Cause and Effect Assignment | Essay Help Services

Science assignment and the assignment directions is attached

Dendrology Unit

Module 5

Leaf Out!

Cause and Effect

“Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causes and effects.  These processes can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts.” – Adapted from NGSS Appendix G

Imagine you made some pasta yesterday.  To get started, you poured water into a pot and put it on the burner on your stove.  You turned the burner on.  What happened to the water?  What was the cause?  What was the effect?  Fill in the table.

Heating water on the stove:

Scientists look for changes in systems, and then they try to determine the cause of the change.  Knowing the cause helps them predict future changes (effects) on the system.

Michigan foresters can predict changes in trees due to changing seasons.  Watch this video about trees in spring.  Then go out and look at your tree.

What has changed since we started this unit?  What do you think caused the changes?

Are there flowers on your tree, or leaves, or both?  What’s the difference?

Most deciduous trees produce flowers.  (Trees that produce flowers are called angiosperms.  Trees that produce cones, like evergreens, are called gymnosperms.) The flowers will eventually form fruits with seeds that the tree will drop in hopes of reproducing more little trees.  Some of the flowers are large and showy, like the cherry blossoms in Washington DC or apple blossoms in Michigan.  Some are tiny and not easily noticed, like maples.   Some trees produce flowers first, and then leaves.  Others produce leaves and then flowers.  About 30% of Michigan trees will flower first, including maples, birches, elms, and hickories.  Scientists are unsure why the flowering order is different for some trees, but they believe the cause may be differences in precipitation or groundwater availability.  Other scientists believe it may have to do with wind pollination happening more easily if there are no leaves on the trees.

Maple tree flowers and fruit (samara).  Notice no leaves yet!

https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/05/76/21/5762150_fa15a3c0.jpg

Red Oak flowers (catkins) with leaves

Has your tree gone through leaf out?  Does your tree have flowers, or tiny leaves, or both?  Or neither?  Describe what you see at the tips of the branches of your tree:

What causes your tree to start to form flowers or leaves, or both?  Make a prediction here:

Now watch this video.  Take a look at this article.

What are several causes that together have the effect of trees forming leaves and flowers?

So, do trees leaf out at the exact same time every spring?  Because there are several causes, there can be a variance in when leaf out happens each year.  Do you think we’re having an early, average, or late leaf out this year?  Make a prediction.  Then look at this website to determine if your prediction is correct.

Some of the effects of leaf out and flowering include fruits that form and grow over the summer.  Another effect for people could be hayfever or allergies from tree pollen.  Which types of “businesses” in Michigan need to know when leaf out and tree flowering occur?  Brainstorm here:

Write at least two questions still you have about what causes trees to grow, reproduce, thrive, survive, or die.