Standards

STANDARD V:  Students will understand the physical characteristics of Utah's wetlands, forests, and deserts and identify common organisms for each environment.

Objective 1:  Describe the physical characteristics of Utah's wetlands, forests, and deserts.

Compare the physical characteristics (e.g., precipitation, temperature, and surface terrain) of Utah's wetlands, forests, and deserts.

Describe Utah?s wetlands (e.g., river, lake, stream, and marsh areas where water is a major feature of the environment) forests (e.g., oak, pine, aspen, juniper areas where trees are a major feature of the environment), and deserts (e.g., areas where the lack of water provided an environment where plants needing little water are a major feature of the environment).

Create models of wetlands, forests, and deserts.

Objective 2:  Describe the common plants and animals found in Utah environments and how these organisms have adapted to the environment in which they live.

Identify common plants and animals that inhabit Utah's forests, wetlands, and deserts.

Cite examples of physical features that allow particular plants and animals to live in specific environments (e.g., duck has webbed feet, cactus has waxy coating).

Describe some of the interactions between animals and plants of a given environment (e.g., woodpecker eats insects that live on trees of a forest, brine shrimp of the Great Salt Lake eat algae and birds feed on brine shrimp).

Objective 4:  Observe and record the behavior of Utah animals.

Observe and record the behavior of birds (e.g., caring for young, obtaining food, surviving winter).

Describe how the behavior and adaptations of Utah mammals help them survive winter (e.g., obtaining food, building homes, hibernation, migration).

Research and report on the behavior of a species of Utah fish (e.g., feeding on the bottom or surface, time of year and movement of fish to spawn, types of food and how it is obtained).