Sample Pack

The research you will read about in this Natural Inquirer was conducted by scientists working at the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, or IPIF. Located in Hilo, HI, scientists at IPIF study a range of environmental topics in Hawai‘i and the Pacific Islands.

Welcome to the Natural IQ- a sister publication of Natural Inquirer. Natural IQ is a regional publication. This edition focuses on climate change research in the Southern United States.

This monograph is one of two Wilderness 50 monographs. These two monographs were created to honor the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964. This act established the U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). The NWPS now encompasses 109,511,966 acres of protected wilderness in the United States. To learn more about how backcountry and wilderness areas are managed and the different activities people participate in, check out this monograph!

The Scientific Models in Adaptive Management Natural Inquirer examines a variety of different research topics including how hiking activities affect nesting golden eagles, how natural resource managers identify management priorities, how to manage the harvest of horseshoe crabs, and the cause of death of yellow cedar trees in the north pacific coastal rainforest.

Earthworms are important parts of an ecosystem. Are native or nonnative earthworms more common in the forests of north Georgia? The scientists used pitfall traps in the woods. Only 4 percent of the earthworms were native. Where did the nonnative worms come from? What will happen to the forest?

In this edition of Natural Inquirer, you will learn about the world’s forests. Every 5 years the Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, publishes a report about the world’s forests, called the Global Forest Resources Assessment. It contains information about forests in 233 countries and territories. All together, these forests are the world’s forests. No matter where these forests are located, they provide benefits for people and wildlife across the entire planet.

In the Spring 1999 edition, the research focuses on a variety of topics from the Southern Research Station. Topics include the impact of black seed rot on slash pines, the value of whitewater rafting, and the reproduction of fungi to name a few. For more information, read this edition of the Natural Inquirer!

Investi-gator is a sister publication to Natural Inquirer serving students in grades 4 or higher. The Northern Research Station Investi-gator includes research done by scientists in the Northern United States. Learn about leaf color change, how ozone affects tree growth, and soil activity in winter.

Is the climate changing over time? You may have heard different opinions about climate change. In the past few years, most scientists have agreed on at least one thing about climate change. They have agreed that measured and recorded changes in Earth’s climate over the past 100 or more years point to a warming of Earth’s surface greater than they would have expected from normal cycles. In this edition of Natural Inquirer, you will learn about the effect that climate change may have on animals, plants,and forests. You will also learn how scientists are studying climate change.