Apples, blueberries, peppers, cucumbers, coffee, and vanilla. Do you like to eat and drink? Then you might want to thank a bee. Bees pollinate 75 percent of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. Around the world, bees pollinate $24 billion worth of crops each year. Without bees, humans would face a drastically reduced diet. We need bees to grow the foods that keep us healthy. But numbers of bees are falling, and that has scientists alarmed. What's causing the decline? Diseases, pesticides, climate change, and loss of habitat are all threatening bee populations. Some bee species teeter on the brink of extinction. Learn about the many bee species on Earth—their nests, their colonies, their life cycles, and their vital connection to flowering plants. Most importantly, find out how you can help these important pollinators.
The field of life science involves the study of living organisms, their organization, life processes, and the characteristics of all living things, such as plants, animals, and human beings. The reproducible activity pages supplement life science textbooks with stand-alone or coordinate one-page lessons. Sample activities include: Angiosperms and Gymnosperms, Animal Cell, Bacteria, Cell Functions, Comparing Fish/Amphibians/ Reptiles, Comparing Vertebrate Hearts, Ferns, and More!
A look at a common food chain in the Rocky Mountains, introducing the ponderosa pine tree that starts the chain, the mountain lion that sits atop the chain, and various animals in between.
A look at a common food chain in the Arctic tundra, introducing the Arctic willow that starts the chain, the wolf that sits atop the chain, and various animals in between.
When we think of wild animals, we don't immediately associate them with the cities we live in. But a closer look soon reveals that we share our urban environment with a great many untamed creatures. Heavily illustrated and full of entertaining and informative facts, City Critters examines how and why so many wild animals choose to live in places that, on first glance at least, seem contrary to their needs. How do those deer, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, coyotes, crows, gulls and geese-not to mention the alligators, eagles, otters and snakes-manage to survive in the big city? What special skills do city critters have that many of their wilderness cousins lack? Why have they developed these skills? And what are our responsibilities in ensuring that these animals can continue to share our city lives?
