Forest Ecology

Teacher Note: This lesson may be more challenging to students than other lessons in the ODS CDL package. The Oh Deer Game requires some tech skills with Google sheets and data interpretation. The Lorax lesson is quite a bit of critical thinking and reflection. This may be a good lesson to do synchronously with students so they have support if they encounter frustrations or need help.

In this lesson, we’ve learned quite a bit about the parts of an ecosystem-plants, animals, decomposers, and more. In this final ecology lesson, we’re going to consider the ecosystem as a whole.
Today, we’re going to play a game called, “Oh Deer!” In this game, we’ll be on the hunt for resources. In your field journal write the top 3 things you would consider to be a deers’ basic resource needs. (In other words, what are some things a deer needs to survive?)

Answers could include food, water, shelter, air, sunlight, and more! (Answers should not include cheeseburgers, soda, cash, video games, and 4-poster beds!) For this game we’ll be focusing on food, water, and shelter. If a deer doesn’t get the food, water, or shelter that it needs, it will die. If it does get its basic needs met, then it will survive, and likely reproduce!
What would this deer : resource interaction look like? Let’s play!
Watch the Video Tutorial on How-to-Play below, and then use the link underneath the video to get the game rolling yourself.

Oh Deer! dice game:
Instructions: sign into your google account, open the Oh Deer! Template. Google sheets will ask you if you would like to make a copy of "oh Deer! Dice game Template? Click on the blue button "Make a Copy". Alternatively if you are led to a view only template, select FILE and in the dropdown menu select "Make a Copy". This should give you access to the document to record your data. Alternatively you could print this PDF version or Excel download.

Welcome back! Thanks for playing :)
After playing for 12 rounds, we saw a graph that looked something like this:

What does this data mean? Write a paragraph in your field journal explaining why the deer and resource populations were so unstable! How do the deer and resource populations relate to each other? (Is there a math term to describe this: as 1 thing goes up, the other thing goes down proportionally...Hint: An _______ Relationship).
Finally, make a hypothesis in your field journal for this question: Is there any way to stabilize the deer-resource relationship?

Now let's watch this video about how Wolves saved Yellowstone National Park. When the video is over you'll take 5-15 minutes answering these questions in your field journal:

When the wolves were absent from the park, and the deer had nothing hunting them, how did that affect other plants and animals in the park? What does this remind you of?
What changed after the wolves were reintroduced?
If there was a way to introduce wolves in our Oh Deer! dice game, how would that have affected the graph? Draw what you think a graph would look like in an Oh Deer! game that had wolves.
The narrator of the video says this event was a “Trophic Cascade.” Describe this term in your own words.

Don't forget to answer the questions above in your field journal!

To finish our Forest Ecology Lesson, we’re going to watch the animated movie of the Lorax, a classic Dr. Suess allegory*. We’ll be watching the movie in 4 sections. Please pay attention to the times listed below. Be sure to pause the movie, come back to the lesson and consider the thought-seeds for that section of the story before moving forward.

Lorax Video Section 1: Begin the movie, PAUSE at 6:34 and come back to consider the questions below. Write your answers in your field journal.

Is the truffula forest a healthy ecosystem; how could you tell if it was or was not?
What do you think about one tree being cut down? Was the Lorax right to be mad?

Lorax Video Section 2: Start watching again from 6:34, watch to 11:00, then pause again! In your field journal, write your thoughts on this question:

Do you think the once-ler’s business is good? Why or why not?

Lorax Video Section 3: Start watching again at 11:00 and watch to 17:27, then pause once more. Answer the following questions in your field journal:

Draw one of the thneed advertisements or make your own. What did they say about the thneed in advertisements? Are they true?
Consider what in your life is an example of a “thneed” (a something that didn’t cost very much, was promised to be awesome, and perhaps quickly forgotten.)
What happened to the creatures that lived in the truffula forest? How is it related to the Once-ler cutting down Truffula trees? Sketch a before and after of the forest.

Lorax Video Section 4: Start watching at 17:27, and watch to the end. Finally, in your field journal, spend at least 20 minutes answering the following questions:

The Once-ler explains his actions by saying, “If I didn’t do it, someone else would.” Is this a good excuse for doing what he did?
In the beginning of the story, the Once-ler claims that everyone needs Thneeds, but at the end he claims that what everyone really needs is Truffula trees. Why does he change his mind? What is different about the value of trees and the value of Thneeds?
What did the Once-ler mean by “UNLESS”?
If you became the lorax, and you spoke for the trees, what would you say? Draw yourself on the last page of your field journal.

*Optional Bonus Extra Credit Point Question: At the beginning of these instructions, I described the Lorax as an Allegory. After watching the movie and considering the moral of the story, can you come up with an idea for what an “Allegory” is?

Thanks for learning with us today! To end this forest ecology unit, we’d like you to fill in the Environmental Promise on the last page of your Field Journal.

And remember, UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing’s going to get better. It’s not.

Additional Resources:
Did you love the Oh Deer! game? Want to keep learning about these relationships? The Grand Ronde Tribe has created some very cool curriculum, including a deer lesson that’s a good extension to Oh Deer!. If you’re interested in playing, read these instructions.

Back to NW Outdoor Science School At Home Curriculum