Week+15

Week Fifteen Assignments: Read chapters 11 and 12 Quizzes on Blackboard for both chapters Posting assignment – one post, your choice forests or soil, located at the bottom of this page: http://schmidtphysicalgeography.wikispaces.com/Week+15 Regarding Chapters Eleven and Twelve:

Supplemental Information located here: http://schmidtphysicalgeography.wikispaces.com/Ch+11 and http://schmidtphysicalgeography.wikispaces.com/Ch+12

Chapter 11 does not have a Prezi. Something happened when I was creating it and I lost the whole thing! I have not had the heart (or the time) to go back and make it again. So this chapter has two PowerPoints that you may review. The first one is from the newest version of the book and does not have as much information in it. The second one is older and has too much information in it to make it nice for presenting in class, but I think it's a nice study tool because it has great maps of all of the forests. 

I created a worksheet for this chapter, you may find it helpful to organize the information in the chapter, but it is not required. Below the worksheet, you will find a few videos and articles. You may find the article on the Ironwood Trees interesting, I think they are really fascinating - one of the native species of our desert that become ecosystems of their own. 

I have some videos on the steppe and the tundra because students like to see what those places look like. There is also a video on the Seven Land Biomes that you may find helpful. I have a slideshow of Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens (in Claremont) that I like to show in class because it has all native California plants. 

You will find also a picture of a man sitting on a VERY large stump, surrounded by many very tiny trees. This is to show you how big the trees used to be - that stump was an "old growth" tree. We have very few old growth forests left - only 4% of the USA's forests are left intact. All of the tiny trees behind the big stump are what we call new growth, and it's not nearly as biodiverse as old growth. You can read the little article and learn more. You would think we would protect all of the old giants we have left, but we do not and loggers would still like to take them down. I have two videos about old growth forest that I show in the classroom too that will also help you to understand the difference and to just see how magnificent the ones that are left are. You will also find a picture of a sloth - the sloth has so many things living in its fur that it is an ecosystem all of its own! I have two videos on the pages about old growth forests too. I always show these in class, one so students can learn about old growth forests and why they are important, and another so you can see what one looks like. I always show these in class and highly recommend watching them.

After that, you will see a video with an orangutan, this is about deforestation in the rain forest, which much of happens for palm oil. You should consume wisely and not buy products with palm oil in them as it leads to the loss of our forests. There is also a video on invasive species which you may find helpful, and then the last thing on the chapter 11 page is 16 of the most magnificent trees in the world - something to make you feel better after reading about destruction of the rain forest and invasive species.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">On the chapter 12 page, you will find another worksheet, which is not required, but you may find helpful. After the worksheet, there is a video call "Soil, Who Needs It?" it's about 15 minutes long, but will probably be very helpful for you. I show it in the classroom each time I lecture on soil. I do not go that in depth on soil, I just cover the basics of it in the classroom and the quiz is based on the basics of the chapter, so when the chapter starts to get into all the chemistry, skip it. I also do not have a Prezi for this chapter, just the two PowerPoints. The first one is new, has less information, second one older, has too much, but that is the one I use in the classroom because it has all of the things in it that I put on the quiz. You will also notice on the page several pictures of hydrangeas which range in color from deep, dark pink, to white, to deep, dark, blue - I put these up as an example of how soil can be acidic, alkaline, or neutral. Hydrangeas change because of the soil PH. Pretty neat huh? There are other plants that do that too, but you can buy hydrangeas at the grocery store so I know most people have seen them. My grandmother loved the blue ones and would plant them in her yard, but here in Southern California, we have mostly alkaline soil, so they would always change to pink. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">media type="custom" key="28478547"