Plants and Natural Communities Working Group

Positives

• The article describes how environmental issues unrelated to climate change (like habitat loss and runoff) can compound with climate change to create major ecological challenges.
• The concept of a working group producing reports with science-backed solutions shows that communities can come together with hope to work towards resiliency.
• The working group highlights environmental justice concerns related to preserving hunting, fishing, farming opportunities and a healthy environment for Wisconsin residents.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be familiar with some of the ecosystem services of wetlands.
• Students should understand how extreme weather events can impact plant communities.

Differentiation

• Before reading the article, ask students how they think plants in their own communities have been affected by climate change.
• Consider having students dig deeper into the topic of invasive species and climate change by researching common invasive plants in Wisconsin and their tolerance to drought and flood conditions.
• As an extension activity, have students choose a wetland area near their schools and research whether there is documentation of climate change's effects on the ecosystem.
• Students are encouraged to read the linked Issue-Impact-Strategy Table report by the Plant and Natural Communities Working Group to learn about management practices such as cover cropping, wetland restoration, prescribed burning, drought-tolerant plantings, computer modeling, and tree planting. Have more advanced students do this and then write a summary of the report's findings.