| Explore | We know that plants supply us with oxygen while we supply them with carbon dioxide. Plants give us food and water, which allows us to grow, and we can take care of plants by giving them enough water, sunlight, and nutrients. There are also many different types of plants with different needs living in different environments. From school, we learn plant systems and operations such as photosynthesis and how trees utilize their different parts to survive. From a past experiment, we learned how sunlight affects plant growth (more sunlight increases plant height). In this experiment we would like to know how tree life and animal life are complementary to one another. Who depends on the other more? How do trees adapt to animals living in them? How can animals help trees grow and how can they destroy a tree’s system of growth? |
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| Research Question | How does the health status of a tree affect the wildlife living there? We came up with this question after observing that some of our trees had some wildlife living around it while some just had no wildlife at all. Our question fits what we know about the topic of the relationship between trees and wildlife because we observed that wildlife are more likely to use healthy trees. |
| Predictions | The possible outcomes of our study are that healthy trees will be used by more wildlife, while unhealthy trees will not be of much use for wildlife and we would, therefore, not see as many forms of insects and animals living on or using those trees. We think this will happen because trees, in their healthy state, will produce good food, shelter, and sites for reproduction for animals. If a tree has a disease and/or is dying, that tree will not be able to sufficiently provide for surrounding wildlife. Thus, animals will not use those trees. |
| Experimental Design | Our plan is to observe 6 local trees (2 fruit-bearing, 2 flowering, and 2 non-fruit-bearing/non-flowering trees) twice a day every 3 days. We will do this for 3 days total. We will measure the biodiversity count and types of biodiversity identified on the trees. We will observe and record data at the same times in the day (10 A.M. and 6 P.M.) and we expect there to be no rain to drive away the biodiversity. We are also keeping the 10-minute observation time constant. We will record our data onto 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 |