Survival by Degrees

• This interactive resource compiles millions of observations into maps and graphs to show how the ranges of hundreds of North American birds may be affected by climate change.
• Students can examine the current and projected ranges and climate vulnerabilities of different bird species, follow links to see details about each bird, listen to their songs, and use the search tool to learn more about impacts in their specific zip code or state.
  

Positives

• The easy-to-use interactive map displays information based on varying degrees of global warming that students can select and compare.
• The vulnerability graph visually illustrates the importance of limiting global warming.
• Simply clicking on terms like "season" and "range" displays the definition of the term.

Additional Prerequisites

• The data for the interactive map is not yet available for winter. 
• Scrolling over each bar in the vulnerability tool displays a specific bird species and how much of its range has been lost, gained, or maintained.
• To best use the interactive vulnerability chart, students should have a basic understanding of the North American biomes.

Differentiation

• Using the vulnerability tool, students can investigate why some birds are more vulnerable than others and discuss their hypotheses in groups.
• Biology students could use this tool to learn more about birds in their local area and investigate how this loss of habitat may affect local ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience.
• This resource can also be used in math classes during lessons about data visualization and reading graphs and charts. Have students graph out the number of North American bird species affected by climate change in different warming scenarios or the habitat gained, maintained, and lost for different species at differing levels of warming.
  
• By inputting your zip code or state into the Birds and Climate Visualizer, students can learn more about the climate policies in your state or county and how those changes may affect birds and people.  Consider using this tool in a social studies or civics class to discuss the laws and regulations that may affect wildlife habitat and human health.
• To extend the lesson, have students scroll to the bottom of the resource to learn more about what can be done do to take climate action and help the birds. Have students compare these solutions to the most impactful climate solutions identified by Project Drawdown.
  

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.