Category: Ecosystem Change

Staying current for Chapter 3 { Ecosystem Change Contents } 2023-08-10. Cultural water and Indigenous water science. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0658] By Erin O’Donnell et al, Science. Excerpt: Water management failings in [Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin] MDB, which is home to more than 40 First Nations who have lived sustainably with water for tens of thousands of years through […]

Staying current for Chapter 2 { Ecosystem Change Contents } SEE ALSO…Losing Biodiversity Chapter 5: Soil, the Living Skin of the Earth  Chapter 7: One Global Ocean  Chapter 8: Champions of a Sustainable World 2021-06-04. [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/06/rise-and-fall-world-s-largest-lake] – The rise and fall of the world’s largest lake. By Sid Perkins. Science Magazine. Excerpt: When continental plates smashed […]

Staying current for Chapter 1 See Non-chronological resources for this chapter { Ecosystem Change Contents } 2023-08-10. Wandering Seeds. [https://www.science.org/content/article/indigenous-people-shaped-australias-curious-geography-plants] By Elizabeth Pennisi, Science. Excerpt: On shady, densely wooded riverbanks in eastern Australia, the black bean tree is easily missed. It can reach 12 stories tall, but Castanospermum australe mostly blends in with its rainforest peers. …each seed […]

Chapter 7 { Ecosystem Change Contents } The citizens of the United States use more energy and resources per person than do people in other countries. What can we do to reduce our individual and collective impact on earth’s global system? On the pages that follow, we have described some actions taken by students to […]

Chapter 6 { Ecosystem Change Contents } In an influential essay entitled, “Essay on the Principle of Population,” Thomas Malthus noted that the growth of population and what he thought should be the inevitable tidal wave of people that would eventually inhabit the Earth, hadn’t occurred and that somehow the human population must be kept […]

Chapter 5 { Ecosystem Change Contents } I. The Carbon Dioxide Cycle When we enjoy the beauty of a tree we probably aren’t thinking of this marvelous structure as a carbon-based system that transforms sunlight and gases into food. A single cell in a tree leaf is a tiny system that uses light energy plus […]

Chapter 4 { Ecosystem Change Contents } Dr. Steven Schneider, climatologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has been very vocal in alerting the public to the impending dangers of global climate change. In an interview for the TV documentary, “Race to Save the Planet,” he shares his sense of urgency…. “Fifteen thousand years […]

Chapter 3 { Ecosystem Change Contents } I. An Interview with Dr. Samira Omar Desert ecosystems are very vulnerable to overgrazing by domestic animals. Herds people living at the edges of desert ecosystems have often triggered positive feedback mechanisms that have further reduced the productivity of the land both for wildlife and people. Nature’s time […]

Chapter 2 { Ecosystem Change Contents } Picture the following chain of events: hundreds of oak caterpillars munching holes in the leaves of an old oak tree while squirrels and jays collect acorns and gobble caterpillars too. The squirrel stops to scratch a flea. A pair of chickadees hop through the branches collecting caterpillars for […]

{ Ecosystem Change Contents } { All GSS Books } Design your own miniature ecosystem in a clear plastic or glass container and observe it for at least one month.  In the following laboratory investigation, you will design a small model ecosystem in a terrarium and follow the changes in the living and non-living components […]