Adventures in ATAR Biology – Discovering ecosystems and biodiversity

Greetings from the Year 11 ATAR Biology class!  We are excited to be Offering ATAR Biology at John Forrest Secondary College.  The course was rolled out this year due to popular request from last year's cohort of Year 10 students, and we've been having a fantastic time learning about the amazing living world that surrounds us.

The Semester 1 program has focused on Ecosystems and Biodiversity, with students learning how to identify species, measure biodiversity, evaluate energy transfer through food webs and describe natural populations.  One of the occupational hazards of having a Marine Biologist as a teacher means that we often spend a little bit of extra time delving into the aquatic realm, and sometimes I even bring in smelly seaweed and pretend we are at the beach examining intertidal ecosystems!

Fieldwork is certainly an important part of this Semester's program, as it provides valuable opportunities for students to work collaboratively to collect authentic data and experience local ecosystem interactions.  We were lucky enough to get out into the field during Term 1 to conduct an ecological survey of the Canning River, where students investigated how water quality affects macroinvertebrate diversity in an aquatic environment.  The Kent Street Weir, located adjacent to the Canning River Eco Education Centre, was the perfect location for our study as we could compare a freshwater ecosystem (upstream of the weir) with an estuarine ecosystem (downstream of the weir).  Students spent a very busy day completing a site survey, collecting and identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates, and measuring a range of water quality parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity and nutrients).  The students then completed a detailed Investigation Report on their findings.

It has been a pleasure working with such keen amateur Biologists so far this year, and I look forward to updating you with more Adventures in Biology later in the year!

- Dr Christine Hanson

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