Learning Module – Climate Change

• Meet Dr. Goodrick – Reader Series:  This reader explores the connection between weather and wildfire.
  • Try This! – Determine how each pictured item may be useful in a fire; additional coloring page.

• Meet Ms. Laseter – Reader Series: This reader explores how changes in rainfall affect streams and rivers in forested areas over time.
  • Try This! – Record rainfall and weather conditions over a period of two weeks.

• Meet Dr. Guo – Reader Series: This reader explores how animals may move to new habitats.
  • Try This! – Match each pictured animal to its habitat.

• Meet Dr. Sun – Reader Series: This reader examines Dr. Sun’s research into land-use changes in the southeastern United States over more than 100 years.
  • Try This! – Describe how land is being used in each photo and determine how that land use helps or hurts the environment.

• Meet Dr. Mercer – Reader Series: This reader explores the differences between rural and urban communities and how they may be impacted by climate change.
  • Try This! – Make a bar graph to chart the temperatures in two different cities.

• Article – “Amphibious Assault: How Climate Change May Affect Amphibian Breeding“: This article discusses how climate change can change the breeding patterns of some animals. Breeding patterns refer to when and how animals reproduce, including how many young an animal has and how often. If breeding patterns change, an entire population may change or become extinct. The question the scientists in this study wanted to answer was how certain amphibian populations and their breeding patterns may be responding to climate change.
  • FACTivity – Compare and contrast human life and frog life with a creative writing assignment about a human who turns into a frog and vice versa.

• Article – “Seed Ya Later!: Predicting the Movement of Trees in a Changing Climate“: This article describes how scientists use modeling to predict how the range of tree species will change in response to climate change.
  • FACTivity – Explore the different ways that seeds can move from their parent plants, and examine how modeling can help scientists understand their data.

• Article – “There’s Snow Place Like Home: Tracking the Range of Wolverines Over Time“: Wolverines are the largest member of the weasel family that lives on land. They live in areas far from humans and human development. Therefore, not much is known about these mammals. The scientists in this study wanted to accurately map the wolverine’s range over time. The scientists also wanted to study whether climate change is affecting the wolverines’ range.
  • FACTivity – Research and map the geographic range of an animal of your choice.

• Article – “Wild Ways: Assessing How Climate Change May Affect Certain Wildlife“: Identifying which species may be the most vulnerable to a changing climate is important. This information can help people make decisions about how to best manage the land. It can also help make better decisions to support wildlife. In this study, the scientists wanted to learn more about species living in and around the Coronado National Forest.
  • FACTivity – Research to determine how climate change may affect a certain species in your state.

Article – “Frozen Food: How Glaciers Provide Food to Animals that Live in the Ocean“: In this study, the scientists studied glaciers and their nearby rivers in Alaska. The water coming from glaciers can be quite old and contain nutrients, such as carbon, that could be at least 5,000 years old. The scientists wondered if the carbon in the water was too old to be useful to animals living in the rivers and bays.

• FACTivity – Compare photos of glaciers taken over time

• Article – “What Goes Around Comes Around: How Long-Term Weather Patterns Affect Plants in Carolina Bay Wetlands“: Scientists study whether prolonged periods of drought may enable trees and other woody plants to grow into the wetlands during long dry periods.
  • FACTivity – Simulate the sampling method used in the study using yarn and dried beans.

• Article – “Flow Down! Can Managing Forests Help Maintain Water Supplies in the Face of Climate Change?“: The scientists in this study wanted to figure out how forest management, climate change, and streamflow interact. First, the scientists wanted to identify if forest management could affect streamflow. Second, the scientist wanted to identify types of forest management that would help protect against extreme precipitation changes that may occur as the climate changes.
  • FACTivity – Make your own rain gauge and measure the amount of rainfall that occurs over a month’s time.

• Article – “Fill Those Potholes! Identifying Ecosystem Services of Small Wetlands on the American Prairie“: Scientists determine whether some of the ecosystem services provided by prairie potholes are restored when potholes are restored, and they measure the benefit to people of restored potholes compared to natural potholes and nearby cropland.
  • FACTivity –  Using several Natural Inquirer articles, identify the ecosystem services provided by this nation’s natural resources; extension: examine the natural land around you in your yard, out of the car window, in your neighborhood, etc., and identify as many ecosystem services as you can there.

• Article – “Inquiry 3: How Much Carbon Is Held by the World’s Forests?“: This article presents the results of a worldwide effort to understand the world’s forests, organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This inquiry focuses on the amount of carbon stored in each country’s forests.

• Article – “Inquiry 4: What Do the World’s Forests Have to Do with Climate Change?“: 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. This inquiry focuses on the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests.
  • FACTivity – Identify two actions you can take now to address climate change and make an action plan for implementing those changes.

• Article – “Beam Me Down, Scotty: The Use of Airborne and Satellite Technology to Measure Carbon in Hawaiian Forests“: In this study, the scientists wanted to test a method of calculating the amount of carbon stored by plants across a large area of land. They chose the island of Hawai’i to test their method. By combining both old and new technology they could then create a carbon map of the whole island of Hawai’i.
  • FACTivity – Compare and contrast two recent studies of carbon storage in tropical forests using two Natural Inquirer articles.

• Article – “The GLAS Is Half Full: Satellites and Changing Tropical Forests“: The scientists wanted to know if the information gathered by satellites was as good as the information they would get if they gathered it in person. The scientists in this study wanted to discover whether information gathered by satellites could be used to identify the age of tropical rain forests and to estimate the increase in the amount of biomass in growing rain forests. They also wanted to know if the information gathered by satellites could be used to estimate the amount of biomass held by old rain forests.
  • FACTivity – Simulate the Landsat images like the ones the scientists used to estimate biomass in the forests, but this time to estimate the ages of a group of people by viewing them from above.

• Article – “Everything but the Carbon Sink: Carbon Storage in the Southern United States“: The scientists in this study were interested in environmental changes occurring in the Southern United States. The scientists were interested in changes occurring over a long time. In particular, the scientists were interested in understanding how increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing ozone, increasing nitrogen on Earth, climate change, and changes in land use affect the carbon cycle of the Southern United States.
  • FACTivity – Identify characteristics of a carbon sink and a carbon source by making observations about a series of photographs.

• Article – “FaceLook: Exploring the Relationship Between Carbon, Photosynthesis, and the Roots of Trees“: What will happen to trees if climate change continues? The scientists in this study conducted an experiment to see how much carbon is stored in a tree’s roots versus its leaves.
  • FACTivity – Observe the estimated leaf area of two similar trees in your schoolyard and develop hypotheses about their relative health.

• Article – “Logjams and Beaver Dams: How Different Landforms Affect the Amount of Carbon in an Ecosystem“: Carbon is naturally stored in the environment. In fact, carbon is in every living thing. Some habitats are better at storing carbon and that impacts the entire carbon cycle. In this article, scientists explore how carbon is stored in mountainous areas.
  • FACTivity – Create models of a logjam and a beaver dam to identify their similarities and differences.

• Article – “Where in the World is Carbon Dioxide? The Potential Impact of Rising Levels of Carbon Dioxide on U.S. Forests“: There are many different types of plant communities in the United States. What will happen if the climate continues to change? The scientists in this research used math and computer models to find out how the plant communities might change. The results are predictions that can inform future science.
  • FACTivity – Determine how much of a change in climate is needed to cause a change in the type of vegetation growing in an area by charting predicted yearly temperature changes in various cities across the U.S.

• Article – “Balancing Act: Urban Trees and the Carbon Cycle“: Is there a point where a tree does not hold enough carbon to make up for the emissions released to care for the tree? Scientists in this study want to know which trees grow the longest and store carbon the longest. The goal is to inform managers of the best trees to plant in urban environments.
  • FACTivity – Research tree species to decide on a type to recommend for planting in your schoolyard.

• Article – “It’s a Gas: The Exchange of Gases Between the Soil and the Atmosphere“: People use land for many different reasons. Is the natural exchange of gases different between types of land use? The scientists wanted to see how greenhouse gas exchange in soils differed between old forests, new forests, and pastures. The scientists in this study learn about the nitrogen cycle.
  • FACTivity – Simulate the greenhouse effect with a glass jar and some dirt.

• Article – “It’s a Small World: How Oceans and Climate Can Affect Wildland Fires Thousands of Miles Away“: The scientists in this study were interested in three common periodic changes in sea surface temperatures, called oscillations. In particular, the scientists wanted to see how wildfires over the past 400 years aligned with the oscillations.
  • FACTivity – Explore how yearly weather conditions affect the way a tree’s growth rings look.

• Article – “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire: Is Climate Connected to Very Large Wildland Fires?“: Scientists explore if and how climate and weather are connected to very large wildland fires to help predict and prepare for future events.
  • FACTivity – Analyze and graph data to discover if there are patterns that show a relationship between PDSI (Palmer Drought Severity Index) and very large wildland fires in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge; extension – use online data from National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration to observe patterns in historical Palmer Drought Severity Indices.

• Article – “Fire and Water: Predicting Future Wildfire in a Changing Climate“: Successfully predicting where and when wildfires might occur is important. This prediction is important because of possible environmental and economic damage. As the climate warms, the possibility of wildfires might increase. The scientists in this study wanted to predict where and in what seasons wildfires might occur.
  • FACTivity – Roleplay as a wildland fire safety educator with the Forest Service in the year 2050. Develop a wildland fire safety poster or education campaign to be distributed to students across the United States.

• Article – “Moving on Up: The Possible Impact of Climate Change on Forest Habitats“: The scientists in this study were interested in trees that live in the Eastern United States. They wanted to explore how the habitat of these trees might change in the future as the climate changes. They also wanted to know how different tree species might move in response to a changing climate.
  • FACTivity – Research the distribution of a particular tree species.

• Article – “Back to the Future: Using Dead Trees to Predict Future Climate“: The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing. In this study, the scientists wanted to examine dead trees that they found above the current tree line. The deadwood found above the current tree line indicated that the climate during the trees’ lifetime was different than it is now. The scientists were interested in learning about the climate that existed when these trees were alive.
  • FACTivity – In this exercise in dendrochronology, use the four core samples provided to construct the climatic history of these trees. Then complete a timeline of social, cultural, environmental, and scientific events that occurred during the lifetime of these four trees.

• Article – “There’s Snow Place Like Home: Tracking the Range of Wolverines Over Time“: Wolverines are the largest member of the weasel family that lives on land. They live in areas far from humans and human development. Therefore, not much is known about these mammals. The scientists in this study wanted to accurately map the wolverine’s range over time. The scientists also wanted to study whether climate change is affecting the wolverines’ range.
  • FACTivity – Research and map the geographic range of an animal of your choice.

• Article – “Did They Make the Gradient? Climate and Stream Temperatures Now and Into the Future“: If the temperature of a stream rises too high, the animals that live in the stream may find it difficult to survive. Big changes in a stream’s daytime temperature as compared with its nighttime temperature may also cause a problem for aquatic animals. The scientists in this study were interested in answering three questions: (1) How does the shape of a stream affect its daytime water temperature? (2) How does the shape of a stream affect the difference between its daytime and nighttime water temperatures? (3) How might a rise in average air temperature over time affect a stream’s water temperature?
  • FACTivity – Conduct an experiment with containers of water in the sun and the shade to determine if water movement affects water temperature.

• Article – “Beetles Are Supercool! Understanding the Life Cycle of Mountain Pine Beetles“: Mountain pine beetles are important to the Western United States. They have a very special life cycle, that includes staying “supercool”, or dormant, for most of their life. The scientists in this study want to know how this important life cycle could be affected by our changing climate.
  • FACTivity – Catch a beetle in a bug box and record your observations and make some hypotheses about how they are formed and how they use their special features.

• Article – “Wide Open Spaces: Climate Change Impacts in Rural Areas of the United States“: The scientists in this study were interested in studying how climate change may impact rural areas in the United States. Rural areas are expected to experience more negative impacts from the change in agriculture due to climate change than urban areas experience. However, rural areas may not experience as many extreme heat events as urban areas.
  • FACTivity – Create a presentation or brochure to explain the possible effects of climate change to people who live in rural areas.

• Article – “North of the Border: Are Nonnative Species Moving Northward as the Climate Changes“: A naturalized species has two ranges. The first range is the one where the species lives in its native habitat. The second range is the one where the species is naturalized, surviving in a nonnative area without the help of humans. Species are more able to survive east to west across the globe but are limited by latitude. The scientists in this study wanted to answer this question: Are naturalized species’ latitudinal ranges the same, larger, or smaller than their native ranges?
  • FACTivity – Plot the native range and naturalized range of 25 species of plants on a graph. Use this data to note any general patterns in the native and naturalized ranges of these plants.

• Article – “The Morel of the Story: Comparing Scientific Research with Local Mushroom Hunters’ Knowledge of Morel Mushrooms“: Scientists can learn a lot from local people who interact with the environment on a daily basis. This Monograph compares scientific research with local mushroom hunters; knowledge of morel mushrooms.
  • FACTivity – Examine a mushroom to develop a question you would like to research about mushrooms, then research the question and report your findings.
  • Additional FACTivity – record and report on the oral history of a family tradition.

• Article – “How Now Round Crown: Predicting the Energy Future of Tree Crowns“: Pine trees cover much of the Southeastern United States. When older pine trees are cut for making wood products, only the trees’ boles are used. The scientists in this study wondered if there might be a use for the trees’ crowns as well. In particular, they wondered whether the trees’ crowns might one day be a source of energy.
  • FACTivity – Make observations in nature and in the provided photographs of different trees to identify differences between managed and unmanaged trees.

• Article – “Will the Emerald Ash Borer and Climate Change Affect White Ash Baseball Bats?“: White ash trees face problems like the emerald ash borer and climate change; how will these problems affect the survival rates of white ash trees?

• Article – “Nature’s Notebook: Taking the Pulse of Our Planet“: Phenology is the periodic series of life events in plants and animals that are related to climate. Changes in plant or animal phenology can show larger changes to Earth and its environment. The USA National Phenology Network creates a database from data collected by scientists and citizen scientists. Scientists can analyze the information to learn about trends, or changes over time, in climate phenology.
  • FACTivity – Use Nature’s Notebook to collect phenology data in your school, town, or home.