Science Ecosystems & Habitatsusually ages 12–13

Species Distribution & Change

Explain how environmental change (climate change, habitat loss, pollution) affects the distribution of species, including range shifts, local extinction, and invasive species

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Describes at least two ways environmental change can affect species distribution
Gives a real example of a species whose range has shifted due to climate change
Explains what an invasive species is and how environmental change can enable invasions
Discusses why some species are more vulnerable to environmental change than others

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Try this together

If your child heard that wild plants in the UK are now flowering weeks earlier than they did 50 years ago, could they explain why that happens and what problems it might cause for the other animals that depend on those plants?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Changing Environmentsages 8–9KS3 species distribution and climate change extends KS2 understanding that environmental change can threaten living things

Food Webs & Interdependenceages 11–12Understanding how species distribution changes affects food webs and ecosystem interdependence

Species Distribution & Changethis skill · ages 12–13

Unlocks

Biodiversity & Resilienceages 12–14Biodiversity loss is a consequence of the environmental changes affecting species distribution

Extinction & Rapid Changeages 12–14Environmental change that causes local extinction and range shifts is the same process that drives full extinction

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

This skill sits beyond Year 6 in the Australian Curriculum, so no F–6 code is matched. It also sits beyond the NSW K–6 syllabuses. It also sits beyond Level 6 in the Victorian Curriculum.

Nearby on the map

Biodiversity & Resilienceages 12–14 Chromosomes, Genes & DNAages 12–13 Evidence for Evolutionages 12–14 Extinction & Rapid Changeages 12–14

All Ecosystems & Habitats skills →