NIMBioS Education Module

Quantifying Biodiversity

This module was developed for grades 6-8, but may be adapted to older grades. Almost everyone has heard about how important biodiversity is. Biodiversity makes ecosystems more productive, and it allows us a greater opportunity to find new organisms that will make important food or medicines for us. Or you may have heard that a place like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a "biodiversity hotspot" and should therefore be preserved. But what exactly is biodiversity? And how does one say that biodiversity is greater in one place than another?

In this module, students will learn the ecologists' definition of biodiversity, and also two different ways that an area's tally of organisms can differ: species richness and species evenness. Then, using a hypothetical example of insect data from a forest and a field, they will create a hypothesis of which area will have the greatest biodiversity. Then, they will learn about and use Simpson's Index of Biodiversity, a real-world application of probability, to test out their hypothesis.

It is recommended that this module serve as an introduction to the topic, after which the concepts can be applied to real data gathered by students. For example, students could count insects from two different areas in the schoolyard or could inventory tree species found in their yards at home or in a local park.

Presentation and Worksheet Files:

Biodiversity Module Part I (.pptx)   (.pdf)
Biodiversity Module Part II (.ppt)
Biodiversity Worksheet: (.pdf)   (.docx)
Biodiversity Data Set (.xlsx)

Materials Needed: Worksheet, calculator, pencil

Quantifying Biodiversity Module in action:

Girls in Science Campers Do the Data Crunch
NIMBioS Puts the M in Girls Scouts' STEM Day
High School Scholars Connect Math and Biology Using Biodiversity

For further information, please contact:

NIMBioS
1122 Volunteer Blvd., Suite 106
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-3410
PH: (865) 974-9334
FAX: (865) 974-9461
Contact NIMBioS

From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.