Life Cycle Discovery Kit®: Bark Beetles, Forests, and Climate Change
Life Cycle Discovery Kit®: Bark Beetles, Forests, and Climate Change
Throughout North America, bark beetles (pine beetles) have destroyed literally millions of acres of valuable forestland. When drought-stressed by climate change, trees like pines become very vulnerable. Once killed by the beetles, the trees dry out and eventually topple. This timely demonstration kit explains the life cycle of the bark beetle and includes a heat-sterilized section of pine with the bark chipped away to show beetle tunnels and the wood stain from blue-stain fungi transported by the beetle. The kit also includes a 3x hand lens, a color photo reference sheet, a bark beetle diagram card, blackline masters, and an instruction booklet. The activities in this kit address the Next Generation Science Standards, specifically these Disciplinary Core Ideas: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience (LS2.C); Human Impacts on Earth Systems (ESS3); and at middle school, Global Climate Change. They also address Crosscutting Concepts, including Patterns and Cause and Effect. Recommended for ages 11 to adult. (Additional beetle-damaged branch sections are also available; see Related Products, below.)
#KIT-18079
Introduction (from the activity booklet that comes with this kit):
This life cycle discovery kit explores the natural history of the pine bark beetle, an insect with an appetite for inner bark and when left unchecked, a capacity to destroy an entire forest. Pine bark beetles become particularly damaging during extended periods of drought. Kit Contents This kit includes a section of heat-sterilized pine wood that shows the tunnels made by bark beetles and the discoloration left by the blue stain fungi the beetle introduces. It also includes a 3x hand lens, reference sheet with a color image of live beetles on a tunneled pine branch and another image of bark beetle-damaged pines, beetle life cycle reference card, two blackline masters, and this booklet. The activities in this kit address the Next Generation Science Standards, specifically these Disciplinary Core Ideas: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience (LS2.C); Human Impacts on Earth Systems (ESS3); and at middle school, Global Climate Change. They also address Crosscutting Concepts, including Patterns and Cause and Effect.
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