LS4.1 2025

​LS4.1 Explain how changes to biodiversity in a system would impact human resources (e.g., food, medicine, and clean water) and “ecosystem services” (e.g., climate stabilization, decomposition of waste, and pollination)

By Brittany Williams

EQ:

​How do changes in biodiversity affect the natural resources and ecosystem services that humans depend on?

Open Ended

What is biodiversity in your own words?

Draw a food web from the biome you chose: Include as many plants and animals (insects, bacteria, and decomposers too).

Make sure the arrows are easy to follow!

Research: Pick one - Forest Ecosystem, Ocean Ecosystem, or Wetland Ecosystem.
Draw yours on your sheet

Let's focus on the next part of the standard:

What are ecosystem services?

Ecosystem services are the benefits that healthy ecosystems give to people, like how forests provide us with clean air and water, bees pollinate flowers to make food, and wetlands keep our coastlines safe. We can categorize these benefits into: Provisioning (things we get, like food, water, and wood), Regulating (nature's ways of controlling things, like cleaning air and controlling floods), Cultural (non-material benefits, like beautiful places to play and learn), and Supporting (basic processes that make everything else possible, like forming soil). 

​On the next few slides, we will dig deeper into these topics!

• Food: Plants and animals in a forest or ocean provide food for us to eat. 

• Water: Forests help filter water, making the water cleaner for us to drink. 

• Materials: We get wood from trees to build things, and plants give us fibers for clothes.

​1. Provisioning Services (Nature's Goodies) (Fill in your sheet)

2. Regulating Services (Nature's Cleanup Crew) (fill in your sheet)

• Air Cleaning: Plants and trees clean the air by using carbon dioxide and giving us oxygen. 

• Pollination: Bees and other insects pollinate flowers, which helps plants make fruits and seeds for us to eat. 

• Flood Control: Wetlands and forests absorb excess water, which helps prevent floods in communities nearby. 

• Decomposing Waste: Tiny organisms in the soil break down dead plants and animals, helping to clean up the environment. 

3. Supporting Services (The Foundation) (Fill in your sheet)

• Soil Formation: Plants and the tiny living things in the soil work together to create healthy soil. 

• Nutrient Cycling: Ecosystems recycle nutrients, like how dead leaves break down and add nutrients back into the soil for new plants to grow. 

• Habitat:Forests, oceans, and other ecosystems provide safe homes for plants and animals to live.

Now that you understand what the ecosystem can provide you, look back at your food web. If you were to take out 2 of the pieces, how would that impact humans?

How would changes to the biodiversity in your biome impact human resources “ecosystem services” (e.g., climate stabilization, decomposition of waste, and pollination)

Fungi are important for breaking down dead plants and animals, which helps keep our environment clean. When these organisms are lost, waste can build up. 

How would changes to the biodiversity in your biome impact human resources e.g., food, medicine, and clean water?

Bees are vital for pollinating crops that provide our food. If biodiversity drops and there are fewer pollinators, we might not have enough fruits, vegetables, and other foods. 

​Think back to our standard... (on your sheet)

​You may have to choose 2 different biotic pieces from your food web.

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