Biodiversity and Humans

Positives

• It discusses the main causes of species loss and biodiversity loss using the acronym HIPPO (Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, Population, and Overexploitation) and adds climate change, to make it CHIPPO or HIPPOC.
• It provides teachers with a clear progression for how biodiversity and humans should be addressed in each grade band.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• If showing this video to students, stop it at 3 minutes and 2 seconds.
• Students should be familiar with the terms species, genetic, ecosystem, habitat, and decomposers.
  

Differentiation

• This is a great resource to connect climate change to key biology concepts such as ecosystems and biodiversity.
• Cross-curricular connections could be made with social studies classes when discussing ethics, whether other species have the right to exist, and the economic value of the ecosystem services that natural systems provide to humans.
• Other resources related to this topic include Human Impacts on Earth Systems and Drivers of CO₂ Emissions.