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

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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.

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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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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Sunfish seekers

This ABC In Depth feature article is an interesting and lengthy account of this highly unusual fish and the reason it is threatened, despite its enormous reproductive capacity. Issues with difficulty in tracking these animals and the need for further research are explained.

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Competition for Resources

Students use this resource consisting of six slides with diagrams, written explanation and voice-over to understand that organisms will compete with each other if resources are limited. Examples cited are cane toads and green tree frogs, conifers preventing undergrowth and the adaptations of some plants such as vines in ...

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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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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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Farmland run-off into estuaries

This is a colour video clip of marine scientist Dr Candida Savage discussing nutrient run-off from farmland, and the effects it has on estuaries and other coastal environments. The clip shows Dr Savage, from the University of Otago, New Zealand, being interviewed. It also shows images of houses on the banks of estuaries, ...

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Understanding food webs

This is a colour video clip in which ecologist Associate Professor Stephen Wing of the University of Otago talks about the importance of understanding food webs, particularly in marine ecosystems. He gives examples of how such understanding has been applied in Fiordland, New Zealand. Still images shown include marine organisms, ...

Online

Exploring the production and marketing of seafood

This is a teacher resource containing a series of inquiry teaching sequences relating to seafood production and marketing in Australia. It contains material to assist planning, implementing and assessing a research task about the technologies and methods used in the fishing and aquaculture industries to catch and farm seafood, ...

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 ...

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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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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.

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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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Who's for dinner?

Look closely at a food chain and food web from a billabong habitat. Help animals to feed and survive. Play the role of a tadpole, fish or heron. Help the animal to grow and breed by feeding and avoiding predators. Notice that eating high-value food sources may increase an animal's risk of being attacked by predators.

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Old Bernie's Pond

Clean up Old Bernie's Pond. See how it has become polluted and invaded by introduced species. Restore the pond by choosing actions such as planting native species and removing sources of pollution. Look at the effects of each change. Earn points to get a certificate.

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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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Concept cartoon: producers

This image is a concept cartoon. It shows a boy and a girl discussing food chains. One character is stating that producers are always at the start of a food chain, while the other character is refuting this. The cartoon is intended as a stimulus for further discussion of the concept.