also play a
major role in the climatic variations that have occurred in the past. El Nino refers to when the sea
surface temperature rises in the Eastern and Pacific Ocean. This has been known to recur every 3-8
years. This El Nino period can cause many bush fires as the weather is hotter and dryer over these
periods. Drought is also more common during an El Nino period, although droughts can strike at any
time. Climate is an ever changing phenomenon and does not rotate through any particular perfect
sequence, it is diverse. There can be strong and weak periods of the El Nino which determine the
impact it has on the weather.
In contrast to the El Nino effect on Australian weather we also have the La Nino effect on weather.
This refers to periods of cooler weather and La Nino has more of a stronger effect then El Nino. This
impacts the temperatures making them cooler but can also increase the rainfall at a particular time
(Bureau of Meteorology, 2005).
Finally, post human impact has seen significant changes to the weather patterns. In the past 20
century there has been an increase in the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil & natural gas) agriculture
and land clearing which has been increasing the concentration of gases and therefore trapping the
heat causing the earth to heat up. This has a large impact on the climatic variations and on earth
itself. This global warming causes sea levels of rise, temperatures to rise, more droughts and an
increase in storm surges and severe weather events (Commonwealth of Australia, 2010).
Ideas on relevant school based learning activities
1. Understanding Australian climatic variations
Students are divided into small groups of 2-3 students. Each group is given a topic to do with climatic
variations that have occurred in Australians past climate history. Topics could include El Nino, La
Nino, The ice ages, Interglacial Periods, Global Warming and Climate Change. Each group is to come
up with a response to the following dot points and present it in an interesting way to their fellow
class mates:
 What is it?
 In what time periods did or does it occur?
 What has been the result of your climate variation?
 Present your response in an engaging manner: assistant tools could be – PowerPoint, Mind
Manger, Smart Draw, Wordle, Video, Play, Small group discussion, News report, White board,
YouTube.
2. Understanding biological isolation
Write up on the board “Biological Isolation” and ask students what they think it is about. Assist
students to break down the concept into smaller components, for example: Ask them what does
biological mean? It means living things etc then move on. Work until you have a large mind
map/brain storm about Biological Isolation and the components it encompasses. From here ask the
students to write down the notes that were made up on the board and then attempt to write down
a definition of Biological Isolation. Have students look up a definition and finally show them a video
on Biological Isolation. There is a great web link made by students on the topic if you follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwkhdraW2Y
3. Understanding geographical stability
Put up a range of questions around the room. Ask students to visit each question and think about
the answers and write down an answer to each question, this will help to stimulate thinking.
Students walk around the room answering each question which will be accompanied by a picture,
the questions could include:
Does Australia have volcanoes erupting? (picture of a volcano)
How did the 12 apostles form? (picture 12 apostles)
Why are the 12 apostles slowly diminishing? (picture of the remainder apostles)
Do you think Australia is more prone to droughts and floods compared to other countries? (picture
Australia in flood)
Do you think Australia is more prone to bushfires? (picture Australia with bushfire)
Bring the class back together and discuss the answers that were formulated. Go on to explain
Geological Stability and try to stimulate students to come up with their own answer for what it is.
4. Video creation
Students are split up into groups of approx 4 students. In their small teams students must make a
video to best represent the environmental history that occurred before humans in relation to
biological isolation, geological stability and climatic variations. This would have to be a lead on from
other learning experiences so that students had a good understanding of these topics. (This would
work for students with sound ICT skills in editing but perhaps be too time consuming for students
with little ICT skills.)
Ideas on links to practical outdoor experience
1. Guest speaker from BOM
Organise a guest speaker to come from the Bureau of Meteorology to talk about the ever changing
weather patterns and the history of Australia’s climatic variations. Ask the speaker to go over
components of the ice ages, climate change and global warming. Have the guest speaker make the
presentation as engaging as possible, perhaps taking the students outside to analyse the weather on
that day.
2. Science museum visit
Take students to the Science Museum in Melbourne and show them the “Our living Climate Show.”
It runs for 45minutes about the development of Australia’s climate over the past few decades. This
presentation includes information about the ice ages, weather patterns and new life forms. Also
allow students to explore the Museum and the environmental history expeditions.
3. Visit geological land form
Take students to see the 12 apostles or any other geological formation and whilst there discuss the
idea of Geological stability and the impact that erosion has on Australia’s life forms. Ask students to
think of other formations that have eroded. Talk about the stability of Australia’s planet and the
impact that humans have had since their arrival.
Links to other bullet points within that unit
Unit 3 Area 1. - (bullet point 2) Links to this in relation to climatic variations that have occurred in the
recent years for climate change and global warming post European colonisation.
Unit 3 Area 1. - (bullet point 3) touches on climate change and the impact of increased population on
climate variations. These two dot points go hand in hand, students must understand what the
environment was like pre humans to therefore understand the impact that humans and colonisation
have had on the environment.
Unit 3 Area 1. - (bullet point 4) This relates as students will have an understanding of the history of
the environment but will not yet know about how humans are also protecting and looking after the
environment. This is important to note as students need to be aware of the positive impacts that
humans have had on the environment as well as the negatives.
Web links of further resources
http://www.bom.gov.au/ - This is the home of the Bureau of Meteorology website. This is a great
reference for data of past weather patterns. It has simple graphs that students can use to analyse
the climatic variations that have occurred in previous decades as well as detailed weather
information in regards to El Nino/La Nina weather patterns.
http://australia.gov.au/topics/environment-and-natural-resources - This website was created by
the Australian Government and has a great link to environment and natural resources in Australia. It
contains very informative fact sheets on Australian environment history pre settlers.
http://www.climatechange.gov.au/ - This website was developed by the Australian Government
Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. It has great articles on climate variations,
climate change, global warming. It also has fact sheets explaining what the environment was like pre
humans.
http://www.environment.gov.au/index.html - This website was developed by the Department of
Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities by the Australia Government. It is
a great resource that contains a lot of information about the environment in regards to biodiversity,
coasts and marine, heritage, impacts of land settlement, living sustainability and water.
References
Australian Government-The Australian Arctic Division. (2012). Reconstructing Climate History.
Retrieved March 14th 2012 from http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/factfiles/climate-change/ice-cores/reconstructing-climate-history
Australian Government. (2008). Australias Environment at a Glance. Retrieved March 14th 2012 from
http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/env_glance.html
Australian Government. (2009). Australia’s Flora and Fauna and Charles Darwin. Retrieved March the
14th, 2012 from http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/australias-flora-andfauna-and-charles-darwin
Australian History. (2010). Colonisation. Retrieved April 16th 2012 from
http://www.australianhistory.org/colonisation
Bureau of Meteorology. (2005). El Nino, La Nino and Australian Climate. Retrieved March 14th 2012
from http://www.bom.gov.au/info/leaflets/nino-nina.pdf
Canadian Geographic. (2010). Canadian Landforms. Retrieved April 16th 2012 from
https://canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/themes.aspx?id=canadianlandforms&sub=canadianlandfor
ms_basics_fossils&lang=En
Commonwealth of Australia. (2010). Understanding Climate Change. Retrieved March 14th 2012
from http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/climate-change/understanding-climate-change.aspx
Tourism Australia. (2009). Gondwana Australia Plants and Geography. Retrieved March 14th 2012
from http://www.gondwananet.com/australia-facts-australian-nature.html
Wilderness Bohanson. (2008). Biological Processes. [You Tube] Retrieved March 14th 2012 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwkhdraW2Y
Created by: Adele Symons
Acknowledgements: Brendan Hodges and Peter Martin