Students will explore the biome in which they live while comparing it to other major biomes around the world.Standard(s): 5.L.2.1Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems

This ZOOM video segment shows how to create a self-contained environment and explores evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

This interactive resource adapted from NASA describes the different temperature, precipitation, and vegetation patterns in seven biomes: coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest, desert, grassland, rainforest, shrubland, and tundra.

With a continued focus on the Sonoran Desert, students are introduced to the concepts of biomes, limiting factors (resources), carrying capacity and growth curves through a PowerPoint® presentation. Abiotic factors (temperature, annual precipitation, seasons, etc.) determine the biome landscape. The vegetative component, as producers, determines the types of consumers that form its various communities. Students learn how the type and quantity of available resources defines how many organisms can be supported within the community, as well as its particular resident species. Students use mathematical models of natural relationships (in this case, sigmoid and exponential growth curves) to analyze population information and build upon it. With this understanding, students are able to explain how carrying capacity is determined by the limiting factors within the community and feeding relationships. By studying these ecological relationships, students see the connection between ecological relationships of organisms and the fundamentals of engineering design, adding to their base of knowledge towards solving the grand challenge posed in this unit.

The purpose of this resource is to measure and classify the plant life at a Land Cover Site to help determine the MUC classification.

Students are introduced to the concepts of biomimicry and sustainable design. Countless examples illustrate the wisdom of nature in how organisms are adapted for survival, such as in body style, physiological processes, water conservation, thermal radiation and mutualistic relationships, to assure species perpetuation. Students learn from articles and videos, building a framework of evidence substantiating the indisputable fact that organisms operate "smarter" and thus provide humans with inspiration in how to improve products, systems and cities. As students focus on applying the ecological principles of the previous lessons to the future design of our human-centered world, they also learn that often our practices are incapable of replicating the precision in which nature completes certain functions, as evidenced by our dependence on bees as pollinators of the human food supply. The message of biomimicry is one of respect: study to improve human practices and ultimately protect natural systems. This heightened appreciation helps students to grasp the value of industry and urban mimetic designs to assure protection of global resources, minimize human impact and conserve nonrenewable resources. All of these issues aid students in creating a viable guest resort in the Sonoran Desert.

This is a long-term inquiry activity in which students investigate locations they believe harbor cellulose-digesting microbes, collect samples, isolate them on selective media, and screen them for cellulase activity. These novel microbes may be useful for the production of cellulosic ethanol. In the process they learn about plating techniques, serial dilutions, symbiotic relationships and enzyme specificity. Two methods are provided, one focusing on isolation of pure microbial strains, the other focusing on finding symbiotic communities of microbes. The companion activity is here: https://www.glbrc.org/outreach/educational-materials/bioprospecting-cellulose-degrading-microbes-filter-paper-assay

A weekly bioregion homework assignment exploring for the student local landscape changes. What were the past natural conditions and native uses to todays uses, as well as projected changes in the coming decades.

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This site contains user-friendly tools to launch DNA database searches, statistical analyses, and population modeling from a centralized workspace. Educational databases support investigations of an Alu insertion polymorphism on human chromosome 16 and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human mitochondrial control region.

In this seminar you will view the environment through the lens of a research scientist that demonstrates the connectivity of living systems. You will recognize the dependency of biotic interactions as they transfer energy to sustain life. Participation in an inquiry lab will allow you to ponder about what lurks in the plants of your neighborhood and apply this understanding to managing biotic systems.StandardsBIO B.4.1.1, BIO B.4.1.2,BIO B.4.2.1,BIO B.4.2.2, BIO B.4.2.3,BIO B.4.2.4,BIO B.4.2.5

Students will be able to determine the difference between biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem, recognize be factors for what they are, and demonstrate the relationship between them.

Students in this lesson will investigate the differences in avian beaks and how they are used to benefit their species and lifestyle. There is an introductory portion, a lab portion, a compare and contrast portion and conclusion/reflection. 

The purpose of this resource is to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of a classification system. Students sort birds into three possible classes based on each bird's beak: carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. Students compare their answers with a given set of validation data.

This activity is an introduction to the study of birds. Students will gain observation and classification skills.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students learn the impacts of climate change on birds, explore the effectiveness of public art on climate change awareness, and synthesize informational texts into a persuasive or argumentative essay.

SCIENTIST NOTES: Bird species are suffering and facing extinction as a result of rising temperatures. Several species are slowly losing their range and changing shape and size. This lesson also establishes the possibility that a gradual rise in temperature could affect human survival, but it also gives students the opportunity to brainstorm and use their artistic talents to convey conservation strategies that would safeguard local wildlife and ecologically delicate species. This lesson is suggested for use in the classroom since the video, pictures, and materials are from reliable sources.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson can be used to teach students close reading or note-taking strategies.
-This lesson can be used to focus on elements of persuasive or argumentative writing techniques.
-This lesson can be easily adapted for writing workshops and the peer editing process in a multi-day or mini-unit.
-This lesson can be done in the Spring or Fall when students can also observe local birds outside, or during state testing days as an independent or partner project.
-This lesson can be used as a stand-alone lesson or as a lesson in a unit on non-fiction, birds, geography, art, or research.
-Students are given voice and choice and can work independently or in pairs.
-Students explore various media and guide their own learning with options for breadth and depth.
-Students learn about local bird species in their neighborhood and region.
-Students have two different options to create their own artistic responses.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Teachers should be aware that the Audubon organization is named after John James Audubon and references his “complicated history” as an unrepentant slave owner and strong advocate for slavery. Students will explore this in the lesson, but teachers may want to preview the articles prior to the lesson.
-Students should have some basic understanding of citing sources and referencing multiple resources in writing.
-Students should have a basic understanding of the elements of persuasive or argumentative writing.
-Students should have access to devices with a strong internet connection.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Teachers can extend the research and writing portions of the lesson, using them to teach specific elements in persuasive or argumentative writing.
-Teachers can provide paragraph or essay structures, graphic organizers, brainstorming, or outline templates for students to use.
-Teachers can read one article in the Inspire section with the class as an anchor text or to model reading and note-taking strategies.
-English teachers can choose to make the artistic element a separate class period, an extension, or extra credit activity.
-Teachers can assign other articles from the Audubon website for extension activities.
-Social studies, civics, and economics classes can extend this topic to discuss social justice, socioeconomic status, and cultural impacts. Students can research and discuss how other activists’ “complicated” backgrounds have impacted their messaging.
-Music classes can listen to bird songs of birds from the Audubon website and compare the musicality and tonality of different bird songs in the same region.

In this activity, students construct "flying birds" (pollution collectors) from paper and wire hangers. Students hang up their birds to see how they react to air pollution, and compare and make observations about the differences in the birds.

In this activity, students distinguish between directly and indirectly transmitted diseases and participate in a group game to simulate the spread of vector-borne diseases. They then research a particular pathogenic disease to learn how global warming and biodiversity loss can affect disease transmission.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Birds can carry and transmit viruses to humans and other animals. Thus, understanding the viral community hosted by birds could help us predict future outbreaks of human disease. A recent metagenomics study took a broad look at the viruses found in the gut of wild and captive birds. The dataset included samples from over 3,000 birds that represented over 87 species and 10 different phylogenetic orders and the researchers characterized genomes from numerous viral families including astroviruses, coronaviruses, parvoviruses, and adenoviruses. Examining trends, they found that wild birds had higher viral diversity than captive birds. There was also evidence of potential cross-species transmission between wild birds and domestic poultry. Further analysis of the viral genomic sequences revealed differences in virus distribution patterns between wild and captive birds. Different phylogenetic orders of birds and geographic sites also had distinct distribution patterns..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this Nature video, learn about the extraordinary impact that birds have on the agriculture of a small Indian community.

Join us on a special trip up to Bathurst Island to record birdsongs, and learn about how you can use bird observations to create scientific inquiry in your classroom using ebird.org and birds.cornell.edu/birdsleuth.