RMPeery
May 31, 2012
Meadowbrook Park Field Trip
Background information:
Meadowbrook is a 130-acre park that has 80-acres of restored tall grass prairie.
Restoration began in 1978 and is maintained by Urbana Park District, the Champaign
County Audubon Society, and other volunteers. The prairie is a remnant of the much larger
historical tall grass prairie. Prairies are naturally very fertile soil and are maintained by
fire. One of the biggest threats to the prairie environment is land use change. Use this map
while discussing the woods to help students understand the transformation our region has
undergone. Currently there are many species of plants and animals that call this area their
home (see the following report for details of what is living in Meadowbrook
http://www.urbanaparks.org/documents/d92cb50f7a1ebc06be12bf364f337fe5/White_J_
2012_Inventory_and_Analysis_of_the_Flora_of_Meadowbrook_Park.pdf).
Map reprinted from John White’s report on the Inventory and analysis of the flora of
Meadowbrook Park.
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May 31, 2012
Objectives:
1. Cultivate an appreciation of plants in nature through observation
2. Define terminology for identifying plants
3. Comprehend the importance of identifying “things” ie plants
4. Demonstrate the ability to use a key
5. Create a take home field guide
6. Apply past ideas of ecosystem dynamics of a forest
a. If biomes have been covered then link biomes to what they see in a forest
b. Compare forest structure to the artificial environments created by farming
(or the terraria/dish gardens that were created in the Soils and Biomes
lesson).
c. Observe plant diversity
Materials:
1. Meadow or prairie
2. Field guides
a. Fold the page at end of document in half and staple in tracing paper (5 pages
should be enough)
3. Clip boards
4. Crayons (colored pencils will not create good rubbings)
5. Large sketch pad for leader to write terms on
6. iPads with Audubon wildflower identification app (or other plant identification
material). This app is designed for plants growing within the United States.
a. The Audubon wildflower guide can be downloaded from iTunes for the iPad
and using Google Play. Look here (http://www.audubonguides.com/fieldguides/wildflowers-north-america.html) for all available formats.
b. Guides are also available from the Audubon website:
http://www.audubonguides.com/home.html.
i. The following websites may be useful for learning floral terms used to
identify plants:
1. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/printout
s/floweranatomy.shtml
2. http://www.vplants.org/
c. If you do not have a tablet to use with students, field guides can be checked
out at local libraries or bookstores. These are region specific – you can look
at local herbarium websites for online keys. These range from beginners to
practitioners so keep that in mind when looking.
Pre-field trip:
1. Become very familiar with the app or field guide you are using and spend some time
at the field site using the keys.
2. While at the field site collect some abundant native plants to press for students to
use in their field notebooks. Make sure to know which plants you are collecting so
that you are not gathering rare or endangered plants!
RMPeery
May 31, 2012
3. If students are younger you may want to have them go through terminology in the
classroom – attention may wander once outside.
4. It may be beneficial to practice using the Audubon wildflower guide as a class prior
to going outside. Have students break into a group and key out a wildflower from
images or specimens that you collected previously.
5. As an alternative to rubbings, students could glue the plants/flowers into their book
and use regular paper and not use tracing paper.
6.
Standards/Benchmarks:
Connections to other lessons/concepts:
This lesson would work well after talking about soils and biomes. The introduction
of what plants need in soil to grow and what creates a biological system would be
beneficial to tie together larger concepts like how and why biomes are different in different
areas. In addition this lesson would work well after the Fruits and Flowers lesson. This
creates continuity in using keys and helps to develop an understanding of the importance
of identifying species and anatomical structures.
Engage/Explore:
1. Tell students that we are creating a field guide of the flowers in Meadowbrook Park.
2. Start with a question and answer session to get students thinking about objective
topics. The following are some examples that can be used. This should be done
before leaving for the walk.
a. Have you ever been to through the prairie here before? When?
b. What is special about plants in the tall grass prairie?
*Teachers note – need to add in information specific to region.
3. Ask students: Does anyone know what characteristics are used to identify
wildflowers?
4. Have students work in small groups to make a list of things they think will be useful
in identifying flowers.
Explain:
5. Go through the student’s lists and tell them the proper terminology for their
identifying characteristics.
*Teachers note – relate back to every day items i.e. serrated and steak knives.
6. Make a group list of terms used to identify plants. Add any terms that the key uses
that the students did not think of themselves.
Explore:
7. Students should be ready to walk along the trail and key out plants. Use the
Audubon Tree guide on the iPads.
a. To identify trees by keying use the “Advanced Search” tab in the app
homepage.
b. In advanced search there are a lot of options, see below for a description of
critical terminology.
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May 31, 2012
*Note – the terms in the Audubon key are not mutually exclusive, one can select
drooping, axillary flowers for example.
c. Click on each descriptor (ie Shape, Habitats, Regions etc.) and choose the
radio button next to the most appropriate term from the list.
*Teachers note – less is often more when you are using this type of key. Leaving
out the shape of the tree, flower position, and the bark type often helps you get
the correct identification.
8. Have students make a rubbing of the leaves they are attempting to identify in their
field notebook. Flower stalks can be saved for pressing.
9. Once plants are identified have the student write the common names on the page
with the rubbing. This makes a nice take home field guide for the students.
a. You can also ask older students to include key features used to identify this
tree – how did they reach their conclusion.
b. Once pressed plants are dry they can be glued into the books on the proper
pages.
Elaborate:
10. As the lesson wraps up this is a good time to ask students what else they think keys
could be used for.
11. Have them think about where their field guide can be used. (Only in central Illinois).
12. Give examples of what keys could be used for and why knowing how to identify to
species is important.
Evaluate:
13. Have students create interview questions as a group. Have them take turns being
the interviewer and the interviewee. This will help them tie concepts together and
document what they learned in a fun way.
a. Have groups write questions and answers about the field trip. For example:
What was the coolest thing you saw in Busey Woods?; How can you tell an
oak tree from a redbud tree?; What makes a leaf compound vs simple?
b. After the questions and answers are written down have students take turns
being the interviewer (holding the camera and asking questions) and the
interviewee (the on camera personality).
14. This evaluation can be different if used as an in class activity instead of a voluntary
afterschool program. Turning in field guides to see how many were identified and
how they were identified. Look at key terms to see that this worked.
15. The Busey Woods field trip can be a terminal lesson rounding out many topics
discussed about ecology and how plants grow. The lesson could also lead up to
Fruits and Flowers. In this sequence keying would be repeated and the students
would learn about what creates an environment and what plants need to reproduce
before learning about plant reproduction.
Keying Terminology:
*Note – the terms in the Audubon key are not mutually exclusive; one can select drooping,
axillary flowers for example.
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May 31, 2012
Shape – this term is used to describe how the flowers are growing or if you don’t
have flowers you can select that there are seeds/fruits present.
o Elongated
o Radially symmetrical
o Bilaterally symmetrical
o Rounded clusters
o Daisy like
o Cacti and succulents
Habitats – the local habitat can be found at your states DNR website. The Minnesota
DNR website has a nice description of common Midwest habitat types
(http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/cwcs/habitat_descriptions.html).
Regions – your region is defined by where you are in the US and the type of biome
that grows there. Busey Woods is predominantly an oak hickory forest that is
similar in composition to lowland deciduous forests even though the selection in the
app needs to be plains.
Flower Color – be careful when selecting flower color, often color changes as the
flower ages. If you are not getting the correct identification try leaving this item
blank.
Leaves – leaves consist of a blade, a petiole (stalk that supports the leaf), and the
stipules (connect leaf to stem – not used in the Audubon key); to determine if a leaf
is simple or compound look for the leaf bud at the base of the petiole, there is always
one leaf bud per leaf (this feature is NOT useful for keying evergreen trees).
1. Scale-leaf – this type of leaf has small overlapping “armor” like leaves and is
most commonly found on evergreen trees and shrubs
2. Needle-leaf – these leaves are found on many evergreen trees and are most
common in the pine family
3. Palms – these leaves are seen on palm trees and cycads with large indentations
along the central vein
4. Toothed simple leaves – if there are small serrations on the outside of the leaf
(also see #12)
5. Untoothed simpled leaves – this is frequently known as entire and the leaf edges
are smooth (also see #12)
6. Palmately lobed leaves – leaves have indentations in the shape of a hand, think
maple leaves
7. Pinnately compound leaves – leaflets are arranged along a central “vein” (rachis)
and can be opposite, alternate, or whorled in relation to each other.
8. Pinnately lobed leaves – indentations in the leaf are opposite each other (vs
palmately lobed)
9. Palmately compound leaves - leaf is divided and the leaflets radiate from the
middle
10. Agave and cacti – these terms do not apply and should not be part of the tree
identification options
11. Compound – has more than one blade per leaf bud
12. Simple – only has one blade per leaf bud
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RMPeery
May 31, 2012
Leaf arrangement – leaves come off of stems at nodes, there are only 3 ways leaves
can be arranged around nodes.
1. Alternate – one leaf per node, nodes alternate up the stem
2. Opposite – one leaf per node, nodes are opposite each other all the way up the
stem
3. Whorled – there are many leaves per node
Leaf shape – it can be difficult to determine if a leaf is oval or elliptic or just slightly
oval (obovate), make sure to look at several older leaves (leaf shape changes as they
mature); if leaf shape is leading to inconclusive or no identified trees then do not
select a shape.
1. Needle – ie pine trees
2. Scale – ie junipers or some cyprus
3. Elliptic – (elliptical) leaf is wider in the middle
4. Ovate – leaf is wider towards base
5. Lanceolate – leaf is narrower than ovate but similar in shape with less
pronounced widening at the base
6. Obovate – leaf is wider near the end of the blade
7. Heart-Shaped – (obcordate) leaf is wider at the tip of the blade with slight
indentation creating a heart shape
8. Round – (orbicular; oval)
9. Triangular – (deltoid) leaf is wider at the base with a sharper tip rather than
rounded
10. Fan – Ginkgo leaves
8
1
2
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9
4
3
6
5
Spine – either present or absent, this category includes thorns also (if thorns are
present select present)
Flower position – this category can be tricky for beginners and the number of trees
identified with other categories is usually narrow enough that if this is left blank it
will not be an issue.
1. Axillary – flowers are found at the leaf nodes
2. Terminal – flowers are only found at the end of branches
3. Drooping – flower faces down
4. Upright – flower faces up
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May 31, 2012
5. Elongate – this includes catkins, spikes, and racemes;
6. Headlike – in this key this term refers to flowers with a lot of petals
7. Catkin – these are found on wind pollinated trees and do not look like traditional
flowers
Terminology references:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s digital flowers database accessed 6/6/12 http://www.life.illinois.edu/plantbio/digitalflowers/
Leaf images from Familiar Trees of South Carolina accessed 6/5/12 http://www.clemson.edu/extfor/publications/bul117/
Catkin image from Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago accessed 6/6/12 http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/sal/index.htm
RMPeery
May 31, 2012
History of Meadowbrook Park
Meadowbrook is a 130-acre park that has 80-acres
of restored tall grass prairie. Restoration began in 1978 and
is maintained by Urbana Park District, the Champaign
County Audubon Society, and other volunteers. The prairie
is a remnant of the much larger historical tall grass prairie.
Prairies are naturally very fertile soil and are maintained
by fire. One of the biggest threats to the prairie
environment is land use change. Use this map while
discussing the woods to help students understand the
transformation our region has undergone.
Visit http://www.urbanaparks.org/facilities/16.html for
more information on Meadowbrook Park.
This image shows the change in land use in Illinois and the
reduction of forest.
Meadowbrook Park
Wildflower Book