| Explore | The team observed cankers, discoloration in leaves due to sun exposure, or dead branches while studying a few local trees. Trees are well-known for releasing oxygen into the atmosphere, but we learned that they also contribute to property value, interception of stormwater runoff, energy conservation, overall air quality, and reduction of CO2. Trees are affected by invasive species, soil type, spacing, and type of terrain. |
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| Research Question | Is there greater deviation from average circumference of eucalyptus trees in residential areas or public parks? |
| Predictions | Considering that most tree specie will have the best growing conditions when placed in its natural environment, considering Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, most trees will propagate in areas that meet their essential needs. If the environment does not meet its essential needs, the specie will either die our or evolve to survive in said environment, but that will typically take millions of years. For example, palm trees will not be able to survive in Antarctica since it is not the typical place for it to thrive and flourish. Therefore, trees found growing in it's natural habitat, which can vary from location to location as long as the environment is similar, will typically show signs of proper and ideal growing conditions with very minimal growth rate and health differences. Producing almost the exact same outcome for each tree of the same specie given that the environment they must grow in will meet all the necessary and similar variables for it to grow. However, there can be outside variables that affect its conditions such as human activity such that that place is no longer habitable for trees. As such, we will observe the circumference of a tree that has been displaced from its natural habitat in comparison to trees that are typically found in its natural habitat. If a tree is displaced from its natural environment, then our predictions will be that the tree will have poor growing conditions and we can determine this by measuring it's circumference compared to similar tree specie found in natural habitat. We will also determine where a specific tree specie will grow and thrive using an app that tells us the location of said tree specie naturally growing and thriving. We will most likely be observing outliers, or trees of a certain specie growing in an unnatural or inhabitable environment and be able to determine the extent of how bad the environment is for the tree by measuring its circumference in comparison to a tree growing in its natural and habitable environment. Such as trees near highways or factories and places with lots of human activity. |
| Experimental Design | Procedures: 1. Identify 4 eucalyptus trees in residential areas to measure for this experiment. 2. Identify 4 eucalyptus trees in public parks to measure for this experiment. 3. Measure the trunk circumference of each tree in inches in 3 locations at breast height. Calculate the average of these 3 measurements to determine the tree’s circumference in inches. a. The data we are collecting is the trunk circumference of the trees. 4. Determine the percent variation from the average trunk circumference for each tree’s species. We will be testing and comparing the trunk circumferences of eucalyptus trees of residential areas to public parks. We will be measuring the trunk circumference in inches and observing deviation from these circumferences from the average circumference from its respective species. The location for sampling will be kept constant and we will record our data by writing down observations in a table. |
| Investigation Theme | TREE |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| Teacher Name | Crystal Davis |
| School Name | California Academy of Mathematics and Science |
| Session | Spring 2021 |