Inquiry question: What effect can one species have on the other species in a community?
● investigate and determine relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem, including:
– the impact of abiotic factors
– the impact of biotic factors, including predation, competition and symbiotic relationships
– the ecological niches occupied by species
– predicting consequences for populations in ecosystems due to predation, competition, symbiosis and disease
– measuring populations of organisms using sampling techniques
● explain a recent extinction event
Inquiry question: How do selection pressures within an ecosystem influence evolutionary change?
● analyse palaeontological and geological evidence that can be used to provide evidence for past changes in ecosystems, including but not limited to:
– Aboriginal rock paintings
– rock structure and formation
– ice core drilling
Rock Structure
● investigate and analyse past and present technologies that have been used to determine evidence for past changes, for example:
– radiometric dating
– gas analysis
● analyse evidence that present-day organisms have evolved from organisms in the past by examining and interpreting a range of secondary sources to evaluate processes, claims and conclusions relating to the evolution of organisms in Australia, for example:
– small mammals
– sclerophyll plants
● investigate the reasons for changes in past ecosystems, by:
– interpreting a range of secondary sources to develop an understanding of the changes in biotic and abiotic factors over short and long periods of time
– evaluating hypotheses that account for identified trends
Inquiry question: How can human activity impact on an ecosystem?
● investigate changes in past ecosystems that may inform our approach to the management of future ecosystems, including:
– the role of human-induced selection pressures on the extinction of species
– models that humans can use to predict future impacts on biodiversity
– the role of changing climate on ecosystems
● investigate practices used to restore damaged ecosystems, Country or Place, for example:
– mining sites
– land degradation from agricultural practices