Resources for Activity 4: Home Sweet Home

Overview:
Species that are introduced into nonnative environments can be beneficial or detrimental to the ecosystem. In this activity, students will identify "exotics" that have already been introduced into the North American environment and will determine their effect. Students will also gather information about a selected plant or animal species within a forest and determine its natural range.

Subjects: Ecology, Geography, Science.

Student Page
Visitor for a Day Cards
Visitor for a Day Cards (California adaptation)

Urban and Community Forestry Website Connections
www.plt.org/cms/urbanforestry

Additional Resources
“The Green Menace” 18 minute video about the Emerald Ash Borer from the USFS, USDA, and APHIS

“UC Davis NewsWatch: Invasive Plants” 2 minute video

“Invaders” episode and resources – part of National Geographic’s Strange Days on Plant Earth

Invasive Species video podcasts from Explore Biodiversity

Emerald Ash Borer - 2007 article discussing impacts of this invasive beetle from Asia

"Invasive Species: America's Least Wanted" - An electronic field trip from the Bureau of Land Management, available at www.efieldtrips.org

Use of Giant African Land Snails in Classrooms

Earth & Sky Radio Correlations
This activity can be supplemented with related Earth & Sky radio shows that you can download for use in your classroom. Learn about the PLT and Earth & Sky Initiative.

Related Earth & Sky Shows:
- Sheep:  The New Weapon Against Invasive Plants (2009) 
- Neil Sampson Says Climate Change Speeding Flux of Forest Ecosystems (2008)  
- Sally Collins: 'No one expected forest fires to become so big a factor, so quickly' (2008)