UNIT I: FOREST AND TUNDRA ECOLOGY Title Page and Table of Content Background Important information for teachers (2.5mb) Reading the Alaska Environment (K-12)   In an outdoor activity, students closely observe their environment Lesson (535kb) Complete Lesson (4mb)       Material Handouts *Reading the Alaska Environment *Boreal Forest Observations *Tundra Observations *Don't Tear Me Apart or Crush My Home Identifying Objects (3-8)   Students learn about dichotomous keys and how they are used to identify plants Lesson (498kb) Complete Lesson(1mb)       Material Handouts *Plant Key - Summer *Plant Key - Winter Blind Walk (K-12)   In an outdoor activity, students explore the local ecosystem using only their sense of touch and smell Lesson (401kb) Complete Lesson (907kb)       Material Handouts *Blind Walk Student Worksheet *Don't Tear Me Apart or Crush My Home Transect Study (6-12)   Students set up transects near the school to systematically study the local ecosystem. Lesson (1.3mb) Complete Lesson (2.5mb)       Material Handouts *Transect Study Field Worksheet *Don't Tear Me Apart or Crush My Home Making the Forest and Tundra Wildlife Connection (5-12)   Students participate in an active game to form food chains of the boreal forest Lesson (976kb) Complete Lesson (2.5mb)       Material Handouts *Alaska Ecology Cards (2mb) (see advanced preparation) Critter Search (K-12)   Students look for evidence of small animals and their tracks in an outdoor setting Lesson (850kb) Complete Lesson (905kb)       Material Handouts *Critter Search Treasure Hunt Worksheet The Succession Race (5-12)   Students play an active game in which they pretend they are plants. As the plants progress through boreal forest succession they encounter conditions which affect them. Lesson (597kb) Complete Lesson(883kb)       Material Handouts *Succession Cards *Succession of the Boreal Forest After Fire Boreal Forest Succession (K-12)   Students observe and record the different stages of forest succession around their school grounds, and illustrate succession in the boreal forest by making field notebooks and a mural Lesson (1.2mb) Complete Lesson (1.5mb)       Material Handouts *Succession of the Boreal Forest After Fire Living on the Edge (5-8)   Students play a game to create a vegetation mosaic and discuss their influence on wildlife diversity Lesson (526kb) Complete Lesson (2.4mb)       Material Handouts *Living on the Edge Forest Graph Paper *Living on the Edge Key *Forest Mosaic of Yukon Flats *Alaska Ecology Cards (2mb) Site designed and maintained jointly by the USFWS Alaska Region Division of Information Resource Management (IRM) and External Affairs (EA).