Extinct Species Project: Extinction

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Extinction

"What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected. ~Chief Seattle

A species becomes extinct when the last, living organism of that species dies. Extinction can occur as part of the natural order of life through evolution and change in the ecological conditions. Extinction occurs when a species loses out to competitors better adapted to the environment or ecosystem and is unable to move to a new environment or when a species is unable to survive or reproduce in its environment and dies off. Humans have caused extinction of species by overharvesting, by polluting the environment, by destroying and modifying habitats, by introducing new predators into the ecosystem, by introducing nonnative organisms that compete for food, by unregulated hunting, and by the spread of disease. There have been several mass extinctions throughout Earth’s history, the most famous of which was the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago.

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7th-Grade Science Standards

Evolution
3. Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know both genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and diversity of organisms.
b. Students know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution.
c. Students know how independent lines of evidence from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the bases for the theory of evolution.
d. Students know how to construct a simple branching diagram to classify living groups of organisms by shared derived characteristics and how to expand the diagram to include fossil organisms.
e. Students know that extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient for its survival.

Information Literacy Standards

1.2 Knows Parts of a Book and Digital Resources
1.2.2 Identifies parts of a book: table of contents, publisher, page numbers, copyright date, and call number
1.2.5 Identifies online terms and their uses (e.g., home page, Web page, url, responsibility statement, search engine)
1.7 Uses Digital Resources to Access Information
1.7.3 Uses databases (e.g., cd-roms, online free and fee-based services) for school use
1.9 Uses a Developmentally Appropriate Research Process to Access Information
1.9.1 Identifies a problem or question that needs information
1.9.2 Uses presearch strategies such as brainstorming, mapping, and recalling of prior knowledge
1.9.3 Identifies and uses keywords to find specific information
1.9.4 Uses keywords and controlled vocabulary to develop search statements for use with databases, search engines, digital books, and other digital sources and formats
1.9.5 Formulates questions that define the scope of the investigation
1.9.6 Selects a topic, focuses the investigation, and gathers information in order to construct a meaningful final product
1.9.7 Uses Dewey call numbers to locate books in areas of interest or to explore topics in depth
1.9.8 Selects and reads familiar and unfamiliar material independently
1.9.9 Uses a variety of print and digital reference material (e.g., dictionary, almanac, thesaurus,atlas, encyclopedia, and periodicals) to locateinformation
1.9.10 Uses title, table of contents, chapter headings, and navigation elements to locate information in books and digital resources
1.9.11 Uses subheadings to locate information in nonfiction resources
1.9.12 Obtains information from illustrations, photographs, charts, graphs, maps, and tables
1.9.13 Uses scanning and skimming skills to locate relevant information
1.9.14 Continues to show growth in selection of sources and formats for educational andpersonal use
1.9.15 Uses cross references (see, see also) to locate relevant information
1.9.16 Identifies bibliographic references
1.9.17 Uses bibliographies in books and digital resources to access information beyond the immediatesource and school library media collection
1.9.18 Uses a variety of print and digital information resources to facilitate research
1.9.19 Uses advanced and specialized reference books and digital resources
1.9.20 Identifies and uses computer icons and program menus to search for information (e.g., locates an index, navigates a subject tree, accesses a help screen)
1.9.21 Refines search strategies for research projects
1.9.22 Selects and uses a variety of appropriate media to access information for assignments
1.9.23 Records author, title, and other citation elements systematically while accessing information sources
2.3 Selects Relevant Information during the Research Process
2.3.1 Understands that notetaking is a tool forinformation processing (e.g., remembering, comparing, analyzing, and sequencing)
2.3.2 Selects and records relevant information, organizing notes in a format appropriate to the task
2.3.3 Restates facts and details to clarify and organize ideas for notetaking standard