Live Lesson: Ecosystem Engineers

Ecosystem Engineers

Suitable for: Key Stage 2 & Key Stage 3

This Live Lesson takes students on a journey into the world of ecosystem engineers - wildlife that can shape, change and even transform the environments they live in. 

In this interactive session, students will meet zoo keepers who care for species that play a vital role in their ecosystems - from vultures acting as the clean-up crew of the savannah, to aardvarks whose digging creates opportunities for a whole host of other species, students will discover how the actions of individual animals can have a much wider impact on the natural world. 

Students will also explore the concept of 'keystone species', looking at what happened when wolves were deliberately removed from Yellowstone National Park - and the dramatic effect this had across the ecosystem. 

Along the way, they’ll investigate how species are connected through food chains and food webs, and why the loss of one species can sometimes affect many others. 

In this lesson, students will: 

• Discover the important roles different species play within an ecosystem.
• Learn what a keystone species is and why some species have an especially important influence on their environment.
• Explore how food chains and food webs connect species within an ecosystem.
• Understand how the removal of one species can have knock-on effects across an entire ecosystem.