Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa

This activity supports using the citizen science platform WildCam Gorongosa in the classroom. It engages students in calculating species richness, evenness, and the Shannon diversity index for various habitat types using data from trail cameras in Gorongosa National Park.

The activity begins with students exploring the variety of habitat types and species in Gorongosa National Park. Students then visit WildCam Lab, a part of WildCam Gorongosa where they can view, filter, and download trail camera data. Using these data, students are guided through various calculations to determine which habitat types host the greatest diversity of species and how biodiversity is affected by human activities. Students are guided through making observations about species diversity and calculating diversity indices using the accompanying spreadsheet tutorial.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.