Students will learn about adaptations the pitch pine has developed in order to survive in a fire prone forest.
"The New Jersey Pinelands, Our Country's First National Reserve"
Procedure:
Develop a working definition of the word "adaptation" with students. Discuss with students the fact that plant and animal adaptations don't occur over a generation or two, but may take thousands of years to evolve.
Encourage students to give examples of plant and animal adaptations that make it possible for each to live in a particular area. List these on the board. Examples might include the sundew's ability to attract and digest insects to supplement its diet; a box turtle's shell that protects it from predators; a herons long legs that allow it to wade in shallow water in search of food; a Great Horned Owl's talons that enable it to catch and hold its prey; the White-tailed Deer's coloring that blends with forest vegetation and helps it evade predators.
View the audio visual presentation "The New Jersey Pinelands, Our Country's First National Reserve" with the students. Have the students look and listen for information about soil and water conditions that support life in the region. Point out the pictures of a pitch pine engulfed in flame and a pitch pine resprouting after a fire that appear in the presentation.
Copy and distribute to students the worksheet "Pitch Pine Fire Adaptations" and the "Pitch Pine Fire Adaptations Information Sheet". Review the contents of the audio-visual presentation and the information sheet with your students. Note that Pinelands soil and water are acidic and that the soil is predominantly sand and very porous. Ask what adaptations the pitch pine has developed in order to thrive in this region. Be sure students understand the meaning of terms such as basal crook, crown, and serotinous. Students will use these terms to label the pitch pine diagram.
EVALUATION:
Again, copy and distribute the work sheet "Pitch Pine Fire Adaptations" and have the students complete it without looking at the previous day's work. Then, on the back of this worksheet, have each student write a complete sentence definition for four following terms: crown, serotinous, trunk sprout, basal crook, tap root, dormant bud.
FOLLOW-UP:
1. Write to the Pinelands Commission for a copy of the Pinelands Speakers Organization Directory, that lists contact information for speakers who are willing to come into your class to discuss different aspects of the Pinelands. The Commission may be reached at the following:
PINELANDS
COMMISSION
P.O. Box 7
New Lisbon, New Jersey 08064
Attn: Public Programs
609-894-7300
2. Visit a nature center in the Pinelands such as Lebanon State Forest, Batsto Village, or the Cooper Nature Center. Contact the Pinelands Commission (contact information above) for more information about nature centers in the Pinelands that you can visit.
This lesson will introduce the students to the following vocabulary words:(click on the word to see its definition-use your browser's back button to return to this page)
adaptation, basal crook, cambium, crown, dormant, root crown, seedling, serotinous, sprouting, tap root
Science standards:
5.1-All students will learn to identify systems of interacting components and understand how their interactions combine to produce the overall behavior of the system.
5.6-All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms.
5.7-All students will investigate the diversity of life.
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