Year 10 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 16

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' Knowledge of Biodiversity

Foundation Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Identify key features of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) and its 65,000+ year timeframe.
Describe examples of IEK relating to seasonal indicators, fire management and species relationships.
Explain how IEK complements Western conservation science in contemporary contexts.

Warm Up

True or False? Fix the false ones

Circle T or F for each statement. If the statement is false, rewrite it correctly on the line below.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have developed ecological knowledge over approximately 65,000 years, the longest continuous observation record on Earth.

Correct it:

Cultural burning (cool burns) used by Aboriginal Australians creates catastrophic wildfires that destroy biodiversity.

Correct it:

Aboriginal classification systems for organisms have no relationship to modern Western taxonomic categories.

Correct it:

Many Aboriginal seasonal calendars recognise six or more seasons defined by ecological events, such as when a particular flower blooms or a bird migrates, rather than the four seasons used in Western calendars.

Correct it:

Your Turn

Match each IEK term to its description

Draw a line connecting each term on the left to its correct description on the right. Or write the matching letter next to each term.

Term	Your answer	Description
Cultural burning		A. The observation that the flowering of a plant species signals the arrival of an animal species or change in season, used to time harvests and hunting.
Seasonal indicator		B. The body of ecological knowledge, practices and beliefs held by Indigenous communities, developed through thousands of years of direct observation.
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK)		C. Low-intensity fire deliberately set at specific seasons to manage vegetation, promote biodiversity and prevent large-scale catastrophic fires.
Kinship system		D. Social structure in Aboriginal communities that encodes relationships between people, land and species, often embedding rules about sustainable resource use.
ICIP		E. Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, protocols that protect Indigenous knowledge from unauthorised use or misappropriation.

Show What You Know

1. What is cultural burning and how does it differ from the large-scale bushfires that have occurred in recent decades in Australia?

Recall 2 marks

2. Why is it significant that some Aboriginal classification systems for plants and animals align with modern Western taxonomy?

Recall 2 marks

Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?