Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Invasive species

20 minutes

Find Out: Meet the invaders

25 minutes

Take Action: Bug Hunt

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

investigate the human-induced impacts of invasive species on invertebrates
explore the role of citizen science in invasive species monitoring and management.

Success criteria

Students can:

describe the impacts of invasive species on environments and biomes
discuss methods used to manage and mitigate the impacts of invasive species.

Preparation

Students should have some insight into how humans have altered environments and created sustainability challenges prior to the lesson. Access the Bug Hunt Australia project in iNaturalist. Set up an account for your class to use and familiarise yourself with the project. Read the Teacher Content Information and decide how you will submit your Bug Hunt Australia finds to the iNaturalist project. You will need to choose an outdoor area where students can conduct their bug hunt. To prevent doubling up of observations, we recommend that you use cones or flagging tape to mark out areas for each group of students. Make sure devices are charged and ready to go!

Tune In: Invasive species

Step 1

Ask your students: What human-induced environmental changes impact our native invertebrate populations? Note their ideas on the board. Student answers might include:

habitat reduction from land-clearing
introduction of prey species that eat the invertebrates
introduction of invasive plant species that change the habitat and reduce food sources
introduction of invertebrates that compete for resources and habitat
creation of monocultures through agriculture
introduction of disease.

Step 2

Ask students to reflect on your list. How many of these issues are caused by invasive species? Ask your students to conduct a Think, Pair, Share on the question: Why did humans introduce, and continue to introduce, new species of plants and animals to Australia?

Student answers might include:

as pets
as livestock
for cropping and food supply
for fibre production
accidental imports
to make Australia more like Europe (Acclimatisation Society, 1900s).

Discuss that there are many reasons why new species were introduced to Australia. Ask your students: When does an introduced species become invasive?

Learning support: Help students understand the difference between an introduced and an invasive species. Ask students if sheep are considered invasive. There are certainly a lot of them, but they are kept in captivity and have not established out-of-control wild populations. Compare this to pigs. While they were both introduced as livestock, feral pig populations have established themselves in Australia and cause great harm to the environment.

As a class, create a definition for ‘invasive species’. Consider the behaviours and impacts of invasive species. Your definition might look like this: Invasive species are non-native organisms that spread rapidly in a new environment, often causing harm to local ecosystems, economies, or human health. These species can outcompete, prey on, or bring diseases to native species, disrupting the balance of the ecosystem.

You may also want to create a class definition for 'native species' to help build clarity. Your definition might look like this: A native species is an organism, plant, or animal that naturally occurs in a specific region due to local evolution without human intervention.

Step 3

Explain to students that today, they will be exploring the impacts of invasive invertebrates on native invertebrates and the broader environment.

Find Out: Meet the invaders

Step 1

Use the Visual Explainer to introduce your students to crazy yellow ants, large earth bumble bees, and shot-hole borers. After introducing each invertebrate, discuss the following questions with your students:

How do you think this invertebrate might have been introduced to Australia?
What impact does this invertebrate have on the environment?
What human alterations of biomes have caused this invertebrate to thrive in Australia?
What impact do you think this invasive species might have on native invertebrates?

Step 2

Explain to your students that although these invasive species threaten Australia’s environments, humans are also the solution to managing them. Provide the students with the Student Worksheet, either individually or in pairs, and assign them 1 of these 3 invasive invertebrates. Ask them to use the following sources (also provided on the student worksheet) to find the answers to the questions.

Yellow crazy ants	Invasive Species Council: Yellow crazy ant	iNaturalist: Yellow crazy ants
Buff-tailed bumble bee (large earth bumble bee)	Invasive Species Council Large earth bumblebee	iNaturalist: Buff-tailed bumble bee
Polyphagous shot-hole borer	Invasive Species Council: Polyphagous shot-hole borer	iNaturalist: Polyphagous shot-hole borer

Learning support: Provide students with a copy of the factsheet for their invertebrates instead of conducting online research.

Learning extension: Ask students to choose an invasive insect from the Invasive Species Council as their topic of research instead of one from the list. Have them navigate the iNaturalist portal to discover observations of the invertebrates.

Students will need to answer the following questions:

How did this species arrive in Australia?
Access iNaturalist records for your invertebrate. How widely has it spread in Australia?
How does this species challenge the sustainability of Australia's ecosystems?
Specifically, how does this species impact our native invertebrates?

Step 3

Once students have collated their findings, explain to them that different methods are used to control invasive species, and these can vary depending on the species and the environment. Tell students that successful management often combines scientific knowledge, community action, and government programs.

Next, in their groups or individually, ask students to research or record the control methods on the Student Worksheet used for their assigned invertebrate. They will then categorise each method into one of the following types:

Physical control: for example, removing nests, barriers, or traps
Chemical control: for example, using targeted pesticides or baits
Biological control: for example, introducing a natural predator or disease
Community monitoring: for example, citizen science, public reporting, or awareness campaigns

For example, people who take action to help the Invasive Species Council ensure that governments fund and implement emergency eradication programs are crucial in controlling or eradicating invasive species in Australia (source).

Learning extension: With your students, check out the yellow crazy ant control program on Christmas Island. Learn more here.

Step 4

As a whole class, discuss your findings. Ask your students:

What impacts are these invertebrates having on Australia?
What are the different methods of control being used to manage the invasive species?
How do we know where these species are present in Australia?

Make sure to tell students that the records they have observed in iNaturalist have been contributed by citizen scientists and that many invasive species are first identified by members of the general public through citizen science programs.

Take Action: Citizen science

Step 1

Explain to students that the rest of the lesson will be spent collecting observations about the invertebrates in their local environment. Use the slides to introduce the iNaturalist project, citizen science, and ethical bug hunting protocols to your students.

Step 2

Before starting, ask your students:

How many different species of invertebrates do you think we will observe? (Write down their guesses)
What do you think the ratio of introduced to native species will be?
Do you anticipate differences in a variety of spaces, such as school grounds, parks, etc?

Take your students outside to conduct their observations. Make sure students:

have their devices, hats, and sunscreen
understand where they are conducting the Bug Hunt and what the boundaries are
know how much time they will be spending on their survey
remember to fill the frame with their photographs, and take photos of the same bug from different angles
follow the Bug Hunt guidelines and be respectful.

Learning extension: Practice digital literacy skills with your students by uploading the images together. You could either do this as a whole class or use a few observations as demonstrations and let the students upload their observations in groups. They will need to locate all of the images attached to a particular observation, upload them to iNaturalist, select options about the observation that apply, and submit the observation. Use online resources to identify the species and find out if they are native or introduced.

Reflection

On your return to the classroom, revisit your answers to the two pre-observation questions. How accurate were the guesses? Was it easy to tell which species were native and which were introduced? Were different species or numbers of invertebrates found in different spaces?

Use these two questions with your students to have them think about the next steps.

How can we build community awareness about the importance of protecting our native invertebrates?
How can we encourage the use of citizen science in invertebrate monitoring?

Bug Hunt: Introducing the Invaders

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