Albuquerque's
Environmental StoryAlbuquerque's
Environmental StoryDiscuss what a habitat is. Draw a habitat of your choice, make dioramas, or make a class bulletin board of several different kinds of habitats.
What are the basic components of a habitat?
How do our own homes serve as a habitat for us?
What adaptations do some plants have which enable them to live in specific habitats?
What happens to plants or animals if there is a change in the availability of proper food, water, shelter, air or space in a habitat?
Plant SuccessionTake a field trip to a natural area and look for ecological plant succession. Keep a record of the stages observed and indicate their order in the succession pattern of the particular habitat.
What are the pioneer organisms for this community?
How does any one stage make conditions unfavorable for itself and favorable for the next stage?
What are the dominant species observed? How will this habitat look when the climax community is reached? What events could take place that would prevent this from happening?
Four Life
ZonesDraw a map of the Sandias showing the four life zones. On a map of North America, show the location of these same four zones.
What is a life zone? What factors determine the plant and animal life in these zones?
What is the general relationship between altitude and latitude in life zone changes?
Natural Waste DisposalExamine a rotting log or pile of leaf litter. Look for evidence to explain how the waste disposal system operates in a natural community.
What kinds of organisms are found? What role does each play in the decaying process?
What other examples of recycling can be found in a natural community?
How is waste from the human community disposed of in Albuquerque? How much recycling is done?
Which system is more efficient in its waste disposal, the natural or the human? Explain.
What can citizens do to increase the amount of recovery and recycling of solid waste?
Using words or diagrams, explain how a forest animal gets water. How does a forest plant get water?
What would happen if the forest animals or plants were placed in a desert? What adaptations would they need to survive?
What problems arise when people try to grow non indigenous plants in their gardens?
What kind of system could a person design to get water in a forest? In a desert?
Walk through a habitat and look for three samples of the Abiotic/Biotic/Cultural Triangle. In each case show the interrelationships between the abiotic (physical) factors, the biotic (plants and animals) and the cultural (human actions).
(Up to Section I, Back to Eye Opener Worksheet 1, On to Aditional Activities 1)