It's time to head out into nature! With the great outdoors calling, there are plenty of opportunities to go exploring. Today's read should help out on that end as it explores various plants and fungi, and looks at certain ones, which have a special role in the balance of the ecosystem. Or so the blurb claims. Telling by the cover, these pages hit exotic as well as, maybe, local categories. There are activities included, too, and I'm eager to see how practical and fun these are.
Grab those explorer hats because we're headed outside with this one!
KEYSTONE PLANTS AND FUNGI
Discover the Organisms Vital to Ecosystem
Health and Biodiversity
by Laura Perdew
Illustrated by Micah Rauch
Nomad Press
128 pages
ages 9 to 12
COMING OCTOBER 15th!!!
A fascinating companion book to Keystone Species!
Who's keeping the ecosystem healthy?
In any ecosystem, every species has a role to play. From towering trees and enormous whales to the smallest microorganisms, and from plants and fungi to animals and insects, each species is important to the overall health of the ecosystem. But some of those species play such vital roles that without them, the ecosystem is in danger of collapsing. These are called keystone species.
In Keystone Species: Meet the Animals Key to Ecosystem Health and Biodiversity with Hands- On Science Activities for Kids, young scientists are introduced to several different types of keystone species from around the world as they discover the crucial roles these organisms play in their ecosystems. Meet the sharks, gray wolves, beavers, American alligators, bees, flying foxes, wildebeests, bison, and coral that all play a vital role in regulating an ecosystem.
Try these science activities!
- Map a wildebeest migration
- Create an African savannah food web
- Dissect a flower
- Model ocean acidification
MY TIDBITS
Keystone plants and fungi gain the spotlight in an interesting and hands-on way.
After carefully defining and making clear what a keystone in terms of the ecosystem means, these pages dive into various examples from the plant and fungi realm. These examples comes from around the world, each one gaining clear explanations and clarification as to what it is, it's purpose in the ecosystem, and what happens if it disappears. But that's only the beginning. These pages offer quite a bit more as small sidenotes help broaden the knowledge surrounding ecosystems, biology and science, in general. There are many Qcodes spread throughout the pages, where readers can view short videos about the topics. These help liven things up and also give real life views to help make the information clear. There are also plenty of activities, which readers can do themselves to experiment with the knowledge and gain insights on their own.
The text is pretty straight-forward but stays interesting. I especially appreciate the list of vocabulary words along the edge of the page with the words placed in bold within the text for easy referencing. There are interesting tidbits dropped in here and there to make sure things don't get too dry. Even the visual end is well done thanks to the images. It almost has the feel of an interactive classroom. The information is supplemented nicely to help keep boredom away. The activities tie directly into the section's theme and offer various possibilities each time. These are no problem to do these almost anywhere and most don't even require much supervision, since they are very age appropriate. This allows readers to become researchers themselves and go hands-on into nature.
This is a packed book, which would even work well for groups and homeschooling themes, since it offers a rounded variety of information and activities.
And here they are...
Laura Perdew is a writing coach, presenter, former middle school teacher, and the author of The Fort (Page Street Kids, 2020) as well as dozens of nonfiction STEM books that focus on nature and the environment. This includes Biodiversity: Explore the Diversity of Life on Earth (Nomad Press, 2019) which is on the Booklist editors’ list of the Top 10 Books on the Environment & Sustainability for Youth 2020. She lives in Boulder, Colorado where she spends as much time as possible outdoors, hiking and watching wildlife. lauraperdew.com Micah Rauch is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator from the beautiful state of Montana. He received a BFA in graphic design from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana and has illustrated several books for Nomad Press, including Kitchen Chemistry, Fairground Physics, and Crazy Contraptions. micahrauch.com Instagram: instagram.com/micahrauch
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