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9th grade · Science · Unit 12 of 14

Alabama's Biodiversity

Alabama's rivers, delta, forests and coast, and the services their living things give us.

What your child practices

Your child explains how Alabama's many species, from river mussels to longleaf pine forests, give the state ecosystem services such as clean water, flood control, food and recreation.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: BIO.9 · how the biodiversity of Alabama contributes to ecosystem services in the state

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Alabama has many species, from river mussels to longleaf pine forests.
  2. Ecosystems give services: clean water, flood control, food and recreation.
  3. Oysters filter water; longleaf pine forests stay healthy with regular low fires.

Example: Oysters in a bay give people food. What other service do they provide? Oysters feed by pulling water through their bodies. They trap particles as they feed. Answer: they filter the water

Alabama's Biodiversity in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 12 of 14 in 9th grade Science, after Evolution & Selection and before Populations & Stability.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    The Mobile-Tensaw Delta, a huge area of rivers and swamps, is sometimes nicknamed…

    • the Arctic of Alabama
    • the Great Desert
    • America's Amazon
    • the Grand Canyon of the South

  2. Question 2

    Wetlands in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta soak up floodwater. This ecosystem service is…

    • flood control
    • producing oil
    • making rock
    • making coal

  3. Question 3

    The Cahaba lily grows in rocky, fast-flowing shoals. If a dam turned its river into a still lake, the lily would most likely…

    • become a tree
    • grow faster
    • lose its habitat
    • move to the desert

  4. Question 4

    Why can an invasive species reduce biodiversity?

    • It cleans the water
    • It always adds new food for everyone
    • It can crowd out or eat native species
    • It makes native species grow faster

  5. Question 5

    Forests cover about two-thirds of Alabama. One ecosystem service they give is…

    • making the soil salty
    • creating fossil fuels this year
    • wood and storing carbon
    • raising sea level

  6. Question 6

    A river with many kinds of fish and mussels is hit by a drought. Compared with a river with few species, it will likely…

    • recover better, because some species can handle the change
    • turn into an ocean
    • never change
    • recover worse, because more species is always weaker

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