Lesson overview: In this activity, the class assembles a graphic model of forest communities in the northern Rocky Mountains and the North Cascades. They use feltboard materials from the trunk to show illustrate the optimal environmental conditions for each species and show how individual tree species are associated with each other in ecological communities. Then they use the model to predict the effects of changing climate conditions on the distribution of species.

Goals:

1. To increase students’ understanding that forest communities develop under specific environmental conditions because species with similar needs are likely to occur together.
2. To increase students’ ability to interpret data displayed on a map and use that information to make predictions about the effects of climate change on forest communities.

Objectives: Given information on the environmental conditions in which various tree species live, students can:

• Describe a forest community in terms of tree species that are likely to occur together.
• Use information from maps to predict the effects of climate change.