Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
After reviewing biodiversity, learners work in small groups to analyze actual species distribution data. They learn to calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index for different communities. Though not particularly engaging, the content...
Curated OER
Let's go to the Video Tape!
Using actual data from a deep-sea video survey, high school marine biologists consider the biodiversity, compare species richness between two communities, and learn to calculate the diversity index. The lesson plan is all-inclusive,...
Curated OER
Annual Wetland Plant Diversity Survey
High schoolers locate an area of marsh and, by measuring the total number of individual plants in a sample area, determine whether purple loosestrife population density is correlated to the total plant diversity of the community. They...
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – How Diverse is That?
When judging diversity of an ecosystem, both species evenness and species richness must contribute. After a discussion of diversity and a guided example using the Shannon-Weaver function, scholars use the same function on two other...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Keep Away
As of 2015, there are 53,481 oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Scholars determine how species diversity is impacted based on the ecosystem's distance from a drilling platform. It focuses on finding the mean of data sets and creating bar...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
Compare various types of biological diversity in a coral reef and calculate a numeric indicator that describes the diversity found in coral communities. Your class can work in groups to look at the abundance and distribution data of...
Curated OER
Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Students survey and describe a stream ecosystem. They sample the benthic macroinvertebrate populations of a given stream and determine community structure through the use of the Chandler Index and a species diversity index.
Curated OER
Aquatic Insects: Water Quality Index & Diversity Index
Students search stream beds to study the life cycle and adaptations of stream insects. They explore creeks and streams to see the diversity index of creeks or streams and to find the water qualit index.
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Schoolyard Biodiversity Investigation Educator Guide
In 1980, in the tropical rainforests of Panama, scientists discovered 1,200 species of beetles living in and around just 19 trees, with most of the species new to science—that's biodiversity! In the activity, learners work in teams to...
Curated OER
Analyzing Intertidal and Deep Sea Vent Communities
Students study how scientists measure diversity. In this diversity lesson students look at marine communities and look at data to calculate diversity in 3 different ways.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa
Take your biology class' understanding of biodiversity to a whole new level! Ecology scholars use data to calculate three different diversity indices based on the organisms in the Gorongosa National Park. The four-part activity uses an...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
Students discuss biological diversity in ocean communities. In this diversity activity, students examine the variety of organisms compared to relative abundance. They will write an analysis and discuss their findings with the class.
Curated OER
Diversity of Life
Students explore the diversity of life forms and the role that interdependency plays in our world through a mult-segmented unit. This segment introduces the unit.
Curated OER
Chesapeake Bay Population Studies
Students use quarter meter2 quadrant to determine population density, relative density, frequency, relative frequency, calculate diversity index, and establish correlation of association between any two species.
Curated OER
Keep it Complex
Learners consider the importance of biodiversity in the ocean layers. In this oceanography lesson plan, students use the Shannon-Weaver diversity index to analyze data. Learners analyze the information collected and write a report...
Curated OER
Biodiversity Activity
Learners are introduced to biodiversiy. They use a simulation of two forests, one planted with only Douglas Fir trees, and one with diverse species of trees. Students also use the simulation of two forests, one a monoculture of only one...
Kenan Fellows
Use of Dichotomous Keys to Identify Stream Organisms
What kind of organisms are living in the stream? After an explanation on how to use a dichotomous key, groups of three to four use the keys to identify macroinvertebrates from a local freshwater stream. Using the the concept of Stream...
Curated OER
Birds of Different Feathers: Species Specialization
Students identify differences in bird species and explain the concept of species specialization. They attain the knowledge that different birds occupy different habitats.
Students identify characteristics and features of birds that make...
Curated OER
Going...going...gone? Tropical Rainforests-How They Work, What They Do for Us, What's Being Done to Them...
Sixth graders explore the Tropical Rainforest and come to understand what it is and how it affects the ecosystem. In this rainforests lesson, 6th graders write about the Tropical Rainforest, imagine they are in the Tropical Rainforest,...
Curated OER
How Diverse is That?
Students study the concepts of "variety" and "relative abundance" as they relate to biological diversity. In this life science lesson plan students calculate numbers that describe the biological diversity in certain communities.
Curated OER
Chesapeake Bay Population Studies
Students determine how to use a quarter meter quadrant to find population density, relative density, frequency and how to calculate a diversity index while participating in a virtual field trip. They study how to establish a Correlation...
Curated OER
A Whale of a Problem
Students evaluate the possible causes contributing to the decline of the killer whale population from a number of differing perspectives. They present their findings in a talk show format and in letters of advocacy regarding
Curated OER
Curious Crossbreeds
Students discover the diverse roles of hybridization among animals. They research certain examples of animal hybrids as a springboard to analyzing a zoo's potential exhibit of animal hybrids.
Curated OER
Who's Coming to Dinner?
Learners identify the role predators/prey play in food chains, differentiate between food chains and webs, identify factors that affect the balance in food webs, and propose solutions to protect endangered species' environments and...