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Listed under:  Science  >  Life  >  Ecosystems  >  Food webs
Video

ABC News: Disease threatens fish

Imagine what would happen if a deadly fish disease found its way into Australia's biggest river system. Watch this clip to learn more about a disease threatening the ecology of the Murray-Darling River. Scientist, Professor Richard Whittington, explains that the disease could be the final straw for an endangered Australian ...

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Aerial Orang Utans

This 11 minute video segment form Catalyst shows that although the orang-utans of Borneo are threatened with extinction, we don't know exactly how many are left or where they are. The use of helicopters to locate their nests and estimate population size has helped to challenge our thinking about the requirements of this ...

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AERO Ochre Science Year 7 Unit 2 - Food webs

This sequence of five lessons has students learn about food webs and how the changing environment can effect them.

Interactive

Aim to Sustain

Students identify and explore ways in which human activity can threaten biodiversity and the health of our planet. Students are encouraged to take positive action to promote sustainability. The four resources: Get the message, Help a habitat, Alien invaders and A world of difference include videos, SMART notebooks, worksheets ...

Interactive

Aim to sustain: Alien invaders

Students examine and respond to information on introduced species and their impact on the Australian environment. The resource includes videos, SMART notebooks, worksheets and links to further interactive resources. Students have the opportunity to compose and present persuasive texts. The resource includes support notes ...

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Argo floats

This minute video segment from Catalyst decade ago describes the Australian initiative, Argo, that has become a major international collaborative project to look at the world's oceans and help understand processes at depth - monitoring the pulse of the global heat balance and giving us vital information on the ocean's role ...

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Artificial shark birth

A five and a half minute video segment from Catalyst that explains why Grey Nurse Sharks are in danger, especially on Australia's east coast where only a few hundred individuals are thought to exist. However, in a world first, researchers at the NSW Department of Primary Industries have built an artificial uterus, which ...

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Atoms Alive: Cells and energy

Cells are like chemical factories. Discover the different ways cells get energy to carry out their daily operations. Learn about the different types of metabolic processes inside cells, such as those that break down molecules to release energy and those that assemble building blocks to make more complex components.

Interactive

Biodiversity – sustainability action process (Years 7–10)

This biodiversity learning resource guides students through an extended school based investigation. Students develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate and reflect on their success and their learning.

Video

Borneo Live Reef Fish Trade

This nearly 13 minute video segment from Catalyst explains how Fisheries scientists warn that if fishing around the world continues at its current pace, more and more species will vanish. The coral triangle is one particular area where biodiversity is at risk, and the top predator appears to be humans.

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Bryozoans' role in the ecosystem

This is a colour video clip of marine scientist Associate Professor Abby Smith discussing the role bryozoans play in marine ecosystems. The clip shows Abby Smith, a teacher and researcher at the University of Otago, New Zealand, being interviewed. The clip also shows underwater photos of bryozoans, fish and corals.

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BTN: Animal recognition system

We have all heard of human face recognition systems, but have you heard of animal recognition technology? Watch this clip to discover how an 'animal recognition gate' is being used to separate the sheep from the goats. Find out how this innovative application of a popular technology might help farmers manage pest animals ...

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BTN: Curbing the carp population

Find out why European carp fish are called 'river rabbits' in Australia. Listen to how they came to Australia and what makes them such a pest now.Discover how a local entrepreneur is exploiting the new resource while scientists are doing their best to cap the carp population explosion.

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BTN: South Australia's ancient sea fossils

Come on a palaeontologist's dig at Emu Bay, South Australia, and discover some weird-looking creatures frozen in stone. Find out what these fossils tell scientists about life on the ancient sea floor. There is a demonstration of how a fossil is formed, and you'll be surprised by the types of materials that have been preserved.

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Carbon country update

This five and a half minute video segment from Catalyst discusses the potential to manage controlled burning in Arnhem that reduces frequency of wildfires to provide other benefits. The potential to turn this into economic benefits from carbon trading is explored and the science investigations that will first be essential.

Interactive

Cassowary ecology quiz

Explore facts about the life of cassowaries: physical characteristics; diet; habitat; life cycles; and locations. Interact with graphs to see how much people can help cassowaries. Work through ecology notes and resources. Answer questions as you go; express your answers as fractions. This learning object is one in a series ...

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Catalyst: Aboriginal fire knowledge reduces greenhouse gases

Come on an eye-opening trip to Western Arnhem Land in northern Australia to find out how Aboriginal fire-control techniques are used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by thousands of tonnes.On the trip you will also find out how exploding ping-pong balls are used to create low greenhouse gas firebreaks at the right time ...

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Catalyst: Chemical pollutants toxic to whales

Explore how chemical pollutants affect the Antarctic food web. A scientist shows that baleen whales are consuming Antarctic krill contaminated by accumulated residues of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from pesticides and industrial chemicals. Find out why these pollutants are concentrated at the Earth's polar regions.

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Catalyst: Climate and bushfires in Australia

What can science tell us about the major cause of bushfires in Australia's past? How can it help us predict future bushfires? Two scientists discuss evidence related to bushfire regimes (bushfire patterns, types and intensity). Please note that this clip contains recent images of homes destroyed by fire that may disturb ...

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Catalyst: Coorong salinity

Imagine the mighty Murray River as it flows through South Australia and reaches the sea. Explore the consequences of drought and human activity while listening to Graham Phillips describe the effects of the Coorong's increasing salinity and the the associated threat to Adelaide's supply of fresh water.