1. Lesson 8: Role of environment in extinction Importance of biodiversity

2. Learning Objectives Discuss how changes in the environment may leave individuals within a species, and some entire species, less well adapted to compete successfully and reproduce, which in turn may lead to extinction State that fossil evidence supports the theory of evolution Discuss the importance of maintaining biodiversity and the use of gene banks to preserve hereditary material

3. Adaptations to Environment Species adapt to their environments over time (evolution) Adaptations include color, feet, leaves, size, beaks, fur, ears, etc

4. Endangered Species Issues develop when the environment changes quickly due to natural events (volcanoes, floods) or man made events (forest clearing, acid rain, hunting, global warming) and the species faces starvation increased predation lack of nesting sites increased competition

5. Why variation is important A species with more variations will survive changing environments better than a species without variation Colour variations Food variations Size variation

7. Gene Banks To help preserve endangered species governments have built gene banks to store Plants seeds and animal eggs Zoo’s contain endangered species and have breeding programs to maintain diversity

8. Extinction and the Fossil Record Fossils tell us what extinct species might have looked like and we can theorize on why they went extinct

9. Recently extinct animals- what do you think caused it?

10. Task Worksheet 9Ad-5 in Booklet With a partner read about the endangered animals corroboree frog Vaquita Sumatran orang-utan Giant ibis Chose one of the animals and create a poster/comic strip that answers all the questions on the worksheet. Include ways of preserving biodiversity and why this is important.