Negative human interactions with ecosystems and impacts on biodiversity
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe negative impacts of humans on biodiversity in different ecosystems.
Key learning points
- Increasing human population size requires increased land use for resources (including food and fuels) and urbanisation.
- Increased land use by humans leads to habitat destruction, e.g. deforestation and biodiversity loss.
- Increasing human population size increases production of waste and pollution, leading to biodiversity loss.
- Release of greenhouse gases contributes to climate change, including global warming, leading to biodiversity loss.
- There is very strong evidence linking human release of greenhouse gases to global climate change.
Keywords
Urbanisation - Urbanisation is the increase in the number of people living in towns and cities (urban areas).
Deforestation - Deforestation is the removal of trees; often to use for timber or fuel or to repurpose land for houses or farming.
Biodiversity - Biodiversity is the range of different living organisms (species) that live in a place.
Greenhouse gas - Greenhouse gases are gases that are responsible for the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation and trapping ‘heat’ in the atmosphere.
Climate change - Climate change is a long term shift in weather patterns.
Common misconception
A common misconception is that a small increase in greenhouse gases and a small rise in Earth's temperature will not have much impact on organisms on Earth beyond polar ice melting.
The lesson outlines how human activities increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and how this links to climate change. The lesson also outlines how climate change impacts life on Earth.
Teacher tip
Satellite images can be used to demonstrate how the world has changed as a result of human activities. For example, pupils can measure the growth of a city or the shrinking of a glacier or the ice caps.
Equipment
None required.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What term can be used to describe the mass of biological material in an ecosystem?
Q2.What is the definition of biodiversity?
Q3.Which of the following is a main reason that humans carry out deforestation?
Q4.In which of the following habitats is there likely to be the greatest biodiversity?
Q5.Which of these is a way of increasing biodiversity?
Q6.Burning trees that have been chopped down as part of deforestation will release which gas into the atmosphere?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The number of different species in an area is known as .
Q2.Which of the following gases found in the atmosphere is not a greenhouse gas?
Q3.What does the term urbanisation mean?
Q4.The destruction of habitats ...
Q5.Listed below are some human activities. Match the activities with the impact they have on the ecosystem.
increases methane in the atmosphere
destroys habitats
destroys habitats and stops carbon dioxide being taken up by producers
increases the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Q6.Which of the following is not a consequence of continued global warming?
To help you plan your 11 biology lesson on: Negative human interactions with ecosystems and impacts on biodiversity, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 biology lesson on: Negative human interactions with ecosystems and impacts on biodiversity, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 biology lessons from the Maintaining biodiversity and human impacts unit, dive into the full secondary biology curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.