Showing posts with label Term 4 Week 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Term 4 Week 2. Show all posts
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Student's Inquiry - Biodiversity
The children in Room 13 will be undertaking an inquiry to learn about biodiversity. The children have been looking at books and watching informative documentaries about New Zealand's animals, plants and invasive species. The children have now had a lesson to explore what they would like to learn about and present in class. These are some of the questions that students have chosen:
How has the environment changed the animals? (Davin)
How can we save New Zealand;s native species? (Max)
Why is biodiversity significant in New Zealand? (Claudia and Faith)
If Zealandia really sank, why are some of New Zealand's animals older than the land? (Max)
What is the most dominant invasive species and why? (Caleb)
What are the threats to biodiversity? (Sam)
What impact does humans have on biodiversity? (Jamie)
How does biodiversity benefit human health? (Ella)
How far can we trace back in New Zealand's history? (Meg)
How was New Zealand formed and what makes New Zealand unique? (Liam)
How did the animals of New Zealand arrive and survive Zealandia and its sinking? (Samuel)
How has the environment changed the animals? (Davin)
How can we save New Zealand;s native species? (Max)
Why is biodiversity significant in New Zealand? (Claudia and Faith)
If Zealandia really sank, why are some of New Zealand's animals older than the land? (Max)
What is the most dominant invasive species and why? (Caleb)
What are the threats to biodiversity? (Sam)
What impact does humans have on biodiversity? (Jamie)
How does biodiversity benefit human health? (Ella)
How far can we trace back in New Zealand's history? (Meg)
How was New Zealand formed and what makes New Zealand unique? (Liam)
How did the animals of New Zealand arrive and survive Zealandia and its sinking? (Samuel)
Biodiversity NZ - https://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/picture/biodiversity/what/index.html
Biodiversity is
shorthand for “biological diversity" - the number
and variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region;
and the variability among living organisms on the earth, including
the variability within and between species and within and between
ecosystems.
Elements of biodiversity include:
Elements of biodiversity include:
- Genetic diversity – the varied genetic make-up among individuals of a single species
- Species diversity – the variety of species within a particular geographic area, such as the birds, fish, insects, bacteria and plants that live within a wetland
- Ecological diversity – the variety of ecosystem types (such as forests, deserts, wetlands, grasslands, streams, lakes and oceans) and the communities within them. These communities interact with each other and with the non-living environment. For example, the mountain stone weta contains a form of anti-freeze in its tissue to avoid the damage caused by ice crystals in its body. This allows it to live in high alpine environments from Marlborough to Otago.
Science: Biodiversity in New Zealand
New Zealand’s native biodiversity is unique, born of long
isolation as small islands in a vast ocean. The high percentage of
endemic species (those found nowhere else in the world), make New
Zealand’s native biodiversity both special and highly vulnerable.
After splitting from other continents 80 million years ago, evolution on land took an eccentric course, leading to plants, animals and ecosystems so distinctive that New Zealand has been described as the closest scientists will come to studying life on another planet. From then, until the arrival of humans, it had the longest period of isolation of any non-polar landmass on earth.
The main reason is that, unlike other continents, New Zealand was almost mammal-free – the only native mammals were two species of bat, and marine mammals. For 65 million years, birds dominated the land. Some evolved into unique new forms – the world’s largest eagle, a flightless nocturnal parrot, the kiwi with nostrils at the end of its long beak, and the giant moa, taller than any other bird. Flightless birds and giant insects (such as the giant weta) filled roles small mammals filled elsewhere – foraging on the ground, living in burrows and hollows.
Around our shores, nearly 100 native species such as the threatened bluefinned butterfish live in rockpools, 60 per cent of them found only in New Zealand and nowhere else.
Mammals began to arrive in numbers about 1000 years ago in the form of human settlers who bought with them mammal predators such as rats and possums. Since then, New Zealand’s biodiversity has radically changed on land, in our rivers, lakes and streams, and in the sea.
https://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/picture/biodiversity/
After splitting from other continents 80 million years ago, evolution on land took an eccentric course, leading to plants, animals and ecosystems so distinctive that New Zealand has been described as the closest scientists will come to studying life on another planet. From then, until the arrival of humans, it had the longest period of isolation of any non-polar landmass on earth.
The main reason is that, unlike other continents, New Zealand was almost mammal-free – the only native mammals were two species of bat, and marine mammals. For 65 million years, birds dominated the land. Some evolved into unique new forms – the world’s largest eagle, a flightless nocturnal parrot, the kiwi with nostrils at the end of its long beak, and the giant moa, taller than any other bird. Flightless birds and giant insects (such as the giant weta) filled roles small mammals filled elsewhere – foraging on the ground, living in burrows and hollows.
Around our shores, nearly 100 native species such as the threatened bluefinned butterfish live in rockpools, 60 per cent of them found only in New Zealand and nowhere else.
Mammals began to arrive in numbers about 1000 years ago in the form of human settlers who bought with them mammal predators such as rats and possums. Since then, New Zealand’s biodiversity has radically changed on land, in our rivers, lakes and streams, and in the sea.
https://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/picture/biodiversity/
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