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Year 9

Impacts of climate change on biodiversity

I can describe impacts of climate change on biodiversity, including plants and animals.

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Year 9

Impacts of climate change on biodiversity

I can describe impacts of climate change on biodiversity, including plants and animals.

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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Species have adaptations that enable them to live and thrive in the conditions of their habitat
  2. Human emissions of greenhouse gases are leading to global warming and climate change
  3. Climate change is changing the conditions in habitats, so species may be less well adapted to live there
  4. Some, but not all, species can survive changes in conditions by migrating to a new habitat
  5. Climate change, including more frequent extreme weather events, can lead to biodiversity loss

Keywords

  • Habitat - the place where an organism lives, which provides the organism with food, shelter and a place to reproduce

  • Adaptation - a feature that organisms have to help them live and survive in a particular place

  • Climate change - a long-term shift in weather patterns

  • Biodiversity - the range of different living organisms (species) in an ecosystem

  • Evolution - the characteristics of species gradually change over time, sometimes forming new species; this process is called evolution

Common misconception

Thinking that species can choose or plan to evolve new adaptations to help them to survive climate change.

Part 2 of the lesson explores the idea that evolution occurs at random and may be too slow to save many species from climate change.


To help you plan your year 9 science lesson on: Impacts of climate change on biodiversity, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The lesson may feel quite bleak, so deliberately ends with a message of hope by reminding students of ways we can reduce emissions to limit climate change and thus protect biodiversity from some of its effects.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Features that enable a species to live and thrive in its habitat are called __________ .
Correct Answer: adaptations
Q2.
Which organism has adaptations that allow it to be camouflaged?
Beetle
Correct answer: Lizard
Toadstool
Sunflower
Q3.
Who explains correctly what biodiversity is?
Jun: It’s the adaptations that a species has.
Lucas: It’s how many individuals of one species are present.
Correct answer: Sam: It’s the range of different species present in an area.
Q4.
A long-term shift in weather patterns is called __________ change.
Correct Answer: climate
Q5.
On the basis of the available evidence, 99% of scientists believe that …
… climate change is not really happening.
Correct answer: … climate change is being caused by human activities.
… climate change is causing increases in biodiversity.
… climate change cannot be stopped.
Q6.
Most scientists agree that climate change is being caused by human emissions of gases that enhance the effect.
Correct Answer: greenhouse, green house

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match each word to its correct definition.
Correct Answer:adaptation,a feature that helps a species to live and thrive in its habitat
tick

a feature that helps a species to live and thrive in its habitat

Correct Answer:habitat,the place where an organism lives
tick

the place where an organism lives

Correct Answer:biodiversity,the range of different species in an ecosystem
tick

the range of different species in an ecosystem

Q2.
True or false? Most species are adapted to live in many different habitats with many different conditions.
True
Correct answer: False
Q3.
Who is correct about what will happen if the conditions in a habitat change?
Andeep: All the species there will die!
Correct answer: Laura: Some species may be less well adapted to live in the new conditions.
Sofia: None of the species will be affected by it.
Q4.
Extreme weather events are becoming more common due to climate change. Droughts will kill plants that are not adapted to …
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: … lack of water.
… waterlogged soil.
… salty seawater.
Q5.
Some, but not all, species can survive climate change by moving to a new habitat. This movement is called .
Correct Answer: migration, migrating
Q6.
True or false? All species will be able to evolve new adaptations quickly to help them survive climate change.
True
Correct answer: False
Q4 Piyaset/Shutterstock