Plants and Natural Communities Working Group

• This article reviews the impacts of climate change in Wisconsin on plant communities and details practices that can mitigate climate stressors while supporting adaptation. 
• The article describes major threats to Wisconsin plant communities including extreme weather, drought, precipitation changes, and changes to the Great Lakes, and additional research reports related to extreme weather and habitat restoration are linked in the article.
  

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.