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Foreign Correspondent: Sustainable tourism

The Yucatán Peninsula in south-eastern Mexico is a popular tourist destination. This clip focuses on examples of sustainable tourism - tourism that aims to have a low environmental impact. View Tulum, a town under threat of being developed similarly to Cancún, a major tourist resort destination.

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Foreign Correspondent: New dam, new house: The Mekong

The mighty Mekong river provides a way of life for millions of people, and is arguably the most important resource in the developing country of Laos. Discover how villagers are being relocated to make way for hydropower dams on this river, which stretches for nearly 5,000 kilometres from the mountains of Tibet to Vietnam. ...

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Engineering clean rivers

Figuring out how to clean up contaminated rivers is a big challenge. It's also tricky to work out where the most contaminated parts of a river system are and whether its fish are safe to eat. Watch this video and learn how engineering has helped to solve these problems. Why do you think engineers looked to the bottom of ...

Interactive

SmartGraphs - African Lions: Modeling Populations - iTunes app

Investigate population modelling by studying the renowned African lions of the Ngorongoro Crater including real-life scientific data. Analyse graphs and data to answer questions and make predictions about changes in the lion population and other population models. Find out about important ecological and modelling concepts. ...

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Reforestation as a climate change strategy

This is a video about an agroforestry project to restore the tree cover of microwatersheds in the High Andes of Peru in which the Chumbivilcas community worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund. Interviews with the local mayor and project officers emphasise ...

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Catalyst: Managing bushfires

To burn or not to burn? Investigate the science behind arguments for and against controlled burn-offs that aim to reduce the risk of bushfires to humans. Listen to the reasons Professor Mark Adams of Sydney University gives for a careful approach to prescribed burning.

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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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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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Foreign Correspondent: The Mekong: A damming example

The government of Laos has plans for many revenue-raising dams along the Mekong River. Find out about a dam, the Nam Theun 2, which was completed in 2010 and lies across the Nam Theun river in the Nakai Plateau. This clip from the same year asks if the dam could be the flagship for others to be built along the Mekong. Discover ...

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Catalyst: Waves supply nutrients to marine ecosystems

Dive through the marine kelp forests off Australia's western coast and discover how ocean waves help cycle nutrients to sustain the plants and kelp forests of marine ecosystems.

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Scientists study suburban microbats

Discover the tiny bats that live in Australian backyards in urban areas, including large cities. Watch this clip to learn more about these elusive Australian mammals, and to find out about a large-scale survey undertaken in Melbourne. Scientist, Dr Rodney van der Ree, addresses a group of volunteers in the field and explains ...

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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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BTN: China's internal migration

For decades China has experienced a mass migration of people from rural to urban areas. This large-scale movement of people is putting pressure on the resources and facilities of cities such as Shanghai. Watch this clip, first broadcast in 1993, to find out the reasons for China's internal migration and the challenges it ...

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.

Interactive

Studying Habitats

Students use this resource consisting of four slides with diagrams, written explanation and voice-over to understand the type of observations and measurements that need to be made when studying an ecosystem. There is a two-question quiz and a summary slide.

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Dingo secrets

This 9 minute video segment from Catalyst shows a biologist is finding out about how a family of multi-coloured dingoes is challenging our very idea of these animals. Technology has been invaluable in learning how young dingoes are taught adult behaviour and survival behaviours of the pack.

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Ladybirds

This program encourages people to observe and identify ladybirds in their own backyard. There is the potential to discover a new species or identify an introduced and harmful member of this group of insects.

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Kooaaa! It's a kookaburra

This ABC In Depth feature article describes how kookaburra chicks fight for survival in the family nest in springtime.

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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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Ibis Invasion

This ABC In Depth feature article describes research on Australian white ibis - or 'tip turkeys' as many call them. They are regarded as a nuisance in cities, especially in the spring breeding season. But scientists fear they may become extinct as more pressure is put on the wetlands that are their native and adopted environments. ...