Public presentations and podcasts
- Megan talks about why alpine plants are flowering earlier and why it matters in the Atlanta Botanical Garden Science Cafe. You can watch here.
- Anna chats with Matt Candeias about granite outcrops and the rare and beautiful native plants that rely on them on the In Defense of Plants podcast. You can listen here.
- It's tough being a long-lived plant. Megan talks about the challenges of rapid climate change for alpine plants that live hundreds of years on the In Defense of Plants podcast. You can listen here.
- Riley writes about the natural history of granite outcrops in this popular article for the Athens Science-Observer. You can read it here.
Data Puzzles: middle and high school curriculum in ecology and climate change
Data Puzzles are 2-3 day lesson plans for middle and high school classrooms that leverage real scientific data sets to address next generation science standards. We have developed two data puzzles investigating alpine plants and impacts of climate change:
- What's the limit? Moss campion is a brightly-colored flowering plant that is adapted to live for a long time in harsh arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems. Because of this, and the fact that they live in a wide range of latitudes in the U.S., moss campion can give scientists insight into how changes in climate might impact plant species and their ability to adapt to such changes. After analyzing and interpreting moss campion growth and survival data, students will explain how latitude impacts and affects these hearty tundra plants.
- The tipping point. Moss campion is a hearty tundra plant that lives over a wide range of latitudes from New Mexico all the way up to Alaska. For more than twenty years, ecologists have been tracking the vital rates (survival, growth, and reproduction) of moss campion from four study sites to investigate questions like, "How is moss campion reproduction affected by temperature?" Questions like this one can give scientists insight into how these plants might be impacted by climate change.
Other educational resources
- Meredith explains how climate change is affecting when plants flower in the science communication journal The Civilian. This article is written at a 10th grade reading level. You can read it here.
- Riley uses Pokémon as a fun example to explain how evolution works and tackle misconceptions in the Athens-Science Observer. This article is written at an undergraduate reading level. You can read it here.
