Ecosystems at Risk

Take your Year 12 Geography students into the largest stand of mangroves on the Parramatta River to assess how intertidal wetlands function, the human impacts placed upon them and the adaptive management strategies that are used to protect them at Sydney Olympic Park.

On their field trip, students conduct fieldwork tasks, including:

• use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) 
• vegetation transects
• quadrant sampling
• sketching land use maps
• using scientific monitoring equipment
• observations and illustrations of mangrove tree and saltmarsh plant adaptations

Students study the natural and human stresses placed upon wetlands and the management strategies used to protect them. In a session using a  Geographic Information System (GIS), students learn about past and present land uses that impact on the wetlands.

Content: Ecosystems and their Management

• Biophysical interactions which lead to diverse ecosystems and their functioning
• Vulnerability and resilience of ecosystems:

1. Impacts due to natural stress
2. Impacts due to human induced modifications to energy flows, nutrient cycling and relationships between biophysical components

• The importance of ecosystem management and protection:

1. Maintenance of genetic diversity
2. Utility values
3. Intrinsic values
4. Heritage values
5. Need to allow natural change to proceed

• Evaluation of traditional and contemporary management strategies

Content: Case Studies of Ecosystems

• Case studies of two different ecosystems at risk to illustrate their unique characteristics including:

1. Spatial patterns and dimensions: location, altitude, latitude, size, shape, and continuity
2. Biophysical interactions including:

• The dynamics of weather and climate
• Geomorphic and hydrologic processes such as earth movements, weathering, erosion, transport and deposition, soil formation
• Biogeographical processes: invasion, succession, modification and resilience
• Adjustments in response to natural stress
• The nature and rate of change which affects ecosystem functioning
• Human impacts (both positive and negative)
• Traditional and contemporary management practices

Outcomes

H1 - explains the changing nature, spatial patterns and interactions of ecosystems, urban places and economic activity

H2 - explains the factors which place ecosystems at risk and the reasons for their protection

H5 - evaluates environmental management strategies in terms of ecological sustainability

H6 - evaluates the impacts and responses of people to environmental change

H7 - justifies geographical methods applicable and useful in the workplace and relevant to a changing world

H8 - plans geographical inquiries to analyse and synthesise information from a variety of sources

H9 - evaluates geographical information and sources for usefulness, validity and reliability

H10 - applies maps, graphs and statistics, photographs and fieldwork to analyse and integrate data in geographical contexts (including the use of GIS)

H11 - applies mathematical ideas and techniques to analyse geographical data

H12 - explains geographical patterns, processes and future trends through appropriate case studies and illustrative examples

H13 - communicates complex geographical information, ideas and issues effectively, using appropriate written and/or oral, cartographic and graphic forms