Environmental Science: At-Home Learning PlanStudent Name: School:

Environmental Science Teacher’s Name: Environmental Science

Learning Outcome: Students will obtain and communicate information about the importance ofbiodiversity for human health and the economy.

Activity Activity Objective Suggested time1 Define biodiversity, calculate biodiversity indices and observe biodiversity

in your neighborhood.1:00 to 1:25 hours

2a.2b.

Explain the importance of biodiversity for human health and the economy Explain how biomimicry can be used to enhance engineering design.

1:00 hour

Outcome Write a thank you note / card to planet earth for biodiversity 25 minutes

Extended digital learning opportunity

https://youtu.be/ghhZClDRK_g

Optional Activities:

https://tinyurl.com/designinspirations

https://tinyurl.com/designinspiredbynature

Activity 1: What is biodiversity?Adapted from Gale, Cengage Learning Published:11/14/2017

Biodiversity, or biological diversity, refers to the wide variety of life on the planet. Scientists think about it in three ways: the plant and animal life in a particular area; the genetic variation within a species; and the numbers of different ecosystems, or communities of life, in a region. An area with high biodiversity includes many different species. A biodiverse area will include a number of healthy ecosystems. A high degree of biodiversity makes a system stronger, while decreasing biodiversity means that the area is under environmental stress. Some areas are more biodiverse than others. The map below shows the distribution of biodiversity hot spots around the world. Biodiversity hot spots are biologically rich areas around the world that have lost at least 70 percent of their original habitat. The remaining natural habitat in these biodiversity hotspots amounts to just 1.4 percent of the land surface of the planet, yet supports nearly 60 percent of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species.

Watch the video (optional): https://youtu.be/aqtdaIkxnQo

1. Define biodiversity in your own words.

2. What are the three types of biodiversity?

3. One pattern I observe in the distribution of biodiversity hot spot is …

4. Based on the pattern I observe, I can conclude that …

Calculating Biodiversity IndicesScientists use biodiversity indices to determine if a community or ecosystem is diverse: 1) species richness, relative abundance, Shannon-Weiner Index, species evenness, and Simpson Index. Scientists will use more than one index to calculate the level of diversity. In our lesson, we will use species richness and relative abundance.

Species Richness = the number of different species in a communityRelative Abundance = the number of individuals in a species divided by the total number of individuals in a community.

Calculate the species richness and relative abundance (the proportion each species represents out of the total individuals in the community) for each of the following communities.

Community ASpecies Name Number of individuals Relative AbundanceWhite Oak 300Slippery Elm 350Black Walnut 298

Total number of species= Species Richness=

Community BSpecies Name Number of individuals Relative AbundanceWhite Oak 36Slippery Elm 75Black Walnut 310Red Maple 12

Total number of species= Species Richness=

Community CSpecies Name Number of individuals Relative AbundanceWhite Oak 450Slippery Elm 475Black Walnut 403Bur Oak 435Red Maple 423

Total number of species= Species Richness=

Analyzing data

1. Rank each of the communities in order of least to greatest Species Richness.

2. Rank each of the communities in order of least to greatest Relative Abundance.

3. Develop a CER (Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning) to determine which community is most diverse.

Guiding Question: Which community is most diverse?

Claim: Community is most diverse because

Evidence (data): Reasoning (Explain):

Application: Color each species in each quadrat (box) using a different color. Use the data from the quadrat and calculate species richness and relative abundance of the community below.

Quadrat ASpecies Name/Color Number of individuals Relative Abundance

Total number of species= Species Richness=

Quadrat BSpecies Name/ Color Number of individuals Relative Abundance

Total number of species= Species Richness=

Quadrat CSpecies Name/ Color Number of individuals Relative Abundance

Total number of species= Species Richness=

Evaluating Data

4. Is the data that you collected reliable? Explain your answer.

5. How can you increase the accuracy of your data?

Observing biodiversity in your neighborhoodSafety: Do not touch any plants or animals with your bare hands. If you touch anything, please wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds. Also please observe social distancing!!

Observation is important in science. Scientists use observation to collect and record data, which allows them to construct questions and test hypotheses. Scientists observe in many ways – with their own senses or with tools such as microscopes, scanners or transmitters to extend their vision or hearing. In this activity, you will observe biodiversity in your neighborhood and formulate questions based on your observation(s). A place with high biodiversity has many plant and animal species. There are many different plants and animals in our neighborhoods, and each has different characteristics. All these different plants and animals make up our local biodiversity. Take a walk or just look outside your home and try to locate items with the following characteristics. Each item must be a part of the natural environment such as a plant, animal, soil or water.

Hypothesis1. Do you think your neighborhood has high biodiversity?

2. How many plants and animals do you think you can find?

Pick one of the three options below to observe the biodiversity in your neighborhood.Record/document your observations

Option 1: Biodiversity Scavenger HuntRecord your observations in the space below (for example, find one herbivore, two organisms that walk or crawl, etc.).

Option 2: Observing and taking pictures of your observationsPlace an ‘X’ in front of each of the following signs of biodiversity that you can locate on your neighborhood. Take a picture of your observation and upload it to your google drive, your one drive or email the pictures to your environmental science teacher. Find a low-growing plant, a shrub, and a tree

Find at least three different kinds of plants growing under one tree

Find three leaves with different textures

Find three different flowers

Find three different kinds of plant stalks

Find a site with a lot of plant biodiversity

Find that has low plant biodiversity

Find three different kinds of fruits

Find an evergreen (leaves stay green all winter) plant or tree

Find a deciduous (lose it leaves in fall/winter) tree

Find three different seeds

Find three different tree bark types

Option 3: Describing your observationsPlace a check in front of each thing that you find and write a short description. For example, I found a yellow flower. I found a pointy thorn in a holly bush etc.

1. yellow

2. round

3. that smells good

4. that smells bad

5. pointy

6. rough

7. tall

8. round

9. soft

10. hard

11. red

12. smooth

13. tiny

14. fuzzy

15. brown

16. noisy

17. with 2 legs

18. with 4 legs

19. with wings

20. oval

Analysis of observations and asking questions based on observations

1. Describe a pattern that you observed.

One pattern that I observed is…

2. Write down one conclusion from your observation.

Based on the pattern I observed, I can conclude that…

3. What parts of your observation do you think will change over time? Explain your reason for the change.

Over time, I would expect to change because…

4. What is a place that you observed stability?

One place I observed stability was…

5. What part of your observation do you think will stay the same over time? Explain your reason for the stability.

Over time, I think would stay the same because…

6. Based on your observations, write at least six questions (do not judge your questions). Then classify your questions as open- or close-ended. Close-ended questions can be answered with yes, no, or with one word. Open-ended questions require an explanation and cannot be answered with yes, no, or with one word. Find close-ended questions and mark them with a “C.” Then find open-ended questions and mark them with an “O.”

7. Optional. Try to change one close-ended question to an open-ended question.