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Plants
- Fun Forest! - Episode 109
  
Kelp
Forest
Scuba
divers Megan and Ian explored an underwater
kelp forest to find out about the animals that lived there.
Question
Do larger animals live at the top of the kelp forest or at the
bottom?
Investigation
Megan and Ian brought a damaged holdfast (kelp roots) from the
bottom of the forest to the surface so they could see what animals
were hiding in it. They counted the number of creatures and identified
them using a picture book. They returned these creatures to the
sea. They also gathered part of a kelp frond (leaf) from the top
of the kelp forest, and examined it for creatures.
Results
- At the bottom of the kelp, they found many small creatures.
- At the top of the kelp, they found fewer animals, all of them small.
Conclusion
Their original hypothesis was that larger animals lived at the bottom
and smaller ones lived at the top. They found small creatures in
both locations, and more at the bottom. They concluded that the bottom of the kelp forest has better hiding
places for small creatures.
Leaves
David,
Maddie, Mia, Mikki and Ally spend a lot of time outdoors and especially
enjoy autumn’s vibrant colors.
Question
Why
do some trees turn colors sooner than others?
Investigation
The girls read that sunlight is one factor affecting a tree’s color change.
They found maples and oaks in both sunny and shaded locations, and watched them to see when they
changed colors.
Conclusion
They found that many factors affect when a tree changes color. Their
sunny oak changed sooner than the shaded oak, but the two maples turned at about the same time. |