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Ecology and Evolution

Ecology and Evolution

SYMBIOTIC EARTH: HOW LYNN MARGULIS ROCKED THE BOAT AND STARTED A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Directed by John Feldman

Explores the life and ideas of Lynn Margulis, a scientific rebel who challenged entrenched theories of evolution to present a new narrative: life evolves through collaboration.

SYMBIOTIC EARTH explores the life and ideas of Lynn Margulis, a brilliant and radical scientist, whose unconventional theories challenged the male-dominated scientific community and are today fundamentally changing how we look at our selves, evolution, and the environment.

As a young scientist in the 1960s, Margulis was ridiculed when she first proposed that symbiosis was a key driver of evolution, but she persisted. Instead of the mechanistic view that life evolved through random genetic mutations and competition, she presented a symbiotic narrative in which bacteria joined together to create the complex cells that formed animals, plants and all other organisms - which together form a multi-dimensional living entity that covers the Earth. Humans are not the pinnacle of life with the right to exploit nature, but part of this complex cognitive system in which each of our actions has repercussions.

Filmmaker John Feldman traveled globally to meet Margulis' cutting-edge colleagues and continually asked: What happens when the truth changes? SYMBIOTIC EARTH examines the worldview that has led to climate change and extreme capitalism and offers a new approach to understanding life that encourages a sustainable and symbiotic lifestyle.

DVD / 2018 / (Grade 8evel: 10 - 12, College, Adults) / 147 minutes

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INVENT - ENVIRONMENT INNOVATIONS 2: ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION

This engaging series presents ingenious ideas and innovations invented in the 21st century and now being utilized around the world.

DVD / 2015 / 30 minutes

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SHOW ME SCIENCE ADVANCED - ECOLOGY: ENVIRONMENT - THE EVERGLADES ECOSYSTEM

Southern Florida is covered by 734 square miles of sub-tropical wetlands known as the Everglades. In this program we explore the history and ecology of this delicately balanced ecosystem as environmentalists walk us through some of the new projects that will improve the health of this unique ecological community. The push is on for environmental clean-up, reduction of invasive species, and increased educational programs. The abuse that the Everglades sustained is now being corrected.

DVD / 2015 / (High School or above) / 13 minutes

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THINK GREEN - ENVIRONMENT 4: ECOLOGY DIVERSITY

This environmentally conscious series reports on what is being done around the world to face the challenge of thinking green.

DVD / 2015 / 30 minutes

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THINK GREEN - ENVIRONMENT 5: FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

This environmentally conscious series reports on what is being done around the world to face the challenge of thinking green.

DVD / 2015 / 30 minutes

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SHOW ME SCIENCE ADVANCED - ECOLOGY: BATS CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

The Mexican free-tailed bat is one of the most abundant mammals in North America. Outside of San Antonio, Texas there is a cave that is home to over 40 million of these bats. Roosting in large numbers in relatively few areas makes them especially vulnerable to human disturbance and habitat destruction. Documented declines at some roosts are cause for concern because there is a delicate balance in the ecosystem that depends on the bats. There is also cause for concern among other bat species that are falling victim to white nose syndrome, which is a condition named for a distinctive fungal growth around the muzzles and on the wings of affected animals. It is a cold-loving fungus that grows at temperatures below 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit). It grows on bats when they are hibernating in winter. The fungus appears to disrupt the normal patterns of hibernation, causing bats to arouse too frequently from torpor and starve to death. This program goes deep into the caves where the Mexican free-tailed bats roost and shows a glimpse into their behavior, reproductive habits, diet and how they utilize echolocation.

DVD / 2012 / (High School or above) / 17 minutes

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SHOW ME SCIENCE ADVANCED - ECOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING BIODIVERSITY

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have seen human population grow exponentially. With this growth have come demands for food, shelter and resources. As these needs are met, fragile ecosystems worldwide can suffer. Natural habitats are shrinking, and some scientists say that 25% of all plant and animal species will become extinct in just fifty years. This program looks at the methods and research of scientists who are studying the biodiversity of our planet. Understanding Biodiversity is the first step in learning how we can preserve earth's intricate web of life while meeting human needs.

DVD / 2010 / (High School or above) / 17 minutes

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SOLA: LOUISIANA WATER STORIES

Investigates how the exploitation of Southern Louisiana's abundant natural resources compromised the resiliency of its ecology and culture, multiplying the devastating impact of the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.

Everywhere you look in Southern Louisiana there's water: rivers, bayous, swamps, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico. And everyone in Cajun Country has a water story, or two or three or more. Its waterways support the biggest economies in Louisiana - a $70 billion a year oil and gas industry, a $2.4 billion a year fishing business, tourism and recreational sports.

They are also home to some insidious polluters: the same oil and gas industry, 200 petrochemical plants along a 100-mile-long stretch of the Mississippi known "Cancer Alley," the world's largest Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico and erosion that is costing the coastline twenty five square miles of wetlands a year. At the same time, SoLa is home to one of America's most vital and unique cultures; if everyone who lives there has a water story they can also most likely play the fiddle, waltz, cook an etoufee and hunt and fish.

DVD / 2010 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 62 minutes

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TEACHING SYSTEMS BIOLOGY MODULE 7: ECOLOGY

Topics include: Diversity of Organisms, Population Ecology, Communities and Ecosystems, and Global Issues.

DVD / 2010 / 30 minutes

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AUSTRALIA'S WATER CRISIS: CLIMATE CHANGE, SALINISATION

1. THE BIG DRY
Parts of Australia are suffering their worst drought in living memory. Is this down to global warming? Opinions are divided. This film follows the experiences of farmers in the Mallee district of Victoria in south-east Australia.

The farmers and townsfolk of Birchip, Victoria, have seen little of the rains that have flooded other parts of Australia. It's likely to stay that way. For Birchip is bang in the middle of the swathe of southern Australia that is forecast to dry out as temperatures rise, cutting farm production by as much as 10 per cent in the next 20 years.

Some farms in productive areas may become marginal; small farms on marginal lands could become unviable, eventually being swallowed up by bigger operators or abandoned to nature.

Farmers go to their bank managers, digging deeper into debt, hoping that the next hand deals them a good season. "You just get sick of borrowing, borrowing, borrowing," says one.

It's a question of adapt or go bust. But are the farmers' problems a result of natural climate variation - or of catastrophic climate change?

2. THE SALT PROBLEM
"We're trying to run a first world economy in what you might call a third world environment."

Australians are among the world's biggest consumers of water - but they live in the driest continent on earth at a time of global warming. And if this wasn't enough, they face another major environmental problem: salt

White settlers tried to tame Australia and turn the land into something green like Europe. But when they irrigated, they lifted buried salt - instead of greening the interior, they turned it white. Previous government policies, and giant river diversion projects like the Snowy Mountains Scheme, have all made matters worse, encouraging an attitude that water is a free resource to be used or lost to the sea.

Now attitudes are changing and many communities are facing difficult choices. Some farmers are tackling the water crisis by embracing radical change, adopting new methods unthinkable in the past. But will Australians learn by past mistakes? A great challenge lies ahead.

DVD / 2009 / 69 minutes

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CIRCLE OF LIFE: THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM - EVOLUTION, SPECIATION AND MORE

This program continues to look at more forces and evidence of evolution in the form of genetic drift and migration. Genetic drift and natural selection are compared by looking at founder effect and bottlenecks. It also discusses speciation including isolating mechanisms, types of speciation, and examples of speciation.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2009 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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CIRCLE OF LIFE: THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM - FISHES AND AMPHIBIANS

This program discusses characteristics and examples of important fishes in the ecosystem, including a piece filmed on-location in Yellowstone about the habitat and ecological threats to the cutthroat trout population. Then, the characteristics of the Amphibia are introduced, followed by a discussion about the major contributors to the global amphibian population crash and how Amphibian Chytridiomycosis became a global epidemic.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2009 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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CIRCLE OF LIFE: THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM - FORCES OF EVOLUTION

This program defines biological evolution; examines Darwin's development of evolutionary theory; discusses relevant terminology; and begins a discussion of some of the forces that drive evolution including inheritance, random genetic change, and natural selection. Examples and evidence for these evolutionary forces are emphasized throughout.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2009 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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WATER CRISIS 2: CYPRUS, CHINA, SPAIN

Water shortages are a global problem, affecting both the developed and developing world. These three films highlight what's happening in China, Spain and Cyprus.

FILM 1 CHINA
Inner Mongolia is one of China's largest and driest regions. It's never had much water, but global warming is now pushing the land and its people over the edge.

Villagers living near the town of Qingshuihe say that their communal waterhole started drying up around 10 years ago. Since then getting enough water to live has been a constant struggle and conflict over the fast diminishing supplies.

Over-farming is also playing a part. The land is becoming increasingly fragile. People are now being forced to abandon the countryside altogether.

The film highlights one village which has been deserted completely. The government built a new village closer to town and offered subsidised housing to those who agree to move down there.

This move from remote villages into town is being made by hundreds of thousands of people as part of a massive government programme. It's called "ecological migration".

The government-built village provides people with running water for the first time. But, without land, many of these former farmers are struggling for a livelihood.

FILM 2: SPAIN
2008 brought the city of Barcelona the worst drought in a century. Reservoir levels are at dangerous record lows.

In a desperate attempt to fix the water crisis the government has come up with a plan to pipe water from the mighty Ebro river to supply Barcelona.

It's also a precious source of water in drought-hit southern Africa - but Namibia and Botswana are in conflict over who can use it.

But environmental activists believe the Ebro, Spain's most important river, is already stretched to breaking point and taking any more of its water will be the death knell for the river.

At the heart of the water problem, many argue, is simple over-consumption. The answer is a new global approach to water management and to get people to rethink how they use water.

Meanwhile Spain is looking to technology for help. Just south of Barcelona one of Europe's largest desalination plants is being built. It will produce 20% of Barcelona's water needs. But does it really hold a long-term answer to Spain's water problems?

FILM 3: CYPRUS
After four dry winters Cyprus's largest reservoir contains just 2.5% of its capacity. Things are so bad that the government has had to ship in water from Greece and ordered the construction of desalination plants.

The island's farmers were the first to be hit by the drought. Many complain of falling yields as the rains fail and the groundwater reserves diminish.

But it's not only farmers who're suffering. The town of Famagusta has long suffered from water shortages. But now, as its population grows and the groundwater reserves dry up, the situation is reaching crisis point. Families are struggling, as the authorities cut water supplies to reduce consumption.

Tourism is vital to the economy of the island, so the authorities are trying hard to protect this industry from the drought. The government gives priority to supplying water to hotels, but rising costs mean that many hoteliers are taking their own measures to cut consumption.

The island's politicians are at odds over how to solve the island's water problems. Some criticise government plans for desalination and attack plans to promote and expand golf tourism.

With Cyprus sweltering under the summer sun, people are asking what the future holds. Will the days ever return when water could be used without a second thought?

DVD / 2009 / Approx. 41 minutes

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BIOLOGY: THE FABRIC OF LIFE - ECOSYSTEMS

Ecosystems looks at biotic and abiotic factors; ecosystem structure; marine and aquatic zones; net primary productivity and biomass; and then discusses the following ecosystems:

wetlands

estuaries

riparian ecosystems

coniferous and deciduous forests

chaparral

desert

tundra

temperate and tropical grasslands

tropical rain forests

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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BIOLOGY: THE FABRIC OF LIFE - EVOLUTION OF A THEORY

Evolution of a Theory:

begins with a review of characteristics of science

continues by defining biological evolution

examines the history of evolutionary theory, including Charles Darwin

discusses relevant terminology such as fitness, homology, and analogy

examines the chemosynthetic theory of the origin of life

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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BIOLOGY: THE FABRIC OF LIFE - EXTINCTION AND GLOBAL CONCERNS

Extinction and Global Concerns examines the causes of extinction, before describing ozone depletion, greenhouse warming, and other global concerns. Also discussed are the "green" alternative energy sources and includes information on air and water pollution, and depletion of resources.

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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BIOLOGY: THE FABRIC OF LIFE - MODERN EVOLUTIONARY THEORY CONTINUED

Modern Evolutionary Theory Continued begins a discussion of some of the forces that drive evolution including inheritance, random genetic change, and natural selection. Examples and evidence for these evolutionary forces are emphasized throughout. In addition, this program reexamines the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium.

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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BIOLOGY: THE FABRIC OF LIFE - MORE EVIDENCE AND HUMAN EVOLUTION

More Evidence and Human Evolution looks at

additional evidence of evolution such as the fossil record and intermediate fossils, including human evolution

punctuated equilibrium and adaptive radiation

"evo-devo", i.e. developmental genes and epigenetic controls on development and their relationship to evolution

homology in its many forms

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

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TIPPING POINT? GLOBAL WARMING: THE EVIDENCE

What is global warming? What is the evidence for it? How will it affect the world? This film explores these questions as it follows the icebreaker Louis St Laurent on a trip to the Arctic Circle.

The Arctic Ice Sea, a plate of ice roughly the size of Europe, is disappearing.

Scientists say that by 2013, there will be no sea-ice left in the Arctic, causing a tipping point for climate change throughout the world.

Polar bears, who are at the top of the Arctic food chain, are feeling the heat. As the sea ice shrinks, so does their world.

The forests of Alaska are suffering, too. Alaska's vast pine forests rest on a layer of solid permafrost and when the frost melts the ground literally gives way. Melting permafrost could soon be a worldwide disaster.

"The Arctic will export change to the rest of the world," warns one expert, "Melting sea ice will intensify the extreme weather caused by climate change, bringing violent storms and cyclones."

Very quickly the world's food and water supplies will begin to run short.

Canadian coastguards predict that it will not be long before the legendary Northwest Passage through the Arctic will be completely ice-free. And that's fuelling a new "cold rush" as businesses eye the vast oil and mineral reserves which, until now, have been locked beneath the melting ice.

Says one commentator: "This issue will become something that people are willing to go to war over."

DVD / 2008 / 35 minutes

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EVOLUTION: THEORIES AND NATURAL SELECTION

Teaches the basic science of modern evolution theory. Includes a history of how evolution was discovered and reviews present-day controversies. Significantly updated in 2007. Would be of effective help to teachers challenged by students who hold to non-scientific theories like Creationism and Intelligent Design.

Part 1. How Theories of Evolution Were Developed. Exclusive on-site video in the Galapagos Islands and at Darwin's study in England help demonstrate the achievement of this pioneer.

Part 2. Evolution by Natural Selection. A straight-forward presentation of the theory of evolution by natural selection as it is understood by most biologists today.

DVD / 2007 / 41 minutes

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AMAZON DIARY

A stirring film about the wanton destruction of the Amazon rain forest and the plight of the area's indigenous people. When the sacred hucti eagle that protects his village disappears, a young boy and his grandfather set out to find a new guardian. Traveling by canoe along the Amazon, they meet Indians from neighboring tribes (including rock star Sting). Though captivated by his first glimpse of life beyond his village, the boy quickly learns of the danger to the rain forest and the world

DVD (Color) / 2006 / (Grade 4 or above) / 16 minutes

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ENERGY AND RESOURCES

As the Earth's fossil fuel reserves decline, what forms of energy will come next? After discussing the formation, uses, and consequences of burning coal, oil, and natural gas, this DVD explores the development of alternative resources that may someday completely replace them: nuclear power, solar energy, biomass, geothermal energy, hydroelectric power, and wind power. Benefits, costs, and environmental impacts are considered.

DVD / 2006 / (Grades 7-12) / 21 minutes

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GEOCYCLES

Planet Earth is an amazing machine, and we -and our future -are riding on it. This DVD introduces students to the Earth system's primary interacting subsystems (the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere); the nitrogen, carbon, and water cycles; and three surface processes: weathering, mass -wasting, and erosion. The greenhouse effect, the impact of acid rain on the environment, and diminishing freshwater resources around the world are considered as well.

DVD / 2006 / (Grades 7-12) / 19 minutes

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ECOSYSTEMS AND EVOLUTION

The Story of Evolution shows how life has changed through the ages and how the modern theory of evolution by natural selection explains how these changes have come about.

The Story of Ecosystems outlines the concepts that modern ecologists use to understand ecosystems today. Acid rain, global warming and species extinction are discussed and illustrated.

DVD / 2003 / 38 minutes

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EVOLUTION EXPLAINED

Three videos, Charles Darwin Explains the Diversity of Life, The Story of Evolution and The Origin of Species: Creationism and Evolution

Charles Darwin Explains the Diversity of Life.
Come with us to Charles Darwin's home in Down, England; to the South American rainforest; and to the Galapagos Islands to learn how Darwin laid the foundation for modern biology with the revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection.

The Story of Evolution
Explains how life has changed through the ages and how the modern theory of evolution by natural selection shows how these changes have come about. Includes new work on dinosaur extinction.

The Origin of Species: Creationism and Evolution
When Charles Darwin visited the Amazonian rainforest and the Galapagos Islands in 1835 he, along with most of the scientific community of his day, believed in creationism. Come with us to these same sites today to see why he and scientists following him abandoned this theory and replaced it with the theory of evolution by natural selection.

This program explains clearly and convincingly just why creationism was rejected. It also explains the differences between fact and theory in science and explains some lively differences about evolution theory among scientists today.

DVD / 2002 / 61 minutes

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ECOLOGY: SAMPLING METHODS & FIELD TECHNIQUES

In this laboratory-oriented program, students learn fundamental techniques used by ecologists to study the environment. The importance of accuracy in observation, measurement, record keeping and interpretation of data is emphasized. Students are shown techniques such as those used to measure populations, to determine population density and to measure temperature stratification in a lake or pond. The program explains the concept of communities, the principles of energy flow and nutrient cycles and the concept of succession.

DVD / 1977 / 32 minutes

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ECOLOGY: MATTER, ENERGY & ECOSYSTEMS

This program introduces students to ecosystems, explaining the relationships between various living and non-living components. Natural cycles, the flow of energy within ecosystems and the factors which alter both are explored. The role of the sun as a continuous energy source is emphasized.

DVD / 42 minutes

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ECOLOGY: POPULATIONS, COMMUNITIES & BIOMES

Explores the functional interrelationships among organisms within populations, communities and biomes. Looks at the interaction of populations within communities and the climate patterns responsible for North American biomes.

DVD / 44 minutes

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