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Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa
OVERVIEW
This activity complements WildCam Gorongosa (http://www.wildcamgorongosa.org), an online citizen science
platform for identifying animals photographed by motion-detecting trail cameras in Gorongosa National Park. The
WildCam Lab is a part of WildCam Gorongosa, where students can view trail camera data on a map, filter, and
download the data to investigate scientific questions. In this activity, students will be guided through making
observations about species diversity and calculating diversity indices (richness, Shannon diversity index, and
evenness). Using a spreadsheet tutorial, students will then use these indices to measure the biodiversity of
medium to large animals in different vegetation types in Gorongosa from a large data set of trail camera data that
they download from the WildCam Lab and analyze their results. Students will then investigate the impact human
activity might have on biodiversity by further analyzing information from this data set.
KEY CONCEPTS
• Biodiversity is the variety of life and can be measured on multiple scales including genetic diversity, species
diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
• Indices that measure species diversity include species richness (the number of species in a given area) and
evenness (similarity in the abundances of species).
• The location and abundance of animals are determined by the availability of resources and community
interactions, such as competition, predation, and human influences.
• An ecological niche is the role of an organism in its environment, which includes the conditions under which it
can live, what resources it uses, and how it reproduces.
• The diversity of an ecosystem, including soil, plant, structural, topographic, and climatic diversity, can
positively impact animal species diversity.
• Human activities influence the abundance and distribution of living organisms.
• Proposing a claim and developing an explanation for a scientific research question requires the systematic
analysis of relevant data.
• Thorough scientific research requires the careful and thoughtful interpretation of experimental results and
analysis of all variables.
• Data can sometimes be used to make claims about scientific questions that were not foreseen when the data
was collected, or to identify new questions to investigate.
STUDENT LEARNING TARGETS
• Calculate diversity indices (richness, Shannon diversity index, and evenness) by hand and using spreadsheet
software (Excel or Google Sheets).
• Make predictions and use evidence to explain a difference in diversity among vegetation types.
• Explain the relationships between diversity indices.
• Predict how diversity could support ecosystem resilience.
• Propose a claim and explanation about a scientific research question supported by scientific evidence.
• Determine whether scientific results confirm or contradict a research question.
• Evaluate the methodology used to answer a scientific research question.
• Propose a scientific research question that can be investigated using available data.
Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa
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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Standards
Curriculum Connection
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-7, HS-LS4-6, HS-ESS-3
AP Bio (2015)
2.D.1, 4.A.5, 4.C.4, SP2, SP3, SP5
IB Bio (2016)
4.1, 5.3, C.1, C.2, C.3, C.4
AP Env Sci (2012)
II.A, II.C, VII.C
IB Env Systems and Societies (2017)
2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.4
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.7, WHST.9-12.7
Math.N-Q.A.1, N-Q.A.3, S-IC.3, MP.2, MP.4
Vision and Change (2009)
CC5, DP1, DP2
KEY TERMS
claim, community, diversity, ecosystem, evenness, evidence, floodplain grassland, Gorongosa National Park,
limestone gorge, richness, savanna, Shannon diversity index, species abundance, vegetation type, woodland
TIME REQUIREMENTS
• Two 50-min classroom periods or one 90-min block period. Part 1 may be assigned as homework (see
Teaching Tips).
• Time requirements may differ depending on computer/internet access.
SUGGESTED AUDIENCE
• High School: Biology (all levels), Environmental Science (all levels)
• College: Introductory Biology or Ecology
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Students should
• be introduced to the WildCam Gorongosa website and perform some animal identifications prior to
conducting this activity, as a way to engage and provide context.
• be familiar with the concepts of biodiversity, ecosystems, and species abundance.
• be comfortable using spreadsheets to organize information and calculators for simple calculations, including
natural log (ln).
TEACHING TIPS
• Have students watch (for homework or in class prior to activity) “The Science of Camera Traps” from the 2015
Holiday Lectures on Science (https://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/science-camera-traps
).
• The Help and Ecology tabs on the WildCam Lab website (https://lab.wildcamgorongosa.org/students/ecology)
provide additional background information on the geography and climate, water, vegetation, wildlife, and
humans in Gorongosa.
• The Glossary and Help tabs on the right-hand menu on the Gorongosa Interactive Map can provide guidance
and information for you and your students.
• Be prepared to display the WildCam Lab site on an overhead projector to demonstrate or facilitate parts of
the activity for students.
• To gain more familiarity with the information available about Gorongosa, students can complete Part 1 as
homework or on their own prior to the class working through the activity. If this option is selected, students
would start working on Part 2 together in class.
• Ideally, students should work through the class activity in pairs or small groups.
• Each pair or group of students should have access to a computer/device with spreadsheet software.
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• Depending on how you facilitate students working through the activity, you may want to project WildCam Lab
to demonstrate how to view, filter, and download data. You can also project the spreadsheet for Part 3 to
guide students through creating pivot tables and graphs.
ACCESSING DATA SETS ON WILDCAM GORONGOSA
To show your students how to access the data sets for this activity, they will first need to set up a Zooniverse
account. Optionally, you can also set up a “Classroom” for your students which will allow you to monitor which
students join the site.
• If you do not yet have an account on Zooniverse, you will need to create one first via this website:
https://panoptes.zooniverse.org/users/sign_up
• Launch the WildCam Lab website (http://lab.wildcamgorongosa.org) and enter as an educator.
• Create a “New Classroom.”
• This will generate a unique url. Send this url to your students to invite them to join the classroom. Instruct
your students that they must create a Zooniverse account first, then click the url to join your classroom.
• If you choose not to create a Classroom, you can simply have your students set up a Zooniverse account and
enter the WildCam Lab website as an “Explorer.”
MATERIALS
• Internet access, computers/tablets with spreadsheet software (Excel or Google Sheets)
• Student handouts
• Calculators that include natural log (ln)
PROCEDURE
Several online/supplemental resources are used in this activity:
• Gorongosa Interactive Map
• WildCam Lab for data sets
• Tutorial for analyzing data
ANSWER KEY
PART 1: Exploring Species Diversity in Gorongosa
Launch the Gorongosa Interactive Map (http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/gorongosa-national-park-
interactive-map) for a brief tour and study of the natural features of Gorongosa National Park. After you explore,
make some predictions about the following:
1. What elements are necessary to support a wide variety of life for a given region? Include specific examples
that you read about in the interactive.
Answers will vary but should include examples of the source of water, different types of food/plants, and
habitats that could be used for shelter.
2. For this activity, we will be eliminating the Montane vegetation types (Montane Grassland, Montane
Woodland, and Montane Rainforest), found only on Mount Gorongosa. Make predictions about the possible
differences in biodiversity between the remaining different vegetation types and natural features you read
about in the interactive. Include information you used to make your predictions.
Answers will vary. Diversity in the vegetation should increase animal species diversity; therefore, vegetation
types with a greater diversity of plant species and greater vertical structure (combination of grass, shrubs, and
trees of varying heights) should have greater animal diversity. The savanna/woodland vegetation type is most
likely to have the highest animal diversity, followed by the limestone gorge, and the floodplain grassland.
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PART 2: Introduction to Diversity Indices (Measuring Diversity)
3. Richness (S) is the total number of species in an ecosystem. Richness does not take into account the number
of individuals, proportion, or distribution of each species within the ecosystem. Based on the species list
below, what is the richness of this ecosystem? S = ___
10__
Species: Wildebeest, Warthog, Elephant, Zebra, Hippo, Impala, Lion, Baboon, Warbler, Crane
4. Richness alone misses an important component of species diversity: the abundance (number of individuals) of
some species may be low while for others it may be higher. The Shannon diversity index (H) accounts for
species abundance by calculating the proportion of individuals of each species compared to the total number
of individuals in the community (P
i
). For most ecosystems, the value for H ranges from 1.5 to 3.5, with the
higher score being the most diverse.
H = -SUM (P
i
* ln(P
i
))
Where:
P
i
= species abundance/total abundance in the community
ln = natural log
a. Using the table below, calculate the total abundance in the community and the P
i
value for each species.
Next, calculate the natural log of P
i
for each species (ln(P
i
)) and then multiply the two columns to
calculate P
i
* ln(P
i
). Limit your numbers to three decimal places.
Abundance
P
i
ln(P
i
)
P
i
* ln(P
i
)
3
.041
-3.194
-.131
3
.041
-3.194
-.131
2
.027
-3.612
-.098
1
.014
-4.269
-.060
1
.014
-4.269
-.060
4
.055
-2.900
-.160
1
.014
-4.269
-.060
15
.205
-1.585
-.325
25
.342
-1.073
-.367
18
.247
-1.398
-.345
Total
73
-1.737
b. Calculate H by adding each of the values in the P
i
* ln(P
i
) column of the table above and taking the
negative of that value.
H = __
1.737
__________
5. Evenness (E) is a measurement to compare the abundances of each species in the community. Communities
in which each species is more evenly represented are considered more diverse than communities in which a
few species are very common and other species are very rare. Low values indicate that one or a few species
dominate, and high values indicate that all of the species in a community have similar abundances. Evenness
values range from 0 to 1, with 0 signifying low evenness and 1, complete evenness.
E = H/H
MAX
Where:
H = Shannon Diversity Index
H
MAX
= the highest possible diversity value for the community, calculated by ln(richness)
a. Use the richness value you calculated in question 3 to calculate H
MAX
. H
MAX
= ln(richness) = __
2.303
___
b. Use the Shannon diversity index value you calculated in question 4 and the H
MAX
value you calculated
above to calculate E.
E = H/H
MAX
= ___
.754
_____________
Biodiversity Studies in Gorongosa
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PART 3: Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa
Use the Tutorial on Measuring Diversity in Gorongosa to guide students in downloading the data (Part A of the
tutorial) from WildCam Lab (https://lab.wildcamgorongosa.org
). Then, guide them through making a pivot table
and bar graph using the downloaded spreadsheet (Parts B, C, and D of the tutorial).
6. Following the directions in the tutorial, create a pivot table to produce a list of species within each vegetation
type as well as their abundance. Calculate the values of diversity indices for each vegetation type and record
your answers in the table below.
Answers will vary.
Vegetation Type
Floodplain Grassland
Limestone Gorge
Miombo
Woodland
Mixed Savanna
and Woodland
Richness
Shannon Diversity Index
Evenness
7. Compare your calculated values to evaluate whether there is a relationship between richness, diversity, and
evenness for each vegetation type. Explain your reasoning.
The Shannon diversity index is calculated by taking the sum of Pi * ln(Pi) for each species. If more numbers are
added based on the number of species present (or richness), then higher richness should increase the Shannon
diversity index if the relative species abundance remains the same. Richness does not impact the evenness of an
ecosystem. Evenness is calculated by dividing the Shannon diversity index (H) by the natural log of the richness
(H
MAX
). If the species abundances within a community are completely proportional (even), then H would be the
same as H
MAX
, so evenness (E) would be equal to 1 for that community. If two communities have even species
abundances but richness is higher in one than the other, the evenness (E) would still be equal to 1 of each
community.
8. Make a claim using evidence from this data about which vegetation type hosts the greatest diversity.
Answers will vary.
PART 4: Human Impact on Biodiversity
Use the Gorongosa Interactive Map to note the degree of human activity in each vegetation type.
9. Name the layers that would be related to human activity.
Ranger Posts, Community Education Center, Major Villages, Schools, Health Clinics, Sustainable Agriculture
Projects, Tourism Areas, Chitengo Tourist Camp, Vinho Village, Major Regional Roads, Park Roads, Park Entrance
Gate, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Lab, Elephant Barrier
10. Which vegetation types appear to have the most human activity?
Answers will vary.
11. Predict how human activity might affect biodiversity.
Answers will vary; in general, there might be less biodiversity because of a change or impact to the native
species habitat.
Now you will interpret data from trail cameras to determine whether species diversity changes with proximity to
people. The data in WildCam can be sorted by “distance to humans” and structure type. A subset of the data was
selected for analysis from three cameras at three different distances from the most commonly found human
structure in the park, game drive roads. These are dirt roads used by tourists and staff for travel inside the park.
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The cameras selected for data analysis were also filtered to be in the same vegetation type, mixed Savanna and
Woodland, over the same four-month period, August through November.
12. Using the same process as in this activity, the Diversity Indices were calculated using the data captured by
these three cameras and are displayed in the table below.
Distance to Human Structure
1 m
1,195 m
3,086 m
Richness
24
19
19
Shannon Diversity Index
2.373
1.812
1.649
Evenness
0.747
0.616
0.600
13. How does the diversity change as the distance to the human structure (road) increases?
Diversity decreases as the distance from the road increases. In particular, the one that is 1 m from the road has
much higher richness, diversity, and evenness.
14. What might explain this change in diversity?
Answers will vary but could include that animals might use roads for their own ease of travel or that there might
be benefits to being near humans, such as additional sources of food.
15. What are the limitations to only using the trail camera data from these three cameras for this investigation?
•
Trail cameras only take photos of animals that are large enough to be captured by the camera sensors. This
technique omits smaller animals.
•
More photos are taken of animals that spend a lot of time in front of a camera as opposed to animals that pass
by quickly.
•
Some individual animals visit the same area repeatedly, so individuals are counted multiple times.
•
These cameras were only in one vegetation type, so results might not be indicative of all vegetation types. There
were also only three cameras selected for analysis; additional camera data might produce different results for
the diversity indices calculations.
•
Cameras in open habitats may detect animals in a larger area than in habitats with dense vegetation.
16. What else could you investigate to further study the impact of human activity on biodiversity? Consider the
other variables in the data tables such as distance to water, season, and time of day.
Answers will vary but should include the analysis of additional cameras, different vegetation types, different
human structures/activity, comparing across seasons, and access to water sources.
17. How might scientists in Gorongosa use the diversity indices to inform restoration efforts?
Biologists in Gorongosa might use diversity indices to prioritize their conservation and restoration efforts. Areas
with the highest levels of biodiversity may get more resources allocated to them, such as antipoaching teams.
Also, biodiversity can be monitored over time to detect changes that may signal an issue that needs to be
remedied.
NOTE: This revised activity is a collation and synthesis of the following resources:
Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa
Human Impacts on Biodiversity
AUTHORS
Amy Fassler, Marshfield High School, Marshfield, Wisconsin; David Hong, Monrovia High School, Monrovia, California
Edited by Bridget Conneely and Aleeza Oshry, HHMI