Jessie Rack: Science Will Save the World - Sky Island Field Trip

The word of the day is biome! You can think of a biome as a “nature zone” – a zone that’s defined by what kind of plants live there.

Mountains in the Sonoran Desert are special because they are sky islands – as you go up the mountain, it gets cooler and wetter, which means the nature zones change with elevation. Let’s go on a field trip up a sky island in Arizona!

Biomes we experience today: Desert Grassland Deciduous Forest (trees that lose their leaves. This one is an oak forest) Chaparral Coniferous Forest (trees with needles)

Can you draw your own sky island? Draw a mountain where the nature changes as you go up it. Feel free to use your imagination! I’d love to see what you come up with.

This video was filmed at various points on Babad Do’ag, also known as Mount Lemmon, in Tucson, Arizona.

Once again, this production is brought to you by the University of Arizona’s Community and School Garden Program. And Penny! PS: Most of what I know about sky islands was gained by reading A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, published by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (https://scitechinstitute.orgwww.desertmuseum.org/) Interested in learning more about sky islands or about conserving these amazing places? Check out Sky Island Alliance (https://scitechinstitute.orgwww.skyislandalliance.org/)


Science Topics
Ecology
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K-6, Middle School
Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

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Jessie Rack (University of Arizona)

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