Last updated: November 7, 2018
Lesson Plan
Plant Adaptations in the Sub-alpine Forest Ecosystem
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Science
- Lesson Duration:
- 30 Minutes
- State Standards:
- Utah State Standards
4th Grade Science - Standard 5 Objective 2
5th Grade Science - Standard 5 Objective 2 - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
• How are trees in the subalpine forest adapted to long, cold winters?
• How do the adaptations of different trees work together to create a diverse forest?
• How do changes in the environment cause changes in species composition over time?
• Why is Cedar Breaks forest important to preserve?
Objective
This lesson plan is built for use on a ranger or teacher guided nature walk at Cedar Breaks. Students will learn about plant adaptations to the sub-alpine forest ecosystem. After learning to identify five of the most common sub-alpine trees and shrubs, students will engage in a hands on study of a one-meter plot of forest. The class then will discuss how the plants are uniquely adapted to long cold winters as well as how forests adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Background
- The paved Sunset Trail and Alpine Pond Trail are great for this activity. Both are two-mile walks.
- The Sunset trail has restrooms along it at the Visitors Center Parking area, and the Picnic/Campground Area.
- This activity is best during the warm summer, early fall season. Foliage grows best from June to mid-September, and begins dying back in late September.
- Anytime outside our summer-early fall season may be difficult or impossible due to road closure, snow, lack of facilities and uncomfortable/unsafe conditions.
Preparation
Materials:
- Download our Common Tree Guide PDF.
- Read and understand lesson plan section “Cedar Breaks Guide to Common Trees & Shrubs.”
Materials
Visual guide with descriptions of the most common trees found in the park and how to identify them.
Download Common Trees of Cedar Breaks Guide - PDF
Procedure
Safety and Introductions (5 minutes)
Explain to the students that they will be going on a 40 minute guided walk during which they will learn about the adaptations of common trees and bushes in the subalpine forest. Before you begin, clearly explain important safety rules.
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Stay with your chaperone and group of students. Make sure your chaperone can see you at all times and that you recognize him or her well. (Have chaperones raise their hands and tell the entire group their name. Consider having each group come up with a “team” name.)
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Do not pass the ranger on the trail.
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Respect the environment. Do not pick plants or interact with animals in any way.
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Follow all school and class rules during your field trip. (Ask students to volunteer a few of the important school and class rules.) Some schools have school pledges students say every morning. For example East Elementary start each day with their pledge: “….be respectful, be kind, etc, etc.”
Have students observe some of the trees and bushes around them as they walk. After you walk a short way down the path ask students if they think different types of trees and bushes live up here in the subalpine forest than down in the Cedar City area? Do you think all the trees around us are the same type of tree or are there different kind of trees? What are some ways you can tell if two trees are the same kind or if they are two different species? Let us see if we can tell the different kinds by looking closely.
Activity 1 (10 minutes)
Have each student stand near a tree or shrub and come up with five words describing one leaf on that tree. Have them write the title “Plant Observations” on a page in their field journal and then list their five descriptive words. Chaperones should help students in their group. You may choose to carry a small white board to write an example for them to see. Encourage them to observe carefully and be as specific as possible. Instead of just saying “green”, think about what shade of green, instead of saying long, estimate how long etc. After giving students a few minutes to observe and write ask them turn to turn to someone next to them and share their five descriptive words with each other. Then ask the pairs to decide whether or not each of them is looking at the same type of tree or shrub or a different type. If there is time, ask students to draw one leaf from their tree. Talk about what it means for two trees to be the same species.
Point out examples of the five most common tree and shrub species in the subalpine forest community. Explain how each species is particularly adapted to the long cold winters and short cool summers here at Cedar Breaks. (Give specific examples from the “Information on Common Trees and Shrubs” section below.) Students will then look back at their notes and try to determine what species of tree or shrub they were initially observing. They will then look for more examples of the 5 dominant tree and shrub types they see along the walk.
Activity 2 (10 minutes)
The class will then engage in a small group activity where they observe and identify plants within a 1-meter square plot. Break students into about 5 groups. Give each group a guided field study sheet to record their observations and a key to the five tree and shrub species they will look for in their plot. (Aspen, Subalpine Fir, Englemann Spruce, Limber Pine and Alpine Prickly Currant) Each group will be given a one square meter of forest to study and observe closely. We will place small flags to mark off the one meter area. Explain the instructions, which are on their guided field study sheet. These instructions prompt students to carefully observe, identify, count and record the number of individuals of each of the species in the tree and shrub key.
Analyze and Communicate Results (7-10 minutes)
The class will then discuss and share with the whole group what they observed in each of their plots. Which plant type was most frequent? Which one seemed to cover the most area of the 1 meter ground? What were some difficulties you encountered in recording what you saw?
How do you think these numbers would be different if we moved to an area closer to the edge of the cliff where there was more exposed rock and less soil? Would you expect different results if we moved down towards the moist meadow, or down the mountain towards Cedar City? Would the numbers be different if we studied the exact same square area in 50 years or 100 years? What would cause these changes in species composition over time? And, most importantly, why would these comparisons produce different results?
Conclusion/Wrap Up (5 minutes)
Explain how forests naturally go through long cycles of change in species composition. As changes occur in the environment (ex: fires, diseases like bark beetles) different plant types gain a survival advantage. All trees need sunlight, nutrients and water but each species has a slightly different ability to survive and get their needs met at different temperatures and soil types. For example the bristlecone pine tree grows very well on the edges of the cliffs at Cedar Breaks because their roots are well adapted to the limestone rock and limited soil development on the cliffs edge.
In this forest ecosystem fire makes way for young aspen trees to get established, whereas without fire fir trees will be the most common tree type, shading out the aspen saplings and preventing them from growing.
When the spruce bark beetle epidemic occurred over 20 years ago it killed many big spruce trees, now our forest has some new spruce trees but mostly lots of fir trees have grown back. So, the types of trees in the forest are different than they were before the beetle epidemic and the types of trees that grow back after a fire are different than the ones that burnt down.
Close by asking students to consider why the forest ecosystem is important to preserve.
Adaptations of Common Trees and Shrubs at Cedar Breaks
Aspen
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Adapted to long cold, snowy winters as well as to slightly warmer, lower elevations (~5000 ft to 12,000 ft)
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Flat heart shaped leaves quake in the wind to catch more sunlight
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Smooth whitish, greenish thin bark allows for even bark to photosynthesis. In most trees only the leaves carry out photosynthesis.
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Leaves drop in the fall so they don’t freeze. The tree goes into a state of dormancy during which it grows less (like hibernation for plants).
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They store sugars in bark and roots during the winters.
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Well adapted to areas that are wide open and sunny such as after a fire or where other trees have died for some reason (like beetle kill) leaving a lot of sunshine for the seedlings.
Subalpine Fir (occurs from about 8000 ft to tree line) &
Englemann Spruce (can occur from 3,200 feet to10,000ft but does best at higher elevations)
These two species of conifers share many of the same adaptations to the long, cold winters in the high elevation forest. They therefore are in direct competition with each other for light, water and nutrients)
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Narrow, cone shape sheds snow so branches don’t break under weight of snow
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Small, waxy needles hold in moisture better than flat leaves with large surface areas. Needles are kept all year so they can photosynthesize (make food) in the winter and so they do not have put energy and materials into making new leaves each year. This is an adaptation to the short growing season in the mountains.
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Dark green needles help absorb more heat than lighter colored leaves
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Seeds must experience a period of freezing temperatures followed by a moist, dark environment before they will sprout.
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Seedlings cannot survive warm temperatures, drought and direct sunlight. They need shade to develop into trees, ex: under the shade of an aspen forest
Limber Pine
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Long thin, waxy needles conserve water
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Flexible, hanging down branches don’t pile up with snow and break.
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Well adapted to cool, high elevation, dry open spaces and rocky slopes. Often found near the edge of the cliffs at Cedar Breaks.
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Requires the cool temperatures that occur at high elevations to thrive.
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Seedlings grow well in direct sunlight
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Clarks Nut Crackers love the seeds and will collect and store them in the ground, basically planting them. Many of these cached seeds sprout and grow up into mature trees
Alpine Prickly Current (occurs from about 7,000 ft. to 12,000 ft.)
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Grows as a bush with many stems covered in small leaves and prickles. In the late summer it produces bright red berries covered in little stiff.
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Well adapted to cool environments but can survive in slightly warmer environments too.
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Can survive in some shade and in open, sunnier areas. Loses leaves in winter and goes through winter dormancy.
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Seeds attract animals and are carried of to grow at different locations. Birds, squirrels, chipmunks
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Seeds can sprout and grow after a fire.
Vocabulary
Forest - A large tract of land covered with trees.
Adaptation - A body part, trait or behavior that helps living things survive in their environment. Adaptations are inherited from parents. Examples are a bears thick fur helps it stay warm in the winter and bears’ tendency to hibernate allow them to survive the coldest months.
Species - A group of living things that are very similar to each other and can produce more living things (babies) with all those same similarities.
Population - A group of living things of the same species living in the same area.
Environment - The area where a plant, animal or person lives and all the things and condition in that area, such as temperature, rainfall, rocks, trees, the atmosphere, the soil etc.)
Trait - A characteristic that is inherited or passed down from one generation to the next.
Deciduous - Refers to a plant (usually a tree or shrub) that sheds its leaves at the end of the growing season.
Coniferous - A tree that bears cones and evergreen needlelike or scale like leaves.