Improving habitats to encourage more organisms
Background information
Habitats are the places where animals and plants live. They can be large like an ocean, or small like a rock pool. Habitats are important because they provide animals and plants with food, shelter and water. Many animals and plants can only live in one type of habitat. If a habitat is damaged or destroyed then the animals and plants that live there often die.
As the human population increases, we need more spaces for homes, farmland and industry. For many years people have harmed different habitats by building roads, houses and though industries such as farming and logging (cutting down forests for wood). Every day, between 30 and 70 species of plants and animals die out, or become extinct because of things that people do.
In the UK, the hedgehog is in danger. Gardeners love hedgehogs becasue they eat slugs and snails that damage plants. However, sometimes gardeners kill hedgehogs accidently with poison they use to kill the slugs. Farmers too have destroyed many of the places hedgehogs used to live such as hedges.
Are school grounds hedgehog Friendly?
Science Investigation - Habitat Survey
Use this as an opportunity for children find out about their immediate environment. Hopefully this will allow the children to see why it is so important to take steps to protect our environment.
The children will need to find out what already lives in a particular area of the school grounds. They will need to use identification charts and/or software to work out what organisms live in the habitat.
They can then carry out some research to find out how to improve habitats for a range of animals and plants. They will need to identify the particular food chains that exist.
The children can make the changes to their habitat and then surveys will need to take place at different time throughout the year.
This work could also be part of some national surveys like National Insect Week, SpringWatch by the BBC and BirdWatch by the RSPB.
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| SpringWatch www.bbc.co.uk | Big Schools Birdwatch www.rspb.org.uk |
Questions to ask
What types of organisms live in your school grounds. How could you find out? How will you record this information?
How could you increase the amount and number of organisms in your school grounds?
How many different types of plants can you find in your school grounds? What evidence do you need to gather? (e.g. size, colour, shape of leaves, etc)
How can you find out the names of the different plants?
How will you display your information? (e.g. bar graphs, branching database, posters, etc)
What can you find out about the life cycle of these plants?
ICT
• Use a branching database to identify living things in a particular habitat.
• Use a spreadsheet to record findings and compare with data from previous years.
• Use Internet/CD-ROMs to find out more about particular organisms.
• Use a digital microscope to observe animals and plants.
• Use digital/video camera to record animals in their habitats.
Resources
Identification software – e.g. plants uk and animals uk.
Available from www.gatekeeperel.co.uk
Identification Keys
Websites to support this Unit
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| Habitat links and ICT ideas www.kented.org.uk |
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