Module 4: Sustainability and Extinction

From the Charles Darwin Trust, these materials help students to consider the concept of how species are sustainable and how changes in the environment can lead to extinctions.

The activities look at how human activities have impacted on the Galapagos Islands since Darwin's visit. This includes effects on food chains and habitat destruction. Students go on to think about how species can become endangered and the efforts that should be made to protect them.

Following the activity, students will have a greater understanding of:
* The concepts of succession, interdependence and endemism.
* How new habitats are colonised.
* How human activity can affect communities of organisms and how these activities can have multiple and interconnected effects because organisms in an ecosystem are interdependent.
* How organisms in an ecosystem are interdependent.
* How the terrestrial Galapagos ecosystem has been affected by isolation and subsequent human colonisation.
* Explaining why isolated communities of organisms are particularly vulnerable to becoming endangered or extinct.