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 Article:
Made in the Shade: The Current Situation and Possible Future of U.S. Urban ForestsThis article is from Issue Facts to the Future - Vol. 5 No. 1.
* Note: All editions of the Natural Inquirer starting with Volume 5 and including future editions require the newest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 in order to be downloaded. We have upgraded in order to ensure greater accessibility to PDF files. Please click on the following link if you need to upgrade your Adobe Acrobat reader: Upgrade now to Adobe Reader 6.0. It is a free upgrade. The scientists in this study were asked to determine the current status of urban forests in the United States.
Welcome to the Facts to the Future editionEducation Standards CorrelationsMeet the scientists that contributed to this article: "Science Topics" covered in this article:
"Environmental Topics" covered in this article:
Regions covered in this article:
"Thinking About Science Themes" covered in this article: One of the goals of science is to be able to predict what might happen in the future. No one really knows for sure what will happen in the future, even with scientific information. With accurate scientific information, however, scientists can make a fairly good guess. One of the ways that scientists predict what will happen in the future is to examine what has happened over time. Let's say, for example, that a scientist has observed that the number of frogs living in an area between 1981 and 2003 went down every year. If you were the scientist, would you predict that the number of frogs will go down over the next 5 years or stay the same? You can see that if scientists are going to make useful predictions concerning the future, they need to know what has happened in the past over a period of time. Specific "Thinking About Science" Themes:"Thinking About Environmental Themes" covered in this article: The scientists in this study examined a special kind of forest. This kind of forest is probably familiar to you, but you never guessed that it is called a forest! This special forest is called an urban forest, and it is defined as the trees and other plants that grow where people live, work, and play. An urban forest includes trees that grow along the street, in your schoolyard, in parks, and anywhere else in the community (figure 1). An urban forest, like a rural forest, provides homes for animals, such as birds, small mammals, and insects. They make places more beautiful, reduce noise, and provide shade. They also reduce flooding by slowing or stopping some rain from hitting the ground and by absorbing rainwater. Urban forests keep the air cleaner by absorbing carbon dioxide. They also provide places for people to play and learn about the natural environment. People don't always think of the trees and other plants near their homes as natural resources, but they are! Specific "Thinking About the Environment" Themes:NSE Standards covered in this article:
Science Benchmarks covered in this article:
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