Fire Fighting

Lesson Introduction

Many prairie plants have adaptive traits or abilities that allow them to reproduce or regenerate after a natural fire. Most animals choose to flee from fire, some animals like borrowing animals, retreat farther underground. Regular dry conditions cause prairie fires. These fires are beneficial to many of the plants that have adapted to regenerate. The ashes create rich nutrients for these plants to grow even taller and stronger than before benefiting the range of diverse animals that use them to aid in their survival.

Illinois State Goal	Standard	Learning Benchmarks
12	B	2a. Describe relationships among various organisms in their environments.
12	B	2b. Identify physical features of plants and animals that help them live in different environments.

Lesson Objectives

The students will:

• become aware of how plants and animals adapt to wild fires
• students will construct a plant that has strategies for surviving fire

Time Allotment

45-60 minute session

Materials

PROCEDURE

Tap Prior Knowledge/Share with Neighbor

1. Ask students if they can think of any natural disturbances that might occur to a prairie ecosystem. Can they think of any ways that these disturbances might be harmful? Beneficial?

Tap Prior Knowledge/Share with Neighbor

2. Have students work in pairs to come up with a Plant's Fire Survival Plan. This plan should include all of the basic things a prairie plant might need to survive (air, water, soil, means of reproduction, etc.) in addition to any special adaptations the students think a plant might want to have to survive through a fire situation. These adaptations can be real or imaginary.

Hands-on Activity

3. Using the plan they have just constructed, have the pairs of students build their plant using the art supplies.
4. After the students have constructed their plants, have them create an identification card to exhibit with their plants. On the card they should include the basic survival information, what the plant eats, how often it needs water, what kind of air, amounts of sunlight it needs, etc. They should also include a drawing and diagram of their plant, labeling the special adaptations their plant model has to survive fire.

Introduce Scientific Principle/Environmental Issue

5. Bark thickness is the most important factor for trees who face forest fire. This thick bark insulates and protects them. Small woody plants and shrubs normally have thin bark, they use the soil as an insulating layer to protect themselves. Individual plants resist being killed in fires by producing new growth from underground roots. Some seeds are stimulated into dispersal by fires. Some pine cones, like those of the Jack pine, have adapted to open only after a critical heat temperature is reached. The ash left behind by fire contains vital nutrients that also assist in plant growth.

Relate Activity and Concept

6. Ask the students to present their plant models. Have the students' plants mimicked any real life adaptations? Have students compare and contrast models. Who had similar ideas, different ideas? Why did they choose the adaptations that they created?