Hi, I’m Bill Nye and I’m a human. I’m
a human too. I’m a human too. Are we the
only species around here?
I don’t see any others.
You know, I’m getting kind of hungry. Me
too!
Why don’t you eat another species?
I don’t see any other species.
Then eat some grass!
There’s not enough biodiversity.
Music – Theme Song
Between where I’m standing and you’re
sitting, there are millions of different types
of plants and animals.
Millions of different species all living together
in an environment we call an ecosystem. Now,
for an ecosystem to be successful or healthy,
it has to have different plants and animals,
lots of plants and animals.
That’s what we call Biodiversity. Biodiversity
sounds really complicated, but if you listen,
it also sounds kind of nice. (Birds chirping
and music playing).
This is the earth, our world. All of the living
things that we know of, live here, and they
live in places like ecosystems.
Places like: Tundras, Taigas, Savannahs, Grasslands,
Prairies, Deserts, Steppes, Intertidal Zones,
Subtidal Zones, Continental Shelves, Deep
Ocean Zones, Estuaries, Deciduous Forests,
Temperate Rain Forests, Tropical Rain Forests,
Arctic Ice Packs, Wetlands, Marine Mud Flats,
and Cities!
That’s a lot of environments, but there
are a lot of living things to fill them up.
The earth’s environments are just crowded
with life. Living things take hold everywhere
they can.
Here’s an insect living right on top of
blades of grass. It’s a living thing that
lives on other living things. See environments
always have living parts and non-living parts.
Some animals live on top of plants, some animals
live in the water, some plants grow on rocks,
it’s all part of the ecosystem.
Nearly ¾ of the world’s surface is covered
with water, so most of the world’s living
things, live here. It’s just one ecosystem
after another.
Now, near as we can tell, all living things
depend on other living things. So, the more
different kinds of things living in an ecosystem,
the more successful it is. We call this: BIODIVERSITY,
different kinds of life.
We can think of an ecosystem as this wooden
puzzle game. See all the different species,
they all fit together and they depend on each
other to live. Once in a while, a species
will go extinct and disappear from the ecosystem,
and you can see how you could lose a few of
those without too much trouble.
But, if you start to lose too many, the whole
thing becomes a little rickety. Now, where
do people fit in? They fit in just about everywhere
because people are living things, and they’re
part of the ecosystem.
So, when we go to manage an ecosystem, we
have to be careful about how things fit together
or there won’t be any place for us. So we
have to be extremely careful.
Bio Warning
Now, this hasn’t happened yet, but it could!
Ecosystems are a bit like this game of sticks,
you can’t take one stick out without disturbing
the other one. The things living together
in ecosystems depend on each other, and it’s
kind of cool!
Try This ~ With Jafar
Want to help biodiversity in your own backyard?
Build a birdhouse! Here’s what you do….
Take a piece of wood that looks like this,
then cut four squares out of that wood so
it looks like this. Then cut another piece
of wood that looks like this. Get an adult
to help you.
Now that you have your four squares, glue
them together like this. Now place this back
on the wood, line it up, measure it off, and
get an adult to help you again. Thank-you.
Bill: You’re welcome.
Glue the back on like this, and let it dry.
And when that’s dry, it should look like
this. I glued the little piece on the front,
and now I’m ready.
Bill: Now, nail your bird box to the side
of a building or tree up high enough where
nothing will mess with it. It’s good to
nail it to the northeast side so the little
birds won’t get too hot. Just nail it up
there, and the birds will do the rest. How
we doing Jafar?
Okay Bill, just about 15 more minutes.
Bill: 15 minutes, great!
This is an ecosystem, so is this, and so is
this. An ecosystem is made up of plants and
animals that live together in an environment.
You and I and every living thing are part
of an environment. Environments will have
non-living things too like sea water, rocks,
sand, and silt. And in those non-living things,
there will be living things like fungus and
soil or algae and water.
Or maybe you’re a species that lives in
a meadow. Anyways, it’s important to realize
how dependent plants and animals are on each
other. All living things in an ecosystem depend
on other living things.
We find if we take one thing out, it’s connected
to a whole bunch of other living things. So
where does that leave our species? Where does
that leave us?
Way Cool Scientist
So what we’re going to look at is Biodiversity
in a real small scale in this woodland area.
People without waterproof shoes on should
walk on this edge.
You can look at biodiversity in a 5 foot strip
of ground or within 5 miles or 5 minutes,
any kind of scale you want to look at.
Look carefully, see all those embryos down
inside, those are eggs. There are raccoons
out here, coyotes, foxes, black bears, deer,
porcupines and all sorts of creatures are
out here.
One thing to remember out here is how much
everything is attached to everything else.
There is a saying that, “You can’t pick
a flower without jiggling a star.” Well,
out here anything you look at, if you took
one thing away from here, you would affect
everything else that’s out here.
There is a whole long chain of things, and
if you take one piece of the chain, the whole
chain falls apart. We’re part of that whole
chain that’s connected to each other.
This is the edge: where the environment without
humans comes up against the environment with
humans. You know human introduce a lot of
non-living things to the environment, but
there are certain types of plants and animals
do very well here because there is more sunlight
for small plants and there are certain types
of food for animals that they can’t find
other places. It just changes things when
humans show up. It’s a choice that we make.
Make Your Own Choices ~ Consider the Following
We have animals, we have plants, but do we
have an ecosystem? Well that’s a tricky
one because the plants and animals on a farm
don’t depend on each other, they depend
on a farmer.
Now, we replace all the different kinds of
plants and animals that were here and put
just one species or type of field in a pasture.
We have corn, cows, chickens, and cotton,
and other things that don’t begin with c
like yams.
So does that mean that farms are terrible
things and we should shut them all down?
No because we’re a species and we need to
live too. Uh, we need farms the same way we
need cars and trucks and buses. There are
things that humans choose to build.
Would you guys knock it off? There’s plenty
of bugs, grass, and grain around here for
everybody.
Pretty soon, people will be working in this
office park. So, what happened to all of the
badgers, moss, mushrooms, and sunflowers that
used to be here? Well, there’s not as many
of them as there used to be.
Does that mean that we should all not go to
work, move out of our houses, and camp out
in the woods with badgers and sunflowers?
Well, some people say yes, but seeing as you’re
sitting there and watching tv, I’m guessing
you’re probably not one of them.
And that’s okay, it’s just that we have
to be careful. Too much fertilizer on our
lawns can run down streams and find its way
into rivers and ponds and lakes fertilizing
too many weeds, and that’s a problem. You
see, nature’s problems are our problems.
We’re part of nature for crying out loud.
So, when we look for places to farm, do business,
or build schools, we should ask ourselves,
“Do we really need to spread them out so
much?” Because when we do, we make the ecosystem
less diverse. It happens every time!
Well, thank you for considering the following.
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Now these species are no longer available,
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Hey what do you want for $19.95?
Diversity
Now this, is a dead tree. But, growing on
it are moss and lichen. No dead tree, no place
for the moss and lichen to grow. See, they
depend on the dead tree to live. Everything
depends on everything else. See this fern?
Well, hanging on is the spider web. No fern,
no place for the spider to build a web. Living
things depend on other living things, everywhere.
Welcome to BSN, the Bio Diversity Shopping
Network
Hi, I’m Todd Diverse and if you want to
wipe out a species, you’re turned to the
right channel because we believe that the
best way to wipe out a species is to remove
it from its natural environs.
Now all of these items are extremely rare
so if you don’t see something, it’s probably
already extinct. But, if you see something
you like, and you’d like to wipe it out,
call the number at the bottom of your screen
right now.
Hey Look at This!
Want to go on a safari? All you need is a
glass and a magnifier. Whoa, I can see all
sorts of things: big bugs, little bugs, even
a baby snail!!
But if I want to see something really up close,
I use my microscope. Whoa, this pond has a
lot of biodiversity. But don’t just take
my word for it, go out and see for yourself.
That’s a squirrel’s nest and those squirrels
spend almost their whole lives up in a tree,
another living thing. They live high up off
the group where other animals can’t mess
with them very easily. It’s the same with
this moss, it lives on a tree too, another
living thing. You see, trees are a part of
their living environment.
Underwater Office
Phone rings: Yeah, yeah, I can’t talk now
though, they’re here, so I’ve go to go.
Okay, talk to you later, bye.
That was my mom. We’re in the largest ecosystem
in the world: the sea, under the water; 71%
of the earth’s surface is covered in water,
so 2/3 of all the species in the world live
down here.
We have some fish and different types of plants,
but you and I can’t live here because we
couldn’t breathe. Along with the very large
organisms and plants, are many, many tiny
organisms are so small that you can’t see
them without a special instrument, you want
to check it out?
BSN ~ Todd Diverse
Today we have some very rare items starting
with a lovely, lovely Kolanchoe, Stapelia,
and some lovely Rabbit Ear Fur in there and
this would be a lovely addition to any home.
And I believe the caller is there is that
right?
Can I order a pizza?
Science
Here are five things you can do to help promote
biodiversity:
1. Recycle glass and paper from your household
2. Leave nature in nature: don’t bring stuff
home from forests, tide pools, or deserts.
You can look at it and admire it, but just
don’t take it out of its natural place.
Take a picture of it instead.
3. Plant a tree. Better yet, plant two trees.
4. When hiking or biking, stay on the trails
so you don’t disturb the local environment.
5. Don’t put oil, gas, solvents, or ANYTHING
for that matter in storm drains. It wreaks
havoc on the ecosystem and damages the environments.
And, here are way more things you can do:
- Don’t litter
- Clean up after your pets
- Learn Science
- Have Mom use cloth diapers
- Recycle aluminum
- Set up a bird feeder and keep it full
- Carpool
- Walk instead of using your parents’ car
- Ride your bike
- Take a bus
- Plant a hillside
- Plant an organic garden
- Make a bat house
- Clean a beach, stream, or pond
- Wash your car on the lawn
- Clean your boat with brushes not solvents
- Use bio-safe solvents
- Dispose of oil safely
- Dispose of gas safely
- Don’t use too much insecticides
- Be a scientist
- Don’t over fertilize your lawn
- Plant more plants
- Shop once a week
- Be cool
- Don’t believe everything you read
- Plant another tree
- Save an oil-soaked bird
- Plant wildflowers
- Neuter your pets
- Don’t waste food
- Cut plastic soft drink rings
- Tell your parents to walk or ride their
bikes
- Don’t mow your lawn too much
- Don’t kill snakes
- Use your air-conditioning less
- Read a book
- Whew!!!!
Golfing
This is a golf course; it’s a big lawn.
It’s an ecosystem, it has all different
types of plants and insects and micro-organisms
we can’t even see. And what keeps this looking
the way it looks is people.
If humans weren’t here working on it all
the time, it wouldn’t look anything like
it does right now. It would probably look
like this: there would be a lot more diversity
of life. Maintaining lawns is a choice our
species makes.
They’re very rare and extremely precious
to the North American ecosystem, so stay tuned
to the BSN.
There are lots of living things around that
you can’t even see; like mould, spores,
and bacteria. You can’t see them, but they’re
really important. It’s really easy to grow
enough mould so that you can see it.
Here’s what to do: take a teaspoon of water
and put it in a plastic bag. Then, put it
in a slice of bread, seal the bag and wait.
After 3 or 4 days, take a look, but don’t
open it, just look. All the really fuzzy stuff,
that’s mould. We breathe in mould spores
all of the time. The air is loaded with them.
The most common kind is black, blue, green,
or tan maybe.
Moulds make penicillin and even soya sauce.
I bet these bacteria were on my hands when
I put the bread in the bag. Some bacteria
make cuts infected, some make yoghurt. And
these living things are all around us. Not
bad for one slice of bread!
The thing about most ecosystems is the more
diverse the species, the healthier the system.
The only thing is we can’t tell what species
we’re going to need to survive. So we better
take care of as many things as we can.
See this planet, it’s under all of us and
that’s why we need to make it a nice place
to live.
Science rules!!
Music Video
Bio di Versity ~ “We’re All Connected”
Ow, that’s a termite
And that’s the tree
That it needs to eat
Thus two ways it’s connected
Organisms entwined
And relationships respected
And yet we choose
Species to lose
Think we’ll make due
With fewer kangaroos
More species
Makes diversity
And ecosystems
That we find succeed
And so we shouldn’t append
Organisms on which we might depend
WE may not comprehend
The strings attached to lives that we end
We need guides to survive
And stay alive
C’mon hummingbirds and cactus
Dancing cats and trees
It’s like a giant lattice
How we need all the Bees
Even Manitees, even Manitees
Science rules!
You know we’re all connected
Connected one and all
Environments reflected
In creatures great and small
Creatures great and small
Well thanks for hanging out with me today.
It’s great having you around the ecosystem.
In fact, it’s great having everything in
the ecosystem.
But you know, as more and more species disappear,
it’s harder and harder to keep the ecosystem
in balance because we don’t know which species
are needed to hold it all together.
We’ve got to keep the bio diverse. We’ve
got to be careful. Well if you’ll excuse
me, I’ve got some plants and animals to
take care of. So, see you around the ecosystem.
