Ecosystems and Biodiversity Lesson 8 : Threats and Protections for Michigan Biodiversity

Using events from a timeline of Michigan environmental history (also used in Lesson 5), students identify examples of five main threats to biodiversity, including habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, population growth, and overuse of resources. Students then apply knowledge of cause-and effect relationships to identify examples of historical events that threaten or offer protection to Michigan’s biodiversity.

Students answer these essential questions: How is Michigan’s biodiversity threatened? What are examples of protections for biodiversity?

Subject/Target Grade

Science and Social Studies/Upper Elementary & Middle School ( 4-6)

Duration

50 minutes – Classroom setting

Materials

per class

• Michigan Environmental Timeline cards (printed from the MEECS Ecosystems & Biodiversity CD, also used in

Lesson 5) 

• Major Threats to Michigan’s Ecosystems (teacher resource)

• Coastal Dunes: Problems and Protections (teacher resource)

per student (or pair of students)

• scissors

• Threats to Michigan Biodiversity (student resource)

• Problems and Protections Cards (1 set of 10 cards)

• Problems and Protections Table (student activity)

• Problems and Protections Concept Map (optional student activity)

Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations

Science:

• Describe the effect humans and other organisms have on the balance of the natural world. S.RS.04.18, S.RS.05.17, S.RS.06.17

• Identify the factors in an ecosystem that influence changes in population size. L.EC.06.32

• Describe how human beings are part of the ecosystem of the Earth and that human activity can purposefully, or accidentally, alter the balance in ecosystems. L.EC.06.41

• Predict possible consequences of overpopulation of organisms, including humans, (for example: species extinction, resource depletion, climate change, pollution). L.EC.06.42

Social Studies:

• Describe ways citizens can work together to promote the values and principles of American democracy. 4-CS.04

• Assess the positive and negative effects of human activities on the physical environment of the United States. 4 – G5.0.1

• Describe past and current threats to Michigan’s natural resources; describe how Michigan worked in the past and continues to work today to protect its natural resources. 4 – H3.0.8

• Create timelines (using decades after 1930) to sequence and describe important events in Michigan history; annotate with connections to the past and impact on the future. 4 – H3.0.9

• Explain how and why ecosystems differ as a consequence of differences in latitude, elevation, and human activities. 6-G3.2.1

• Describe the environmental effects of human action on the atmosphere (air), biosphere (people, animals, and plants), lithosphere (soil), and hydrosphere (water). 6 – G5.1.1

• Describe how variations in technology affect human modifications of the landscape. 6 – G5.1.2

• Identify the ways in which human-induced changes in the physical environment in one place can cause changes in other places. 6 – G5.1.3

• Identify the role of the individual in history and the significance of one person’s ideas. 6-H.1.2.5