Key Vocabulary
This term refers to protecting, caring for, and saving natural areas, plants, and animals so they do not disappear.
What is Conservation
Wildebeest travel across the Serengeti during migration primarily to follow rainfall and find this food source.
Grass
The main goal of the global 30 by 30 Initiative is to conserve 30% of this by the year 2030.
Land and Water
n the M&M survival activity, different colored candies represented these in their environment.
Prey
A sudden event or major change in nature made by people, such as building a new road, is called this.
An animal that hunts and eats other animals for food.
What is a Predator
When scientists examined dead wildebeest during the dry season, they found empty stomachs and zero bone fat, proving most died from this cause rather than lion attacks.
Starvation
One way people choose land to conserve is by finding areas that connect two larger forests so animals can do this safely.
walk/move/migrate
The reason certain colored M&Ms were harder to pick up from the grass during the activity
Blended in (Camouflage)
Humans create protected national parks, such as this famous African grassland area, to practice conservation and protect wildlife habitats.
Serengeti
The maximum population size an area can support with its available resources.
Carrying Capacity
When facing a six-month drought, an animal must either risk starving or do this to stay alive.
Move/Migrate
Insects like bees and butterflies help our food supply and the ecosystem by doing this for crops.
polinate
In an IF/THEN ecosystem model, if rain decreases, then grass decreases, which causes the wildebeest population to do this.
Decrease
Money collected from Serengeti park visitors helps nearby villages build these essential facilities.
roads, hospitals, schools
Any environmental factor—such as a lack of food, water, or space—that keeps a population from growing too large.
Limiting Factor
Lions are considered predators that act as a limiting factor on prey because they do this to keep populations from growing too big.
Hunt
Studying how wildebeest travel helps park rangers know which areas of land need to be saved so animals don't suffer from this.
In the floor game activity, removing blue water squares during a drought scenario caused wild dog populations to suffer because water became this. (vocab word)
Limiting Factor
Rather than just making strict rules, scientists and park leaders realized they needed to do this with local communities to successfully protect nature.
work together
A person or group of people who care about an area because it affects their life, job, or community.
Interest Holders
During the classroom Drought Round simulation, when there were only 6 grass tokens available, food became a limiting factor that caused this to happen to the wildebeest herd.
Starve
Wetlands act like giant sponges to help the environment in this specific way
Clean Water
Scientists use these tools—which can be drawings, games, or computer simulations—to show how natural systems work so they can study them. (vocab word)
Models
Humans, plants, animals, water, and land all interact together to make up this whole community.
Ecosystem