Student Worksheet

Investigating the Savannah

Read the fact sheet - About The Savanna.

Summarise the key information into the following table:

How has fire shaped the biodiversity of the tropical savanna?

Investigation Activity

You will now work to undertake research into a region of the Australian tropical savanna and produce an annotated illustration of this region. Investigate a different region from the Factsheet - Savanna Regions, and research interesting information about the region’s climate, flora, fauna and fire history.

For each feature (e.g. climate, flora) you should select at least one research question to focus on (suggested questions have been listed below). Alternatively, you can create your own questions based on what you're interested in.

You can use the following table to guide your research and to record your sources:

Topics and suggested question listed below:

Climate

Look for general climate information using this website: CoastAdapt - Australia's climate - drivers, variability and extremes

You can get monthly rainfall figures for a location from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Select 'monthly rainfall'.
Type in the name of a town or location and keep following the instructions.

Examples of questions:

How does the rainfall vary over the year?
How does the temperature vary over the year?
How does the climate affect the landscape?
How does the climate affect the plants and animals?
How might the climate affect food webs?

Plants And Animals

Examples of questions:

What kind of vegetation grows in the region?
What are the main kinds of plants?
How have the plants adapted to the climate and soils?
How have the animals adapted to living in the region?
What are the main plants in the food chains?
What are examples of food chains?

Fire

Examples of questions:

In which seasons are fires?
How do fires affect the vegetation?
What happens to the animals during a fire?
How would small cool fires affect food webs?
How would extensive hot fires affect food webs?
Are all kinds of fires the same in their effects?

Resource List

Factsheet - About The Savanna
Factsheet - Savanna Regions
Coast Adapt - Australia's climate
NAFI website
The Conversation - EcoCheck: Australia’s vast, majestic northern savannas need more care
Sciencing - Dangers to the Savanna Ecosystem
Australian Government - Conservation Management Zones of Australia: North Australian Tropical Savanna
WWF - Northwestern Australia
Slater Museum of Natural History - African Savanna
The Nature Conservancy - Fighting fire with fire
The Bureau of Meteorology - Climate database
The Conversation - The world’s best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it’s led by Indigenous land managers
The Conversation - Fighting fire with fire: Botswana adopts Indigenous Australians’ ancient burning tradition

Savannah Illustration Details

On a large piece of paper, make a line drawing of a savanna showing the landscape, plants and animals. Write labels that explain your illustration. Use arrows to suggest relationships between the organisms and to show where the plants and animals obtain their food. The diagram will look like a food web.

You will present your illustration to the class with a brief two-minute explanation of the facts you have uncovered about your region.

Fire, Biodiversity, Tropical Savanna

Go to

Summary

Lesson guides and printables

In this lesson