Land Use
by Angela Tate
Primary-Intermediate Grades
Lesson I: What is a Prairie?
Background Information:
In this activity, students will discover that Chicago was not always a sprawlingmetropolis. Through posters, pictures and discussion, students will becomefamiliar with three different ecosystems that covered Illinois, includingChicago, about 20 hundred years ago and investigate some of the living andnon-living components of these ecosystems (plants, animals, soil, waterand sunlight). They will also become associated with terms relating to ecosystems:biosphere (the living world as a whole), ecology (relations between livingorganisms and their environment), ecologist (a scientist that studies ecology),and habitat (the place within an ecosystem where a plant or animal naturallylives).
An early settler to the Chicago area would have found clear streams, vastprairies and savannas, extensive forests and a variety of wetlands. Thestreams contained many species of fish and crustacean. Beaver, wild turkey,river otter, lynx and mountain lions, the pileated woodpecker, flying squirrelsand many other species populated the woodlands. Prairies had abundant wildlifeincluding the coyote and the now-endangered prairie chicken. Wetlands hummedwith activity as migrating birds such as the endangered sandhill crane refueledfor its trip. At the time of settlement, prairies covered about 65% of Illinois,forest occupied about 38% and wetlands about 23%. But now, most wildlifeis no longer abundant in this state. These losses are caused by reductionand destruction of habitat that has occurred during the past 200 years.Today, less than 12% of Illinois is forest, prairies are reduced to lessthan .1% and about 11% of our former wetlands remain.
Forest:
Rich and diverse forests of oak-hickory, beech-maple, elm-ash-soft mapletrees and the southern bottomland forests of oak-gum and cypress trees covered13.8 million acres of pre-settled Illinois. The trees appeared so plentiful,settlers saw no harm in clearing as much timber as needed to create farmland.In the mid-1800s, a timber industry began to flourish with the arrival ofthe railroad. By 1900, 10 million acres of forest had been cleared. Deforestationof this sort disrupts the ecosystems including the homes and food sourcesof the wildlife that depend on them. The wildlife is either obliteratedor forced into another region. Coyotes, foxes, skunks, bobcats, bears, weasels,owls, waterfowl and snakes are just some of the many animals that have sufferedhabitat loss as a result of deforestation. In Illinois, less than 3.2 millionacres of forest land remain.
Prairies:
Early settlers found a wide expanse of grasslands in Illinois. They borrowedthe French word "prairie" meaning meadow to name the land. Dominatedby grasses, the prairie was dotted with broad leafed plants and colorfulwildflowers with intricate woven root systems often reaching depths of 10-12feet. The rich soil of Illinois was partially created by this vast and complexplant system. Herds of buffalo, elk and antelope roamed its ranges. Prairiechickens, meadowlarks, dickcissels and bobolinks are some of the birds thatabounded. Fires regularly swept through the prairie which promoted regenerationand returned nutrients to the soil. At first the settlers were reluctantto leave the protection of the forests to venture out into the open, unprotectedprairie. But two new products, coal and the steel plow, lured them to thegreat prairie. Coal provided an alternative to wood as a fuel source. Thesteel plow invented in 1850 offered a sturdy means to plow the firmly rootedprairie. Gradually, the prairie was transformed into the farmland whichnow checkerboards the state.
Wetlands:
When the last glaciers melted in Illinois about 10,000 years ago, they leftbehind 1.4 million acres of lakes, rivers and wetlands that later providedthe Illinois Indians with fish, meat, fur and wild rice. These rivers andlakes became critical arteries for commerce when settlers arrived. Settlersdiscovered that wetlands, especially the river bottoms, contained incrediblyrich soil for farming. Increased amounts of land were drained, cleared andplowed. Wildlife, as well as humans, have felt the effect of such farmingin pollution from pesticides, waste products and silts. Wetlands are low,slowly drained area that retain water at least part of the year and supporta variety of wildlife adapted to living in a watery environment. Wetlandssuch as marshes serve as important resting and refueling stops for migratingbirds such as ducks, geese, egrets, herons, sandpipers and sometimes baldeagles. Other birds nest and winter in them sharing their homes with deer,raccoon, beaver, otter and an array of reptiles, amphibians, insects, fishand crustaceans.
Objectives: The students will be able to:
-identify different components of an ecosystem
-compare ecosystems that were found in early Chicago to those that are foundtoday (prairie, forest and wetland)
Teaching Outline
Materials:
-a minimum of 3 posters of Illinois ecosystems including prairie, forestand wetland (obtainable from the Illinois Department of Conservation) ora variety of pictures.
Advance Preparation:
-lay out natural objects around the classroom
-become familiar with some aspects of Chicago's ecological history
Procedure:
1. Ask students to help you make a list of different plants and animalsthat are found in their neighborhood. What else do they find in their neighborhood?Did Chicago always look like it does now? Make a list of different plantsand animals that used to live in Chicago. What kind of people used to livearound here? (Native Americans and then European settlers) Explain thatthe different posters around the room show what Chicago used to look likebefore it became a city.
2. Divide students into groups of 5 or 6. Give each group a poster or aset of pictures depicting one type of local ecosystem. Students should brainstormto come up with at least 5 characteristics of this ecosystem. One personcan be a recorder and write down the groups' observations.
3. When the groups have had a chance to discuss their ecosystem ask eachgroup (or one or two representatives) to present their pictures (or poster)to the class and share some of the group's observations. Encourage studentsto ask questions and emphasize the similarities and differences betweenthe different ecosystems. For example, what do they all have in common?Each has a variety of plants and animals. How are they different? The plantsand animals vary and are directly related to the abiotic or non-living factors,such as soil, temperature, water, etc.
4. Explain that each set of pictures (or poster) that they looked at representeda different type of ecosystem that at one item could be found in the Chicagoarea: prairie, forest, wetland and savanna. Ask students what they thinkecosystem means. The word ecosystem comes from two words, ecology and system.Ecology refers t the study of living and non-living things and their relationships.System refers to how something functions or works. Therefore, ecosystemrefers to the relationships between living and non-living things and howthey work together. Ecosystems are part of the biosphere or the living worldas a whole. The biosphere is so vast and complex that ecologists divideit into smaller units with a particular set of plants, such as lowland tropicalrainforest, prairie, oak-hickory forest, etc. These units are referred toas ecosystems. Even ecosystems are very large. For example, in some partsof the world, the same type of forest may stretch for hundreds of miles.To investigate what goes on in an ecosystem, ecologists look at the smallpart of it that is used by just a few dominant plant species. This is knownas a habitat. To help the students understand these new terms, draw a simplediagram on the board that demonstrates how they are related.
Teacher's Notes:
If students are not familiar with some of the animal classification terms(amphibian, reptile, etc.) and you don't feel you have adequate time tointroduce them, you may opt to leave them out of the survey.
To obtain free posters illustrating the different ecosystem types of Illinoiswrite or call the Illinois Department of Conservation: Department of NaturalHeritage, 524 South Second Street, Springfield, IL 62701 (217) 782-6302.
Lesson Assessment:
Upon completion of the lesson:
-the students should be able to name and describe 3 different types of ecosystemsfound in Illinois.
-describe 3 ways that Chicago area ecosystems have changed
-identify 5 different components of an ecosystem
Extension Activities:
-Have the students choose an ecosystem or a specific plant or animal theyobserved and learn more about it. They may also want to make it the subjectof a story, song, poem or drawing.
-Have students help you collect leaves, weeds, flowers, seeds, rocks, soilsamples, water and other natural items found in the neighborhood. Use theseto construct a mini-museum that displays the components of the local ecosystem.
Lesson II - Prairie Food Web
Background Information:
A prairie is a vegetational community dominated by native grasses. In Illinois,about ten species of grasses constitute the major dominants. Several othergrasses, considered secondary grasses, are encountered much less frequently.About three dozen species of forbs (flowering prairie plants) occur withregularity. The prairies of Illinois were bounded on the east by the deciduousforest. Often there was a transition area of savanna. The Illinois prairieswere mainly composed of tall grasses and tall herbs intermingled with grassesand herbs of shorter stature. Before settlement, about two-thirds of thevegetation in Illinois was native or natural grassland. The early pioneersdepended upon the prairie as a source of forage for their livestock. Asthe prairies were grazed by the livestock, the vegetation began to change.Over a period of time, the prairie lost its stability and introduced speciesof plants began to invade land, disrupt and change the system.
Native prairie grasses continue to have many uses. They are important inerosion control, forage production, wildlife food and cover, reclamation,roadside planting and restoration and beautification projects. A wide varietyof plants and animals depend on the prairie. Prairie plants have developedways to retain moisture under extremes of heat and cold, windy, dry conditions.For example, many grasses and other species have root systems which penetrate15-20 feet into the soil for moisture. The deep roots also protected themfrom fires which would regularly sweep through the prairie. Some commonprairie plants include big bluestem, goldstem, prairie dock, rattlesnakemaster, cord grass, sedge and blue joint.
Illinois prairies support (or supported) a wide variety of birds includingbobolinks, meadowlarks, song sparrows, kingbirds, upland plover and red-wingblackbirds. There are also ground squirrels, meadow and jumping mice, foxes,deer and coyote. The buffalo and the prairie chicken, once abundant on theprairie, are long gone.
In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to become familiar withprairie plants and animals by creating food webs. Within an ecosystem thereare several major interactions that involve feeding relationships. Producers,green plants, use energy from the sun to produce their own food througha process called photosynthesis. This energy supports the animals that eatthe plants, as well as the predators that feed on those animals. A foodchain is a way of showing what eats what in a habitat, and therefore wherethe energy goes. Food chains can be thought of in layers. At the bottomare the primary producers, the plants that make their own food. Plants feedprimary consumers or plant-eating animals. These in turn feed predators,known as secondary consumers. The dead animal and plant remains providefood for decomposers, organisms such as bacteria, fungi and earthworms.An example of a food chain may be: a seed is eaten by a mouse which is eatenby a snake which is eaten by a hawk (seed->mouse->snake->hawk).In an ecosystem, most animals feed on several different types of plantsand/or animals which creates an interconnection between virtually all foodchains. This is called a food web.
Objectives: The students will:
-identify some of the components of a prairie system
-work cooperatively to simulate a prairie food web
-describe a food chain and a food web
-predict some of the effects that human impact has on a prairie food chainor web
Time: This lesson can be completed in a 45-60 minute class period
Materials:
-pictures of prairies
-5 or more possible food webs
-5-10 balls of different colored yarns (one for each food web)
-one 4" x 6" note card for each student
-colored markers or crayons
-hole puncher
-string
Advance Preparation:
Make roll cards for each student - Select 4-5 different webs and write asingle web component on each card. Punch a hole in the top two corners ofthe card and string a piece of yarn about two feet in length through theholes, tying a knot so that the card can later be worn by the student toclearly identify his/her role.
-Make one role card with the word sun.
Procedure:
1. Ask students to describe a prairie. Write their descriptions on the board.Show them pictures of a variety of prairie pictures, which ideally, illustratesome of the different plants and animals that can be found.
2. Ask students to think of some of the different plants and animals thatthey see in a prairie. Make a list on the board putting plants in one column,herbivores in another and carnivores in a third column. Ask them to thinkof a way to label each column. They will probably recognize the producersand the consumers. Explain that one group of consumers eats plants; theseare the herbivores. The other group eats meat and some may also eat plants;these are the carnivores and the omnivores.
3. Ask students if there are any animals in the herbivore or omnivore columnthat would eat a plant in the producer column. Draw a line connecting theherbivore to the plant. Do this for a few of the herbivores. Is there anomnivore or carnivore that would eat an herbivore? Draw a line from oneto the other. After you have connected most of the plants and animals witheach other tell students that there is another way to show the feeding relationshipsbetween animals and plants in an ecosystem. Using plants and animals alreadylisted on the board, draw an example of a food chain. Ask students to thinkof additional food chains.
Ex. Sun->milkweed->butterfly->upland plover->coyote->vulture(The arrow show that energy is traveling from one link in the chain to thenext).
4. Hand out the role cards to each student and have them sit in a circlewearing the card so that their role is visible. Ask the students to identifywhich organisms rely directly on the sun for their growth and production.The student that has the sun card holds a ball of yarn that is passed asmembers of the food web are identified. For example, if the milkweed isidentified as needing the sun for survival, then the ball of yarn is passedto the student with the milkweed card. (The sun continues to hold onto theend of the yarn.) Then the class needs to determine what prairie organismneeds milkweed for survival. The ball of yarn is passed and continues tobe passed to the members of the group. Eventually, this creates a web effect.
5. Repeat the questioning and sharing until the next level of each web isidentified. Having students describe their roles to the members of the classwill help build a better understanding of the interdependence between rolesin each web. Bacteria and nutrients complete the webs by decomposing deadplant and enriching the soil.
6. While students are participating in the activity you may want to askthe following questions to highlight some aspects of the ecosystem.
-Which members of the web receive more than one ball of yarn?
-What happens if one of the web members, such as mosquitoes, disappears?
-Are any members of the web competing for the same food?
-What is the source of all energy for the web?
-Can any of the web members be replaced?
-Why are bacteria and nutrients at the end of the food chain?
-Which are the producers in the web?
-Which are the consumers?
This activity is adapted from an activity written by Charles James and publishedin Teacher's Lab Nov.-Dec. 1993.
Teacher Notes:
Be sure that each ball of yarn originates from the sun. Students will beable to identify new and correct webs as you go along. Participants suchas milkweed or mosquitoes may have the ball of yarn passed to them as partof several webs. This demonstrates the interconnectedness of animals andplants in an ecosystem.
Lesson Assessment:
-Give an example of a food chain and a food web.
-Work cooperatively to simulate a prairie food web.
-Predict three effects that human impact can have on a food web.
Extension Activities:
Have students research and report on the role they played in the prairieweb. Students may want to illustrate the web with artwork to display ona bulletin board.
Lesson III - Field Trip to Prairie Site
There are several prairies in the Chicago area that you can take your studentsto visit. For a list of prairie sites in the Chicago area, I suggest contactingthe Nature Conservancy at (312) 346-8166.
Suggestions for Organizing Your Trip:
Depending on the site you visit, you may be able to arrange to have a stewardaccompany you on your trip to guide you through the prairie site. If not,try to visit the site beforehand. Bring along a prairie plant identificationsheet or book on prairie plants to help you identify some of the plantsyou see.
If you have enough adults accompanying you, you may want to divide the studentsinto three or four groups. While one group is getting a "tour"of the prairie with you or a guide, the other groups can go on a scavengerhunt, looking for insects, plants, etc. You may want to provide studentswith magnifying glasses, bug boxes, butterfly nets, binoculars and otherinstruments to enrich their exploration.
Lesson IV - Shrinking Habitats
Introduction:
This lesson will present a very clear model to the students, depicting theeffects humans have had on the natural environment, particularly how humanshave limited the habitats of various plants and animals. The students willrealize how this habitat reduction has also reduced the number of plantsand animals in their neighborhood. Consequently, they will realize whatneeds to be done to either prevent further shrinking of, or to expand, thenatural habitats in their neighborhood.
Objectives: The students will:
-observe how humans affect the natural environment through their actions.
-identify some of the factors that influence plant and wildlife survivalin a particular habitat.
Time: This lesson can be completed in a 45-60 minute class period.
Materials:
-50-100' rope
-scratch paper
-pencils
-container (hat, shoe box, coffee can)
Advance Preparation:
Collect materials and choose a good space to conduct this activity.
Procedure:
Tap Prior Knowledge/Share with Neighbor
1. Divide the class into groups and have them brainstorm human activitiesthat affect the plants and animals in their neighborhood. Have them writetheir ideas on separate slips of paper. (Examples: chopping down trees,soil erosion, roads, housing and industrial development, etc.) Place thehabitat reducing slips into the container and mix.
Interact Hands On Activity:
2. Choose a familiar habitat (school yard, park, city) and create the habitatby placing the long rope in a circle on the ground. (This activity can bedone inside or outside, depending on the weather)
3. Instruct the students to step inside the circle. (If you are inside andthe room is small, have half the students step inside the circle and theother half observe. Then switch.) Tell the students that they each representan animal or plant living in that habitat. (HINT: make sure the studentsall fit into the circle comfortably; it will make the activity much moredramatic!)
Introduce Scientific Principle:
4. Explain to the students that in order for them to survive they must stayinside the circle. Begin to pull the slips out of the container and readthem to the students. Each time you read off a habitat-reducing human influence,tighten the rope (reducing the size of the circle habitat).
5. As the circle habitat becomes smaller and smaller, the students willbegin to compete for space. Eventually, some of the students will beginto fall out of the circle. They just could not survive the habitat reducinginfluences!
6. The game is over when the habitat reducing slips run out. At this point,have the students compare the size of the final circle and the number ofstudents still inside the circle the results should be dramatic.
Relate Activity and Concept:
7. Discuss the following questions:
-What happened to the circle habitat when more human habitat reducing actionswere called out?
-As the circle habitat became more crowded, how did you feel?
-Which of these human actions do you think would have the greatest effecton plants and animals and their habitats?
Teacher Notes:
This activity may seem difficult with several students. If you feel thereare too many students to play the game at once, divide the class into twoor three groups and have one group play the game while the others observe.The observers can play the role of "biologist". After the activity,ask the "biologists" to explain what happened. Then rotate soeveryone gets a chance to step inside the circle.
Lesson Assessment:
Upon completion of the lesson the students should be able to:
-list two ways that humans affect the natural environment
-name two human activities that reduce various plant and animal habitats
-name two examples where plants and animals are affected by human activities
Extension Activities:
Have each student choose a neighborhood animal or plant for a "habitatcase study". Have them answer these questions:
-Where can their animal or plant be found (this is their habitat)?
-Does their animal or plant need anything else in order to live comfortably;is its habitat sufficient for survival?
-How have humans affected their plant or animal's habitat?
-After a thorough analysis, have the students determine what could be doneto improve the plant or animal's habitat.
Lesson V - Prairie in a Bottle
Introduction:
In this lesson, students will become familiar with different needs of plantsin an ecosystem by constructing a mini-prairie. Now that they are familiarwith what an ecosystem is, they will be exposed to some of the differentrelationships that exist within it. An ecosystem is composed of variousspecies of plants, animals and microbes which interact with their environment.These living things are called biotics. The environment consists of differentcomponents including temperature, precipitation (rainfall), moisture andall other chemical and physical factors to which living things are exposed.These non-living things are called abiotics. All ecosystems have the samethree basic categories of organisms that interact together in the same ways:producers, consumers and decomposers.
Producers: Mainly green plants, which use light energy from the sun to convertcarbon dioxide and water to a sugar called glucose and release oxygen asa byproduct; a process called photosynthesis.
Consumers: Plants and animals that must feed on living things (organic materials)in order to obtain energy and nutrients. This group includes herbivores(plant eaters), omnivores (meat and plant eaters) and carnivores (meat eaters).
Decomposers: Organisms such as fungi (mushrooms, mold, etc.) and bacteriaspecialized to feed on dead plant and animal material. This group also includessome consumers such as vultures, earthworms, ants and crayfish.
In this lesson, students will focus on producers, or plants that are foundtypically in a prairie. Most plants have four basic needs which are metby the abiotic components of their environment: water, soil, sunlight andair. Green plants, like animals, need food, but unlike animals, plants maketheir own food through the process of photosynthesis. In this process, plantsuse energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide (gas) and water into carbohydrates(simple sugars). This process takes place in tiny chambers call chloroplaststhat are found mainly in the plant's leaves. These chloroplasts containchlorophyll, a green pigment, which enables plants to absorb the sun's energy.One of the by-products of photosynthesis is oxygen, which is used by peopleand other animals. As animals use energy, they exhale carbon dioxide whichcan be used by green plants for photosynthesis. Water is also importantto plants because it is a primary component of protoplasm, the basic materialthat makes up the plant's structure. Water also helps transport nutrientsfrom the soil to the plant's roots.
Plants depend on soil to sustain and support them. It provides them withwater and nutrients and a substrate in which they can root themselves. Differentplants depend on different soil types depending on their needs. Plants alsoneed space to grow. If they do not have enough space, they begin to competewith neighboring plants for nutrients, light and water.
Objectives: The students will:
-describe a prairie and identify some of the relationships that exist withinit.
-plant and compare different prairie plant species.
-identify the basic needs of plants
-distinguish between producers, consumers and decomposers
Time: 60 minutes
Materials:
-soil
-gravel
-water
-2 liter pop bottles
-exacto knife or sharp scissors
-prairie plant seeds or seedlings
-scissors
-data sheet for each student
Advance Preparation:
Have students bring in 2-litre pop bottles from home. You may want to starta collection several weeks before conducting this lesson.
Procedure:
1. Put students into groups of four. Ask them to close their eyes and pretendthey are on a prairie. What are some of the different things they see, smell,hear? As students tell you some of the different things they see, put theirresponses into three different lists: plants, animals and non-living things.Ask students to tell you the differences between these lists. Students shouldhelp you label them. Tell students that another work that refers to plantsis producers because plants produce their own food. Animals are referredto as consumers because they have to find or hunt their food. Decomposerseat up the left-overs and the dead plants and animals or decompose theirfood. Give students a quick quiz to make sure they understand the terms.
2. Ask students to tell you some of the things that most plants or producersneed in their environment in order to survive: water, soil, sun, air. Predictwhat would happen if a plant did not get one or more of these things.
3. Show students the prairie seeds or plants. Tell them that today theyget to make their own mini-prairies or Eco-arium. They should use what theyknow about plants and their needs to determine what materials to use. Askstudents what type of soil they think should be used, etc. Explain thatprairie soil is typically dark and rich with nutrients. This is one of thereasons that prairies make such excellent farmland. Make a list on the boardof the necessary "ingredients".
4. Pass out the materials. Show students an example of a mini-prairie andreview each step of its construction (See the directions at the end of thislesson). You may want to assign each student in the group a specific taskso each has a role in the activity; for example, collect the materials,cut the bottles, measure the soil and gravel, plant the seeds or plants,etc.
5. Before passing out the plants or seeds, ask students to refer to theprairie poster and Reference Sheet to identify some common prairie plantspecies. Make a list on the board and identify the seeds or plant speciesthey are going to plant.
6. Students should plant their seeds or plants and label the bottle withthe names of the people in the group. Add some water and put the lid on.Explain that water cannot escape from the terrarium because it is a closedsystem and models the water cycle. (Precipitation falls (rain), some ofwhich is infiltrated into the soil and is used by plants. Some of this istranspired (or released) by the plant into the atmosphere and the precipitationprocess begins again.) Place the terrariums in a sunny place where moistureand growth can be monitored. At this point, refer to the list of "ingredients"needed for the planting that the students created earlier. Look at eachitem on the list and discuss why it was identified as something the plantneeded. For example, if students included water on the list, briefly discusswhy water is needed by plants and how it is used. Review each item to determinewhich ingredients are basic plant needs and why. See the introduction tothis lesson for information to use in this discussion.
7. Pass out Data Sheet to each student. Review the questions with them andhave them fill in the appropriate information.
Example of Mini-Prairie Data Sheet:
1. Name of plant
2. Date planted
3. Describe the ecosystem that this plant lives in
4. What are some things that this plant needs to survive?
5. Name two other plants that you would find living near this plant
6. Name three animals that might depend on this plant
7. Three weeks later: Draw a picture of your plant.
8. Three months later: Draw a picture of your plant.
Teacher's Notes:
To obtain prairie plants or seeds, you may visit or order from the followingsources:
-The Growing Place, (708) 355-4000, Naperville, IL
-Midwest Wildflowers, (815) 624-7040, Rockton, IL
-Prairie Sunshine Seed Co., (309) 286-7356, Wyoming, IL
Lesson Assessment: The students will:
-plant and maintain a mini-prairie
-identify four needs of a plant
-distinguish between producers, consumers and decomposers
-identify three different prairie plant species