Students will read scientific text about top predators in Arctic marine ecosystems and how they may be affected by global climate change. Students will work individually or collaboratively to write a report based on the scientific text they have read and participate in a large-group discussion session based on their analysis.

This lesson provides students with an opportunity to explore the climate change concept in greater depth. The focus is on plant competition, reproductive output, and how these concepts may vary based on climate change predictions. The emphasis in this lesson is the effect of increasing amounts of water, predicted by global climate change models for some parts of the United States, on the production of fruits and seeds (measures of reproductive output).

In this lesson, students will be engaged in activities to increase their understanding of modeling as a tool for public health preparedness. In the first portion of the lesson, students will obtain simulated patient samples and perform a test to determine if these patients are positive for a simulated rapid influenza diagnostic test. By using this information, students will interpret their results, considering false-positive and false-negative test results. As the lesson progresses, the scale of the outbreak scenario will increase, and students will use mathematical models to calculate the transmissibility of the virus and countermeasures that would be needed to limit the spread of influenza. Students will examine the herd immunity threshold of a population by determining the vaccine efficacy. Final questions will challenge the students to analyze the benefits, limitations, and applications of modeling for preparing and responding to future pandemics.

This brief video lesson discusses how large sea animals collect enough food to sustain them. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.

In this lesson, students participate in a group discussion that defines urban forest management and how different situations require different management. Students then learn about the impact of biodiversity on an urban forest using a map-reading and data-manipulation exercise. Students learn about potential management problems caused by invasive species and plot where exotic species come from on a world map. Finally, students present their opinions to the class in a group presentation, explaining if and how the problems of urban forests are problems in rural forests.

Students geolocate marine ecosystems. They watch videos, make observations about species, populations, and communities of organisms, and discuss how they interact with and depend upon one another for survival.

Students explore major marine ecosystems by locating them on maps. Students use marine examples to learn about energy transfer through food chains and food webs. They discuss how food webs can illustrate the health and resilience of an ecosystem.

Students investigate marine food webs and trophic levels, research one marine organism, this activity sand fit their organisms together in a class-created food web showing a balanced marine ecosystem.

Students use videos and a mapping tool to identify species, populations, and communities of marine organisms and make observations about how they are impacted by anthropogenic disturbances.

Students will conduct a forest health checkup of a local forest area, will take forestry measurements, and will evaluate the ecological services provided by trees and forests.

In this unit, students will investigate the effect of epidemics on populations and the ways in which epidemic models can clarify the spread of disease for the general public. Students will research a specific epidemic and then suggest a model for demonstrating the spread of the disease.

In this activity, students are introduced to real-world examples of niche partitioning and cutting-edge technology used to give unprecedented insights into the feeding habits of wild animals.

In this activity, students will map the invasive species present in an area on their school grounds, school forest, or nearby natural area. Older students may standardize and digitize the information for inclusion in a long-term monitoring database.

In this lesson, students will use a simulation activity to illustrate how predator-prey and competitive interactions affect population sizes. After collecting data throughout the simulation, students will create a graph and then analyze the graph to predict the populations for several more generations.

This applet allows the student to simulate how nature keeps its balance and how rabbits and wolves behave in their natural setting.

In this video, scientists and resource managers speak about balancing the need to manage the Mississippi River Delta for flood control and navigation with the need to maintain a healthy delta ecosystem.

In this data point activity, students analyze and discuss a graph showing how the eradication of a disease led to a wildebeest population boom.

In this activity, students review a study where researchers investigated whether periwinkle snail fronts expand mudflats and contribute to salt marsh die-offs. Students will analyze a graph and answer a series of questions.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the concept of an invasive species, the Burmese python, and its impact on other animal populations in an ecosystem. Students will explore the impact that competition and predation have on native populations due to the introduction of an invasive species.