Biodiversity *suitable for home teaching*

Sovon, a Dutch bird protection organisation, counts birds. The number of greylag geese is increasing. Students are asked to investigate whether this increase is worrying for the diversity of water bird species? Students explore what the concept biodiversity means, how it can be described mathematically and what are its advantages and limitations? Students are encouraged to explore how the biodiversity of water birds change in their country and what is the impact of the growth of the greylag goose population. The worksheet leads students through the activity in which they will explore the evolution of a population of geese in the Netherlands. Students will learn both about the meaning of biodiversity and how it can be measured. As a final product students will write a report to the bird counters of the Sovon organisation in which they explain their findings and offer advice. Mathematical topics encountered are the use of functions and graphs, modelling and probability.

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