Topic: Natural History

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Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
1900 Air Pollution Examine this graph from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "What's Up with the Weather?" Web site to see dramatic increases in three greenhouse gases over the last two hundred years.	9-12	HTML Document
The Advantage of Sex Why did sex evolve? The likely answers, in this essay for the Evolution Web site by science journalist Matt Ridley, may surprise you.	9-12	HTML Document
All in the Family In this Evolution Web feature, test your skills at judging who's who on the tree of life while you learn about the tools and methods of cladistics.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Allopatric Speciation These images from the Smithsonian Institution depict Nancy Knowlton's work with snapping shrimp in Panama. Knowlton found that the closing of the isthmus -- dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean -- resulted in new species of shrimp.	9-12	JPEG Image
Ancient Farmers of the Amazon This video segment from Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race" tells the story of the leafcutter ant and the fungus it farms -- an example of mutually beneficial symbiosis.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Arctic Tundra This video segment from Wild Europe: "Wild Arctic" explores the struggle for survival in one of Earth's most extreme environments.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Biological Invaders This video segment from Evolution: "Extinction!" shows the impact of invasive species on native ecosystems.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Biomes This interactive resource adapted from NASA describes the different temperature, precipitation, and vegetation patterns in seven biomes: coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest, desert, grassland, rainforest, shrubland, and tundra.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Build-a-Fish In this interactive activity from Shedd Aquarium, build a fish and then release it into the reef to search for food and evade predators. Try different combinations and observe how each kind of fish has unique adaptations that help it survive in its habitat.	6-8	Flash Interactive
Carnivorous Plants of Texas In this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, learn about carnivorous plants that act as both producers and consumers in an ecosystem. See sundews and blatterworts capture and digest insects.	K-12	QuickTime Video
Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Changing Arctic Landscape In this video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council, learn how warmer temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the landscape, triggering a host of effects such as permafrost thawing and insect infestations.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Chris Schneider: Rethinking Conservation In this interview filmed for Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea," biologist Chris Schneider discusses the relationship between conservation and speciation.	9-12	HTML Document
Compare the Poles Explore the defining features of the Arctic and the Antarctic in this interactive activity adapted from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Complex Relations In this text excerpted from chapter 3, "Struggle for Existence," of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, Darwin draws on firsthand and historical information for his observations about evolution.	9-12	HTML Document
Contaminants in the Arctic Food Chain The levels of contaminants found in particular animals vary widely depending on where they fit into the Arctic food chain, as described in this video segment adapted from LOKE Films and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.	5-12	QuickTime Video
Contaminants in the Arctic Human Population In this video segment adapted from LOKE Films and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, learn how human populations in the Arctic are affected by industrial contaminants in the food chain.	5-12	QuickTime Video
Continental Divide: The Breakup of Pangaea Examine geological evidence found in fossils, rock deposits, and ancient mountains that supports the theory of continental drift in this interactive activity adapted from the Exploratorium.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Darwin: Reluctant Rebel This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea," together with interviews with Daniel Dennett and James Moore, depicts Darwin struggling with publicizing his revolutionary theory.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Darwin's Diary Delve into the private thoughts of a reluctant revolutionary in this Evolution Web feature.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Darwin's Letters: Collecting Evidence This group of letters is a sample of the extensive correspondence Darwin carried on with a wide group of friends and colleagues as he collected evidence to support his theory of evolution by natural selection. From Charles Darwin's Letters: A Selection 1825-1859.	9-12	HTML Document
Darwin's Letters to Lyell In this letter written to his friend and mentor Charles Lyell less than three weeks after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Darwin describes the reaction of the great anatomist Richard Owen to his theory. From Charles Darwin's Letters: A Selection 1825-1859.	9-12	HTML Document
Deep Sea Vents and Life's Origins Deep-sea vents are home to strange, luminescent life forms that thrive through chemosynthesis. This video segment from NOVA: "Volcanoes of the Deep" hypothesizes life's beginnings in this extreme environment.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Deep Time Explore 4 billion years of life on Earth and discover major transformations, geological changes, and extinction episodes in this Evolution Web feature.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Desert Biome This video segment from NOVA: "A Desert Place" describes the physical characteristics and organisms that define the desert biome.	3-12	QuickTime Video
E. O. Wilson: Ants and Ecosystems This segment is from an interview with ant specialist and biologist E.O. Wilson, filmed for Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race."	9-12	QuickTime Audio
Evolution of the Eye Zoologist Dan-Erik Nilsson demonstrates how the complex human eye could have evolved from simple light-sensitive cells. From Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea."	9-12	QuickTime Video
Evolution Revolution From the Evolution Web site, explore the rise of a revolutionary idea and the controversies that surround it.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Evolving Ideas: Did Humans Evolve? This video from Evolution explores the evolution of humans from a common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and other apes.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Evolving Ideas: How Does Evolution Really Work? The process of evolution through natural selection is the focus of this video segment from Evolution, which presents a field study of hummingbird speciation in Ecuador.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Evolving Ideas: How Do We Know Evolution Happens? This video from Evolution focuses on one of the several lines of evidence for evolution -- fossils, highlighting the evolution of whales from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic creatures we know today.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Evolving Ideas: Who Was Charles Darwin? This video from Evolution highlights Charles Darwin's personal struggle to bring to light his theory of evolution through natural selection.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Finch Beak Data Sheet This graphic from Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches by Peter Grant presents data from the Galapagos Islands, showing that a severe drought put selective pressure on the population of Darwin's finches and resulted in a change in the average beak size in the next generation.	9-12	PDF Document
Finding Lucy This Evolution video segment depicts the landmark hominid fossil finds by Don Johanson and his team in Ethiopia.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Fish with Fingers In this video segment from Evolution: "Great Transformations," paleontologist Jenny Clack explains that vertebrates evolved fingers before they invaded land.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Floral Arrangements Explore a few of the ways plants pollinate each other in this video segment from Sexual Encounters of a Floral Kind.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Fossils Fossils are indicators of past life. This collection of still images produced for Teachers' Domain features examples of fossils from plants, animals, and insects.	3-12	Flash Image
Frozen Frogs This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW shows how the common wood frog freezes solid every winter, an adaptation that allows the organism to survive the cold winter.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Global Trends Quiz In this interactive quiz from NOVA, take the Environmental Challenge and test your knowledge of human impact on the world's natural resources and climate.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect This video segment from Race to Save the Planet: "Only One Atmosphere" discusses the greenhouse effect and global warming.	9-12	QuickTime Video
The Grand Canyon: Conservation and Development This video segment adapted from NOVA explores the effects of the Glen Canyon Dam on the beaches, wildlife, and vegetation of the Colorado River.	3-12	QuickTime Video
The Grand Canyon: Evidence of Earth's Past In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a fossil found among the Grand Canyon's rock layers reveals the existence of a shallow sea that once covered most of western North America.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals This video segment, adapted from NOVA, explores reasons why Homo sapiens had an advantage over Neanderthals in the pursuit of territory and natural resources.	6-12	QuickTime Video
How Did Life Emerge Here? This video segment adapted from NOVA describes the emergence of life on the islands of Hawaiʻi from a barren volcanic platform under the ocean waves to the rich explosion of life that covers the many climate zones of the islands today.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Hummingbird Species in the Transitional Zones This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" shows biologists Chris Schneider and Tom Smith studying hummingbirds and other animals in Ecuador. Their research is investigating the processes by which new species are formed.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Ingredients for Life: Water This video segment adapted from NOVA goes on a whimsical journey in search of life forms thriving in extreme conditions on Earth and in outer space. Animations show ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and signs that water once existed on Mars.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Intertidal Zone This video segment from NOVA: "The Sea Behind the Dunes" explores the community of organisms that exists in the New England tidal marsh.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Inuit Observations of Climate Change In this video adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, an Inuit community collaborates with Western scientists studying climate change. Inuit observations are recorded and included in the data collection process, expanding the scientists' understanding of changes in the area.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Is Love in Our DNA? Did evolution shape your taste in a mate? Take our interactive poll from Evolution.	9-12	HTML Interactive
Isolating Mechanisms: Lacewing Songs Hear the different songs of three lacewing flies, which serve as reproductive isolating mechanisms between species and determine mate choice. Lacewing audio song from Charles Henry.	9-12	Flash Interactive
The Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle This video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department describes how humans are helping restore safe nesting grounds for the critically endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle to ensure its successful repopulation.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Laetoli Footprints This Evolution video segment describes how the famous track fossils known as the Laetoli footprints might have been formed and what they can reveal about the creatures who left them.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Laetoli Trackways Diagram View a diagram of the hominid footprints that archaeologist Mary Leakey's team found at Laetoli in Tanzania.	9-12	JPEG Image
Leafy Spurge This video segment from Evolution: "Extinction!" shows how biological control is successfully combating North Dakota's infestation of leafy spurge, a non-native plant.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Life Cycle of a Seed Plant In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Alberta, learn about each step in the life cycle of a seed plant.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Life's Grand Design Are nature's complex forms evidence of "intelligent design"? In this Evolution essay, biologist Kenneth Miller explains how the processes of evolution account for complex structures such as the human eye.	9-12	HTML Document
Mike Novacek: Fossils in the Gobi Biologist Mike Novacek discusses his discovery of mammal fossils in the Gobi Desert and what we can learn from them. From Evolution: "Extinction!"	9-12	HTML Document
Mimicry: The Orchid and the Bee In this photograph from Oxford Scientific Films, a horned bee attempts to mate with an Ophrys orchid, which has evolved to resemble a female bee.	9-12	JPEG Image
A Night in the Coral Reef Coral reefs are often portrayed as brightly lit, bustling underwater marvels full of colorful creatures. This video segment, adapted from NOVA, paints a different picture as it explores the nocturnal behavior of organisms in the reef.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Nihoa Island This video segment adapted from the NOW-RAMP 2002 Expedition documents a research expedition to Nihoa Island. It showcases Nihoa's unique birds and plants, the threat posed by invading grasshoppers, and restoration efforts.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Oil Spill: Exxon Valdez, 1989 This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the clean-up effort after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska. Also featured is a marsh where an oil spill occurred 20 years earlier; analysis suggests that environmental damage may last for decades.	6-12	QuickTime Video
An Origin of Species In this Evolution Web feature, witness for yourself how a new species can evolve as you observe natural selection and adaptive radiation in action.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Origins of Humankind In this Evolution feature, examine a six-million-year-long fossil record to learn about the evolution of the human family.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Pearl and Hermes Atoll This video segment adapted from the NOW-RAMP 2002 Expedition documents a research expedition to Pearl and Hermes Atoll in Hawai`i. Watch as biologists assess the bird and plant populations and then work to eradicate invasive species.	5-12	QuickTime Video
Penguin Response to Climate Change Find out how climate change is affecting Antarctic Adélie penguins and their ecosystem in this video segment adapted from Lloyd Fales and Sweetspot Pictures, Inc.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Permian-Triassic Extinction In this video segment from Evolution: "Extinction!", geologist Peter Ward discusses evidence for a Permian-Triassic mass extinction.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Polar Bears and Climate Change In this video from the World Wildlife Fund, learn how rising temperatures in the southern Arctic could lead to polar bear extinction.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Radiometric Dating In this video segment from A Science Odyssey: "Origins," scientists explain how Earth's age was determined by radiometric dating.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Record of Time Enter the exciting world of dating ... fossil dating, that is. From Record of Time by anthropologist Dennis O'Neil.	6-12	PDF Document
The Red Queen An example of the Red Queen hypothesis, the sexual population of Mexican Poeciliid fish are able to keep up with a changing environment, while the asexual populations are not as successful. From Evolution: "Why Sex?"	6-12	QuickTime Video
Riddle of the Bones In this Evolution Web feature, piece together clues to how one of our early ancestors looked as you examine images from four significant fossil finds of Australopithecus afarensis.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Sex and the Single Guppy Play in our streams and see how exhibitionism has an evolutionary payoff in this Evolution simulation of Endler's experiment.	6-12	Shockwave Interactive
Shape of Trees: The Frustration Principle This series of images shows the work of biologist Karl Niklas on the adaptations and evolution of plants. From The Evolutionary Biology of Plants.	9-12	JPEG Image
Snapshot of U.S. Energy Use This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at American energy consumption and the resulting production of greenhouse gases.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Stories in the Ice Take a journey back through time, using ice cores to learn about the Earth's climatic history. From the FRONTLINE/NOVA: "What's Up with the Weather?" Web site	9-12	HTML Document
Sweaty T-shirts and Human Mate Choice This video segment from Evolution: "Why Sex?" explores the "sweaty T-shirt experiment," which showed that humans may unconsciously be drawn toward a specific kind of genetic variation in a mate.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Taking the Earth's Temperature This video segment from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "What's Up with the Weather?" depicts research efforts to record Earth's past and present temperatures shifts.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Tale of the Peacock The peacock provides a classic example of sexual selection, the force behind nature's extravagances. From Evolution: "Why Sex?"	6-12	QuickTime Video
Ted Daeschler and Neil Shubin: Early Tetrapod Fossils In this transcript of an interview filmed for Evolution: "Great Transformations," Ted Daeschler and Neil Shubin describe the discovery and significance of some of their key fossil finds.	9-12	HTML Document
Toxic Newts The father and son team of Brodie and Brodie track down the predator able to stomach a mysteriously hyper-toxic newt, an example of an evolutionary arms race in action. From Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race."	6-12	QuickTime Video
Tracing Human Evolution to Its Roots This graphic from Biology by Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine suggests how some recent hominid fossil finds might fit into the overall picture of hominid evolution. As more fossils are found and further analysis advances our understanding of human evolution, this picture will almost certainly be revised.	9-12	JPEG Image
The Transforming Leap, from Four Legs to Two John Noble Wilford, a New York Times science writer, outlines various hypotheses on the origin of bipedalism.	9-12	HTML Document
Transitional Tetrapod Fossil In this video segment from NOVA: "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial," learn about the discovery of a well-preserved transitional fossil and how such transitional fossils support the theory of evolution.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Types of Fossils This interactive resource adapted from the University of California Museum of Paleontology features images of body fossils, trace fossils, and a combination of the two.	3-12	Flash Interactive
The Value of Wetlands This video segment adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department explores the role of the wetlands in our environment, including providing habitats for wildlife, acting as natural water filters, and playing a part in the greater water cycle.	4-10	QuickTime Video
Walking Tall This video segment from Evolution: "Great Transformations" illustrates the differences between the skeletons of a chimpanzee (a knuckle-walker) and a human (a biped).	9-12	QuickTime Video
The Wall of Time This illustrated timeline from the Lunar and Planetary Institute provides a journey through four-and-a-half billion years of time from the birth of our solar system to its current existence today.	6-12	JPEG Image
Whales in the Making This graphic from Evolution, traces the evolution of whales from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic creatures we know today.	6-12	PDF Document
What Killed the Dinosaurs? In this Evolution Web feature, find clues to one of life's most compelling mysteries, and discover how evidence can support a variety of hypotheses.	6-8	Shockwave Interactive
Wild Animal Rehabilitation In this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, see how volunteers care for sick or injured animals. Also learn why human interaction is not always the best solution.	3-12	QuickTime Video

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Topic: Natural History