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Vertebrate Declines and the Sixth Mass Extinction

Topic
  • Environmental Science
  • Human Population & Impacts
  • Conservation
  • Science Practices
  • Graph Interpretation
Resource Type
  • Activities
  • Data Points
Level
High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Used In
1 BioInteractive Playlists
Favorited By
18 Users
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Description

This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that measured species population declines on a global scale. These declines may be a part of Earth’s next mass extinction.

Mass extinctions are catastrophic events in which many species become extinct over brief periods of time. Scientists believe Earth has experienced five mass extinction events in the past 540 million years. As human activities destroy ecosystems around the world, they may trigger a sixth mass extinction in which 75% of the planet’s species disappear in less than 200 years. The figure shows the global distribution of species declines over the past 115 years (1900–2015). The top panels include all land vertebrates (amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals). The bottom panels represent bird species only. The “Educator Materials” document includes a captioned figure, background information, graph interpretation, and discussion questions. The “Student Handout” includes a captioned figure and background information.

Student Learning Targets
  • Analyze and interpret data from a scientific figure. 
  • Describe trends in global species declines and their implications for a mass extinction event.
Details
Estimated Time
Within one 50-minute class period.
Key Terms

biodiversity, heat map, gene pool, population, species richness, trend

Primary Literature

Ceballos, Gerardo, Paul Ehrlich, and Rodolfo Dirzo. “Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, 30 (2017): E6089–E6096. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704949114.

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.

Accessibility Level

The documents for this resource meet accessibility standards in accordance with the final rule for Section 508 of the National Rehabilitation Act.
Version History
Date Published 10.23.17
Date Updated 10.23.17
Curriculum Connections
NGSS (2013)

HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-6; SEP2, SEP4, SEP5

AP Biology (2019)

EVO-3.G, EVO-3.H, SYI-2.B; SP1, SP2

IB Biology (2016)

C.3, C.5

AP Environmental Science (2013)

II.D, III.A, VII.C

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

2.1, 3.3

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9-12.7
Math.S-ID.3, Math.S-IC.1; MP2, MP5

Vision and Change (2009)

CC5; DP2, DP3

Materials
Image (JPG) 82 KB
Student Handout (PDF) 631 KB
Educator Materials (PDF) 1 MB
Related Science News
UN report: Humans accelerating extinction of other species
Pulling Canada’s Caribou Back From the Brink
The Rich Meals That Keep Wild Animals on the Menu

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