Nature's Technicians: Ways Animals Maintain Our World
Scientific Reports
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Biology
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Provided by World Wildlife Fund
What it is
- This colorful report from the World Wildlife Fund details the ecosystem services provided by wildlife, plants, and fungi, and the vital importance of protecting wildlife and biodiversity for all life on Earth.
- Students will learn about some specific species and biomes, and read about the essential roles wildlife species play in dispersing seeds, transporting nutrients, improving soil, sequestering carbon, preventing disease, regulating climate, improving water quality, and providing other services.
Teaching tips
Positives
- The guide includes beautiful illustrations alongside the text.
- There is a table of contents provided with hyperlinks for easy navigation of the document.
Prerequisites
- Students may benefit from understanding the importance of limiting nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen.
- Students should understand the some of the basics of climate change, such as greenhouse gases, global warming, and the carbon cycle.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Students with low reading stamina or limited class time can focus on reading just the Executive Summary.
- Students can use many of the graphics, such as those in the Executive Summary, as an interactive notebook opportunity.
- Teachers can use the section on Disaster Risk Reduction to discuss the importance of mangroves. This section can be combined with this brief video and article to help explain this.
- Teachers can pair the section on Pacific salmon with this article to understand the cultural importance of salmon and other species to Indigenous people along with their ecological significance.
- This report can be segmented in many ways to fit teacher and student needs. Teachers can implement a jigsaw strategy with strategic grouping, giving the smaller Amazing Animals sections to students with lower reading stamina, and the larger sections to those with higher reading stamina.
- Teachers can combine the section on the Coral Triangle with a lesson about ocean acidification and its impact on coral. This video can help explain that connection.
From the scientist review
This article by WWF provides a detailed explanation of ecosystems and the key services wildlife provide for humans and the planet. It also provides scientific evidence on the impact of climate change on wildlife loss and solutions to deal with it. This resource is recommended for teaching.
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