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Listed under:  Science  >  Life  >  Ecosystems  >  Symbiosis
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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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Interdependence

Students use this resource consisting of eight slides with diagrams, written explanation and voice-over to understand what is a community and how different organisms within a community depend on each other for their survival. There is a two-question quiz and a summary slide.

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Habitats

Students use this resource consisting of four slides with diagrams, written explanation and voice-over to understand the relationship between habitat and ecosystem and important factors in some habitats. There is a two-question quiz and a summary slide.

Video

Party locusts

This 8 minute video segment from Catalyst is an excellent example of animal behaviour of locusts as a successful adaptation and how understanding the behaviour can potentially help reduce the damage they cause.

Text

Rainforest fruit power

This ABC In Depth feature article discusses human potential use rainforest fruit-bearing plants and the need to maintain biodiversity. Many biotic interactions that effect reproduction and dispersal are described. Issues about using seed banks to try to maintain biodiversity are discussed.

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Biodiversity and farming for a healthy planet

This is a digital resource containing information and resources, such as printable games, that relate to biodiversity and farming, and how food and materials can be produced while protecting the Earth's natural resources. It includes an extensive glossary of important terms, and external links to teacher and student resources ...

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Science Talk 2007: Jeremy Leggett

An interview with Dr Jeremy Leggett, global environmental expert from Solarcentury in the UK. Jeremy talks to a teacher from Leumeah High School about global warming, fossil fuels and the design of carbon neutral buildings.

Online

Investigating Australian approaches to producing fish, seafood and meat

This is a unit of work about the Australian fish, seafood and meat industries. It has a particular focus on farming practices, processing methods and how food is brought to customers. The resource explores: where meat, seafood and fish come from; past, present and future farming and production systems; and a range of related ...

Video

Dr Ove Goegh-Guldberg

This 5 minute video segment from Catalyst highlights the vulnerability of some of our ecosystems and the way abiotic factors can have a dramatic effect. It also exemplifies the difficult process of having new scientific ideas accepted.

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Is there a salty fresh fruit?

All of us have tasted fresh fruits: sweet oranges, bitter gourds, sour plums. But is there a salty fresh fruit? In exploring the answer to this question, you will learn about fruit structure, their role and evolution.

Video

Coal Gas

This 12 minute video segment from Catalyst outlines how for decades, scientists have worked to develop technologies that can unlock the energy from coal while reducing the risks of digging it up and burning it. Now entirely new industries are booming as they tap into coal seams either too gassy or too deep to be mined by ...

Online

Investigating key Australian fibre production practices in the cotton, timber and wool sectors

This is a unit of work about how cotton, timber and wool are produced, processed and brought to customers in Australia. It explores: where cotton, timber and wool comes from; past, present and future production systems; and a range of other related topics including land management, water management, waste management, revegetation, ...

Online

Biodiversity: protecting the environment

This study guide examines the complexity and importance of maintaining a vibrant and healthy farming environment including management of the biodiversity that pasture, livestock and natural fauna and flora. A range of articles and activities explore the challenges and opportunities that cattle and sheep farmers are embracing ...

Online

Greener farming: protecting the environment

This study guide examines ways Australian cattle and sheep farmers are monitoring and researching how greenhouse gas emissions are being produced by farms and steps farmers use to reduce them. This includes selective breeding programs to produce cattle and sheep whose digestive processes emit less methane, research into ...

Online

Biosecurity

This is a unit of work about the biosecurity of Australia’s agriculture. The unit focuses on how introduced species can affect the balance of ecosystems. The major activities in this unit focus on the concept of interdependence in ecosystems; the importance of biosecurity and control of outbreaks. A simple experiment models ...

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NSW ecosystems on show

This resource highlights fifteen natural ecosystems found in New South Wales. Each resource has been designed for students investigating ecosystem types in NSW, providing a greater understanding of their location, function, how they are impacted by human activity and how schools and communities can work to protect them. ...

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Indigenous Science: shell middens and fish traps

This is an article about Aboriginal shell middens along the Queensland coast and the information they provide about Aboriginal food collection practices. Written by Kudjala/Kalkadoon Elder from Queensland Letitia Murgha and intended mainly for teachers, it describes how shell middens were created over thousands of years ...

Video

Management of the northern savanna

Around the world, tropical savannas are in serious trouble. This clip from 2007 explores the use of Aboriginal technology for sustainable management of the environment in Australia's huge northern tropical savanna. Hear from two environmental scientists why traditional fire-management practices may reduce the incidence ...

Interactive

Using a Quadrat

Students use this resource consisting of eight slides with diagrams, written explanation and voice-over to understand how to use a quadrat to estimate a plant population size. There is a two-question quiz and a summary slide.

Audio

Chemicals on the Great Barrier Reef

This program deals with a range of human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. Herbicides from land runoff have been traced to algae and sea grasses in river mouths and coastal zones along the Great Barrier Reef. Effects include retardation of photosynthesis and growth of corals. Other pressures on the reef include high water ...