Year 7 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 19

Conservation Strategies

Challenge Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Explain the difference between in-situ and ex-situ conservation clearly and simply.
Evaluate conservation strategies by weighing up trade-offs for a specific species.
Justify a reasoned recommendation using scientific evidence from the lesson.

Go Deeper

Explain it to a Year 5 student

Imagine your younger cousin has never heard of in-situ or ex-situ conservation. Use the sentence starters below to explain the difference clearly. You can use real examples from the lesson.

"In-situ conservation means protecting species…"

"Ex-situ conservation is different because…"

"A real example that shows why we sometimes need ex-situ conservation is…"

"The tricky part is…"

Show What You Know

1. You have been given a limited conservation budget. You can only fund one strategy for the eastern quoll, a small carnivorous marsupial that was driven extinct on the Australian mainland by cats and foxes, but still survives in Tasmania. Would you choose to establish a national park in its former mainland range, or run a captive breeding program? Justify your choice by clearly explaining the trade-offs of both options.

Challenge 4 marks

2. A student claims: "Now that the EPBC Act exists, we don't really need captive breeding programs or seed banks — the law will protect biodiversity on its own." Using at least two specific examples from this lesson, evaluate how accurate this claim is. What does the law do well? What does it not cover?

Challenge 4 marks

Wrap Up

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