Ecosystem ecology: how Tasmanian devils impact their ecosystems

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 ecology, biology and geography.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Laurel Lynch, an ecosystem ecologist at the University of Idaho, USA. She is studying the role that scavenging Tasmanian devils play in their ecosystems.

• This resource also contains an interview with Laurel and offers an insight into careers in ecosystem ecology. If your students have questions for Laurel, they can send them to her online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Laurel will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Laurel’s research and challenges them to design a campaign to improve the public opinion of scavengers.

• In the accompanying podcast, Laurel discusses the excitement of fieldwork and the importance of teamwork.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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