• This article details how humankind is reducing biodiversity by destroying habitats globally and accelerating the extinction of species around the world.
• Students will learn about the causes and effects of biodiversity loss, potential fixes for some of the problems that have been caused by human actions, and the urgency of this issue.

Positives

• This article provides an excellent overview of human impacts on biodiversity. 
• The article is structured well for reading comprehension, even for struggling readers.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have prior knowledge of biodiversity, ecosystems, and how humans impact the environment. 
  

Differentiation

• Cross-curricular connections can be made in social studies classes studying how specific countries or regions have been impacted by biodiversity loss or when discussing the future impacts of ecosystem crashes and species extinctions on human communities that depend on them. 
• Before reading, have students discuss with a partner what they know about decreasing biodiversity and make a list of possible effects to reference after the reading.
• This article would make a great introduction to this topic for language arts classes. Consider having students choose a specific vulnerable ecosystem or species to research and write about.
• This article makes the clear connections between human activities, species declines, and climate change. Have science students explore the other linked resources about mass extinctions to incorporate graphs and maps to the topic.
  

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.