#98: Biome Pyramid

A useful diagram to introduce to students. The Biome Pyramid arguably represents a stable state, and we are no longer in such a stable state.

One might discuss how biome integrity will be changed with climate breakdown and changing demands on ecosystem services. The impact of people on the desertification of marginal land in North Africa would be one example...

#60: School grounds fieldwork: Make a mini pond

If a school is offering the GCSE Natural History, it makes sense for them to take a look at their own grounds to see what the opportunities are for learning about ecosystems. This will be important as there are bound to be quite 'high start up costs' with resourcing and preparing to teach the new specification. I hope to be able to help with that, and this blog is one such resource which I hope people will begin to explore. 

The school where I teach has a small pond area, and a larger pond in the main gardens which are part of a memorial garden to former teachers and students. There are obviously some issues with safety and the need for signage and careful placement.

This article suggests ways to create a mini pond, perhaps on the school site. It's part of Children's Gardening Week.

Ponds are small ecosystems, and students could usefully set them up and explore the trophic relationships which are developing.

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust have also created this useful video on how to make a small pond.

#40: Rachel Carson's prophetic 'Silent Spring'

Rachel Carson was the author of the classic book 'Silent Spring'.

This BBC World podcast explores the origins of the book, which is one of the more significant environmental books ever published.

She also wrote several other books which would be of relevance, including on the theme of the world's oceans: 'The Sea Around Us' and 'The Edge of the Sea' - I have copies of these in my library.

One would hope that Rachel Carson will be another person whose name is added to the list of people which those studying the new GCSE Natural History specification should be made aware of.

Details on the podcast:

Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring has probably done more than any other to raise concerns about the damage that uncontrolled use of chemicals can cause to the natural world. Carson imagined a ‘silent spring’ in a world where birds no longer sang, killed off by indiscriminate spraying of pesticides.
Her plea for caution when using insecticides led to major changes in government regulation of agrochemicals both in the United States and elsewhere. So who was Rachel Carson? How did this scientist with a passionate interest in marine biology turn first into a best-selling author and then into an environmental campaigner? And - six decades on - have the warnings of Silent Spring been heeded? Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr. Sabine Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at University of York with a particular interest in the history of synthetic insecticides; Michelle Ferrari, an award-winning film maker who directed a documentary about Rachel Carson's life for the American public broadcaster PBS; and Professor David Kinkela, an environmental historian and chair of the Department of History at Fredonia, State University of New York whose books include 'DDT and the American Century'. The reader is Ina Marie Smith.

The book is available in a large number of editions.

Her story about a lack of insects has been in the news for some years.

In 2016 for example, The Guardian reported on it.

Several people have mentioned the obvious dearth of insects this spring...

Check out her Wikipedia article for plenty more information on her life of campaigning against pesticide use.