Year 9 Geography: Biomes and Human Alteration

• Year 9 Geography explores place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, and change.
• Students investigate food and fiber production and the biotic environment.
• The curriculum covers local to global scales.

Biomes

• A biome is defined and its characteristics outlined.
• The global spatial distribution of the 8 natural land biomes is described.
• Latitude, climate (rainfall and temperatures), and distance from the sea affect biome locations.
• Australia's biomes are identified and located on a map.
• How Australian biomes link to the Ingenious seasons: Birak, Bunuru, Dieran, Makuru, Djilba, Kambarang is investigated.

Human Alteration of Biomes

• How different natural land biomes are suitable for different crops is investigated.
• Temperate Forests in Southwest WA are suited for forestry.
• Biomes most suited for agriculture are identified.
• The ways humans have altered biomes for food and fiber are identified.
• The ways Torres Strait Islanders altered biomes for food and fiber production 2000 years ago are identified.
• Environmental, economic, irrigation, accessibility, and technological factors influence crop yields.

Population Growth and Food Production

• Defines food security.
• Outlines the difference between a More Developed Country (MDC) and a Less Developed Country (LDC).
• Describes trends in population growth for MDCs and LDCs.
• Explains how these trends impact food security.

Challenges to Food Production

• Examines challenges to sustaining food production
• Highlights the biggest challenges for food production in Western Australia.
• Agricultural innovations and improvements in environmental sustainability are identified.
• Innovations used to secure stable food production, including genetically modified crops, sustainable agriculture, and permaculture are assessed.

Transportation, ICT, and Interconnection

• Globalisation and interconnection are defined.
• Reasons people connect to places, including spiritual, economic, cultural, and historical factors, are identified.
• Improvements in transportation and ICT have influenced interconnections.
• Improvements in transportation and ICT have led to time-space convergence.

Effects of Tourism

• Tourism is defined.
• Types of tourism (recreational, historical, wilderness, cultural, and ecotourism) are identified.

Tourism in Wadjemup (Rottnest)

• The costs and benefits of different types of tourism on places are identified.
• Types of tourism offered on Wadjemup (Rottnest) are identified.
• Costs and benefits of tourism on Wadjemup (Rottnest) are explained.
• Tourism's impact on the island and on Indigenous people is evaluated.

Key Terms Definitions

• Geography is the study of places and the relationship between people and their environment.
• Biome: A large area with similar plant/animal communities adapted to that environment.
• Spatial Distribution: Arrangement of geographical phenomena on Earth.
• Climate: Long-term average weather conditions (rainfall and temperature).
• Latitude: Distance north or south of the Equator.
• Arable: Land suitable for growing crops.
• Agriculture: Practice of cultivating plants and livestock.
• Crop Yield: Amount of crop grown per hectare (kilograms).
• Irrigation: Artificial water supply to dry land.
• Soil: A clay, sand, and silt combination vital for growing crops.
• Sustainability: Meeting current and future needs through environmental, social, and economic adaptation.
• Food Security: Consistent access to safe, nutritious food.
• Food Availability: State of people having enough food of appropriate quality consistently available.
• Food Accessibility: Having physical and economic access to enough food that can be reached by those who need it.
• MDC (More Developed Country): Economically developed country that generally has a high GDP
• LDC (Less Developed Country): Less economically developed country that has difficulties in supporting its own people
• Climate Change: the Long term permanent shift in some or all parts of the weather conditions experienced in an area
• GM Plants: Plants with altered genetic material.
• Conservation Agriculture: Farming methods that minimize disturbance to the natural environment
• Permaculture: Growing a garden or maintaining an ecosystem that uses natural systems and resources of plants and animals to sustain itself, without harming the environment.
• Globalisation: Increasing interconnection between countries (economic, political, and cultural).
• Interconnection: The relationship between animate and inanimate things and natural and human processes.
• Time-Space Convergence: Process by which places become closer due to reduced travel time.
• Tourism: Activities of visitors traveling and seeing places outside their normal environment.
• Ecotourism: Tourism involving visiting a natural environment with the aim of observing, experiencing and learning about it while conserving and supporting the environment and its inhabitants