Science Inquiry Skills:
The following syllabus points are all linked to the same page. These points are covered in Chapter 1 of your textbook and will be practiced in class.
Science Understanding:
Describing biodiversity
Ecosystem dynamics
The following syllabus points are all linked to the same page. These points are covered in Chapter 1 of your textbook and will be practiced in class.
- 1. Identify, research and construct questions for investigation; propose hypotheses; and predict possible outcomes
- 1. Design investigations, including the procedure(s) to be followed, the materials required, and the type and amount of primary and/or secondary data to be collected; conduct risk assessments; and consider research ethics, including animal ethics
- 1. Conduct investigations, including using ecosystem surveying techniques (quadrats, line transects and capture-recapture) safely, competently and methodically for the collection of valid and reliable data (Also completed in the field during learning phase of Weebly page 7 content- population monitoring).
- 1. Represent data in meaningful and useful ways; organise and analyse data to identify trends, patterns and relationships; qualitatively describe sources of measurement error, and uncertainty and limitations in data; and select, synthesise and use evidence to make and justify conclusions
- 1. Interpret a range of scientific and media texts, and evaluate processes, claims and conclusions by considering the quality of available evidence; and use reasoning to construct scientific arguments
- 1. Select, construct and use appropriate representations, including classification keys, food webs and biomass pyramids, to communicate conceptual understanding, solve problems and make predictions
- 1. Communicate to specific audiences and for specific purposes using appropriate language, nomenclature, genres and modes, including scientific reports
- 7. Contemporary technologies, including satellite sensing and remote monitoring enable improved monitoring of habitat and species population change over time
- 11. Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–2030 presents a long-term view of the future and the actions that need to be implemented to conserve biodiversity
- 11. Identification and classification of an ecological area as a conservation reserve also requires consideration of the commercial and recreational uses of the area, as well as Indigenous Peoples’ usage rights
- 11. International agreements about biodiversity encourage international cooperation in the protection of unique locations, including
Science Understanding:
Describing biodiversity
- 2. Biodiversity includes the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems; measures of biodiversity rely on classification and are used to make comparisons across spatial and temporal scales
- 3. Ecosystems are diverse, composed of varied habitats, consisting of a range of biotic and abiotic factors, and can be described in terms of their component species, species interactions and the abiotic factors that make up the environment
- 3. Relationships and interactions within a species and between species in ecosystems include predation, competition, symbiosis (mutualism, commensalism and parasitism), collaboration and disease
- 3. In addition to biotic factors, abiotic factors, including climate and substrate, can be used to describe and classify environments
- 4. Biological classification is hierarchical and based on molecular sequences, different levels of similarity of physical features and methods of reproduction
- 4. Biological classification systems reflect evolutionary relatedness between groups of organisms
- 4. Most common definitions of species rely on morphological or genetic similarity or the ability to interbreed to produce fertile offspring in natural conditions – but in all cases, exceptions are found
Ecosystem dynamics
- 5. The biotic components of an ecosystem transfer and transform energy, originating primarily from the sun, and matter to produce biomass; and interact with abiotic components to facilitate biogeochemical cycling, including carbon and nitrogen cycling; these interactions can be represented using food webs and biomass pyramids
- Biogeochemical Cycling Page
- 5. Models of ecosystem interactions (food webs, successional models) can be used to predict the impact of change and are based on interpretation of and extrapolation from sample data (data derived from ecosystem surveying techniques); the reliability of the model is determined by the representativeness of the sampling.
- 6. Keystone species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of the community; the impact of a reduction in numbers or the disappearance of keystone species on an ecosystem is greater than would be expected, based on their relative abundance or total biomass
- 6. Species or populations, including those of microorganisms, fill specific ecological niches; the competitive exclusion principle postulates that no two species can occupy the same niche in the same environment for an extended period of time
- 7. Ecosystems have carrying capacities that limit the number of organisms (within populations) they support, and can be impacted by changes to abiotic and biotic factors, including climatic events
- 7. The dynamic nature of populations influence population size, density, composition and distribution