This 7-page scientific paper outlines how climate suitability is predicted to change for bird species at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area based on high-emissions and low-emissions models.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The information in the tables is simple to understand, using terms like worsening, improving, or stable, which makes it more comprehensible for students.
There is a graph that nicely summarizes the data and will allow students to visualize the results.
Additional Prerequisites
This is a dense and technical paper that could be difficult for younger students.
Students should be familiar with the basics of ecology like climate suitability, species distribution, species colonization, and species extirpation.
Differentiation
Biology classes could use this paper when discussing ecology, ecosystems, migration, colonization, extinctions, species turnover, habitat loss, and population dynamics.
The paper will likely be challenging for students, so teachers should consider reading it as a class, or having students work in groups with vocabulary terms defined.
Other resources related to birds include this guide to birds in NJ, this video about the endangerment of the NJ state bird, and this interactive map of Migrations in Motion.
This resource underscores the spatial distributions of bird species in relation to climate change in the Recreation area of Delaware. The RCP 2.6 model is able to project sensitivity and suitability of species under a changing climate scenario. The attributions, adjustments, observatory techniques and 10x10m resolution used are appropriate methods to measure climate suitability, spatial distributions of species, and the potential bird turnovers accurately. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
HS-LS4-5 Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.