First, you’ll cover the module’s underpinning biological concepts, themes, and evolutionary terms. Next, you’ll examine your local biodiversity by observing and identifying species, then explore a simulation of how butterflies adapt to their changing surroundings. You’ll also learn how to safely and ethically conduct your practical activities and how we’ll assess your collected datasets before moving on to study distinct topic areas.
Biological connections
In this first topic, you’ll explore evolutionary relationships, interactions and communication. You’ll study various organisms, from parasitic flatworms to dinosaurs, but focus mainly on insects and flowering plants (including their phylogenetic classification). The topic features experiments, statistical analyses, testing biological hypotheses, and interpreting evolutionary relationships, helping to develop your practical skills.
Movement and migration
In the next topic, you’ll learn about natural selection and the adaptations associated with movement – on land, in water, and in the air. Highlights include the ecology and evolution of migratory behaviour, focusing on butterflies and birds. You’ll also explore the role of technology and artificial intelligence in understanding animal movement, as well as the potential impacts of global changes on migrating animals.
The role of fungi and algae
The third topic discusses ecological interactions, focusing on plants, algae and fungi. You’ll delve into the evolutionary origins, examine the role of mycorrhizal relationships in maintaining ecosystems, and consider lichens as pollution indicators. You’ll also discover the importance of nutrient acquisition and energy flow through photosynthesis to the entire biosphere.
Feeding ecology and behaviour
Topic four describes energy flow and interactions between organisms in ecological communities. You’ll cover feeding strategies – predation and herbivory – including prey animals’ trade-offs that prioritise survival. You’ll learn techniques for measuring behaviour and apply these to video observations of Asian elephants feeding. Through case studies, you’ll see how understanding feeding behaviour can improve captive animal welfare and the success of conservation programmes.
Adaptations and evolution
This topic covers how organisms adapt to short-term environmental changes and the larger-scale evolutionary processes that have led to the incredible diversity of life on our planet. You’ll further examine the links between the adaptive purpose of different organisms’ body structures and their importance for biological survival. You’ll also consider how and why biodiversity is so unevenly distributed across the Tree of Life.
Marine biology
This topic addresses the variety of life forms in the oceans, ranging from microscopic plankton to immense whales. You’ll explore the diversity of marine life and the challenges they face for survival. The ecology, evolution and conservation of coastal coral reef ecosystems are covered in detail, as are the adaptations required for life in the hostile deep oceans.
Plant survival in extreme environments
Topic seven covers how plants cope with temperature fluctuations, different salt concentrations and varying water content, as they can’t move far to avoid human impacts and climate change. You’ll consider plant–water relationships by examining major physiological adaptations and their ecological implications.
Reproduction and disruption
This topic examines the abilities and cost/benefit strategies many animals use to reproduce. These mechanisms are central to any species’ survival, as populations can only outlive their members through reproduction. Through sea turtle case studies, you’ll see how natural events, but increasingly human activities, disrupt the reproduction and survival of many species.
Pollinators
In this topic, you’ll also explore ecosystem services, focusing on pollination: a vital process to the establishment, composition and conservation of diverse ecosystems across the globe.
Conservation dilemmas
In the final topic, you’ll examine domestication and its impact on the genetic diversity of crops and livestock, and other management and ethical dilemmas around captive breeding and re-wilding programmes.
This module introduces and develops a range of skills relevant to the contemporary professional biologist. You will have opportunities to study different methods of collecting and using data and explore means of data visualisation with coding and statistical tools. You will increase your understanding of approaching and considering practical problems and ethical dilemmas in biodiversity conservation.
Key skills developed include:
You'll progress your understanding of whole organism biology and be equipped to apply the essential concepts, principles, theories and approaches involving adaptation to alternative biological examples in a changing world. You will gain awareness of some global and societal issues affecting the natural world to begin to take account of ethical, commercial and sustainability considerations in addressing/exploring complex situations. Through the combination of study and practical investigation, you will also develop digital literacy, computational and analytical skills needed for exploring big datasets.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
This module has an optional residential field school.
The fee for 2025/26 was £449, including single occupancy accommodation (£365 with shared occupancy accommodation; £295 if you don’t need accommodation). You’ll also need to pay for your travel.
The Field Studies Council runs the residential field school Pollination. This 3-day programme (at FSC Preston Montford in Shropshire) includes outdoor exercises and follow-up laboratory work.
Instructions for booking will be on the module website.
Plus
The School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences offers optional laboratory schools in Milton Keynes at an additional cost. Laboratory schools are not part of this module but may be of interest if you wish to gain relevant hands-on laboratory experience.
Further information and instructions for booking are on the SS022 website.
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
Additionally, the website includes:
You can study this module on its own or use the credits you gain towards an Open University qualification.
S286 is a compulsory module in our:
S286 is an option module in our:
Biodiversity: survival in a changing world (S286) starts once a year – in October.
It will next start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2032.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
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There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.
This module offers an optional residential field school, for which an additional charge applies. You’ll also need to pay for your travel. See course details for more information.
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