Ocean Biodiversity

# OCEAN BIODIVERSITY

Variety in Ocean Ecosystems

**Learning Age:** 8 - 14

**Subject Links:** Biology, Life Science, Animal Biology, Ecology, Natural Science

**Learning Objectives**

*1. Know that biodiversity refers to the variety of living things in an ecosystem*{.info}
*2. Understand that biodiversity is a consequence of evolution*{.info}
*3. Understand the importance of biodiversity*{.info}

**Playlist Overview**

This collection of short 360° videos is designed to help your students learn about biodiversity within marine habitats.

Submerge your students in underwater worlds to meet a wide array of marine animals, without ever leaving the classroom. Using these VR activities to enhance your core lessons, your students can dive with manta rays, bask with sea lions, and mingle with a diverse collection of marine creatures in vibrant reefs.

**Keywords:** Biodiversity, variation, evolution, offspring, ocean, genetic information

**VR Resources:** These resources are all 360° videos approximately one minute long.

- **Coral Reef: Part 1**
- **Manta Ray**
- **Clown Fish**
- **Snapper Fish**
- **Ray (Mobula)**
- **Jackfish (Caranx)**
- **Australian Sea Lion**
- **Common Octopus**
- **Celestial Grouper**

**Please note, videos from our WildWorld subscription are high quality and some files may be large. Please allow ample time to download.**

*Tip: While in the headset, encourage your students to look up and all around them!*

**Before Your Experience**

Before exploring the biodiversity within an ocean ecosystem with the VR resources, check your students’ prior knowledge about marine organisms. The following questions can be discussed in a group or set as an individual task.

Ask your students:

- What types of animals can be found in an ocean ecosystem?
- What other types of living things can be found apart from animals in an ocean ecosystem?

**Suggested Activities**

Here are some activity ideas to get you started using these VR resources in your classroom. These differentiated activities can be adapted for different learning ages and abilities.

# Core Knowledge{.objective .objective1}

This activity aims to introduce the concept of biodiversity. Help your students identify the variety of marine life by classifying the different animals.

Students should watch the following 360° videos in the headsets and identify the type of organisms they can observe.

- **Coral Reef: Part 1**
- **Striped Bass**
- **Manta Ray**
- **Clown Fish**
- **Bull Shark**
- **Snapper Fish**
- **Ray**
- **Jackfish**
- **Sea Lion**
- **Common Octopus**

In pairs or small groups, students should then discuss the types and variety of organisms they have observed and attempt to group them into their specific types (class). This can be completed by drawing a table in their workbooks using the following headings: fish, coral, mammals and mollusks.

*Tip: The teacher should guide the discussions to highlight that ocean ecosystems have a variety of organisms, which shows biodiversity.*

The following questions can be used to guide students through the task:

- What animals can you identify in the videos?
- What class of animals are they?

# Demonstrating Understanding{.objective .objective2}

In this activity, help your students to describe that the ocean habitat is home to a diverse range of species, and explain how variation is linked to genetic information.

Students should watch the following 360° videos and identify the organisms:

- **Coral Reef: Part 1**
- **Striped Bass**
- **Manta Ray**
- **Clown Fish**
- **Bull Shark**
- **Snapper Fish**
- **Ray**
- **Jackfish**
- **Sea Lion**
- **Common Octopus**

Students should use their workbooks to create a table with the headings: mammals, fish, mollusks and coral. They should then organize marine organisms by their class and highlight their key characteristics. In small groups, they can then discuss these features and how they are a result of genetic variations.

*Tip: Teachers should emphasize that living things inherit adaptations from their parents, driving diversity in ocean ecosystems. Over time, species have evolved and survived due to their marine adaptations, like fins in fish, flippers in mammals and shells in mollusks.*

Here are some questions to guide the VR experience:

- Can you identify the organisms within the videos?
- Can you describe the differences between the organisms?
- How did these organisms get their adaptations?
- What does this variation suggest about biodiversity?

# Extended Learning{.objective .objective3}

This activity is an extension to understanding biodiversity. Help your students to apply their understanding of biodiversity and challenge them to explain its importance in an ocean ecosystem.

Your students should watch the following videos and identify the role each organism plays within the ocean ecosystem:

- **Coral Reef**
- **Striped Bass**
- **Manta Ray**
- **Clown Fish**
- **Bull Shark**
- **Snapper Fish**
- **Ray**
- **Jackfish**
- **Sea Lion**
- **Common Octopus**

Students should then create an infographic poster on ocean biodiversity, highlighting each animal’s characteristics, adaptations to marine life and differences between them. They should also show each organism's role in the food chain. Students could use colored arrows for specific animals in a food chain if they are in more than one food chain. They can highlight their reliance on different food sources and illustrate how species depend on each other, emphasizing the importance of ocean biodiversity.

*Tip: Students should recognize that diverse ocean organisms, whether producers, predators or prey, rely on each other for food and shelter. Greater biodiversity provides more resources, reducing pressure on individual species and ensuring ecosystem stability.*

Guide your students with these questions:

- Why are these organisms able to survive in this ocean habitat?
- How do these organisms rely on each other?
- What would happen to populations if the variety of organisms were reduced?

**Cross-Curricular Links**

**Geography**

Ask your students to create a profile of the ocean as a biome. Students should describe the physical properties and climate of the ocean, which can be linked to how living things are adapted to survive.

**English Language**

Ask students to write a news article about the impact of humans overfishing the ocean. They should include details of the consequences of overfishing for fish populations and describe how this would lead to a loss of biodiversity, reduce the natural resources for that ecosystem, and cause other species populations to decline.

# Activity Guide

**Download the Activity Guide**

[](https://avnfs.com/5iDIZPoG2lO6Kv-U0osuXnv_W5BIJqDmOcpf4jA2OGs?size=3458800&type=application%2Fpdf&name=Ocean+Biodiversity-Wildworld+Activity+Sheet.pdf)