Integrative Ecology Education
Migratory Shorebirds
Australia's disappearing travellers
Australian Migratory shorebirds undergo the longest migration of any known species, every year, travelling from Australian habitats along the East Asian Australasian coast to the Arctic to breed. They were once some of Australia’s largest bird populations found along the coast, but migration survival rates have rapidly dropped in the past 30 years. The drop in survival rates is thought to be associated with the effects of climate change, habitat destruction and pollution and disease. Currently many conservation groups and research organisations are undertaking studies to understand the effects of these factors and what can be done to assist migration survival. The following student and teaching resources have been designed to assist educators to communicate current research being done by Prof Marcel Klaassen and his colleges at Deakin University in this subject, linking all activities to the VCAA Curriculum Levels 7/8 or 9/10.
Victorian Curriculum Links
Levels 7/8 & 9/10
Science Understanding:
Science as a Human Endeavour
​Scientific knowledge and understanding of the world changes as new evidence becomes available; science knowledge can develop through collaboration and connecting ideas across the disciplines and practice of science (VCSSU089)
Scientific understanding, including models and theories, are contestable and are refined over time through a process of review by the scientific community (VCSSU114)
Biological Sciences
Levels 7/8
Interactions between organisms can be described in terms of food chains and food webs and can be affected by human activity (VCSSU093)
Levels 9/10​
Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (VCSSU121)
The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the diversity of living things and is supported by a range of scientific evidence (VCSSU120)
Science Inquiry Skills
Construct and use a range of representations including graphs, keys and models to record and summarise data from students’ own investigations and secondary sources, and to represent and analyse patterns and relationships (VCSIS110)
Use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to identify relationships, evaluate claims and draw conclusions (VCSIS111)​
Communicate ideas, findings and solutions to problems including identifying impacts and limitations of conclusions and using appropriate scientific language and representations (VCSIS113)
Prof Marcel Klaassen's Symposium Presentation
Arctic Breeding Shorebirds in Times of Change
Prof Marcel Klaassen's research is focused on the migration patterns of Arctic shorebirds and the changes in their migration patterns over 30 years due to strength of the seasonal signal, change in onset of seasons and Arctic amplification that is caused by climate change. Additionally Marcel's research looks at the impact of climate change on shore bird habitus (physical build) behaviour and population dynamics.