Student Worksheet

How Do Plants Live With Bushfires? - Activity Instructions

Part A: What does ADAPTATION mean?

Step 1.

In this activity, you will look at the adaptations that flora has developed to help them live with bushfires. But what does adaptation mean? Watch the following clip:

Living Things Change: Crash Course Kids (https://youtu.be/xDSFlRunlrU)

Once complete, write down your observations about this clip using the questions below, recording your answers in your workbook or on a separate piece of paper (or discuss your answers with an adult):

What did you find interesting in this clip?
What questions do you have about what you saw in this clip?

In summary, adaptation is a characteristic that helps an organism live in its environment.

Part B: What is flora?

Step 1.

In this activity, you will be thinking about the impact bushfires have on our environment, and looking at how our flora have adapted to bushfires.

The first thing to do is to understand what is meant by flora.

What do you think flora is? Write your ideas in your workbook.

When you’re done, check a dictionary or conduct some research online to find out if you were correct. If you’re checking your answers online, you might want to use this link:

Step 2.

Now have a think about native flora. Read through the following questions and add your ideas to your workbook. You can record your ideas as notes or sketches:

Do you know any examples of Australian flora?
What about the features of Australian flora - do any features stand out?

Optional: If you have a gum (eucalyptus) tree near your house, take a few moments to go outside and observe this tree using your senses. What does the tree look, feel, smell and sound like? (You could probably skip the ‘taste’ part, but you may already know what eucalyptus tastes like.) Once complete, you could head back indoors and record any observations to this document.

Step 3.

What types of flora did you think of? Trees, flowers, bushes? Australian native flora comes in all shapes, sizes and colours. There are towering eucalypts, prickly shrubs, soft grasses, and delicate orchids. There are flowers that have incredible smells, plants whose fruits and leaves you can eat, and trees whose bark can be peeled away and used to hold water or to write on.

Some of the features we think of when we think of native Australian flora include gum nuts, gum leaves and gum blossoms. Did you know there are around 900 species of eucalyptus trees in Australia? Also, did you know that almost all eucalyptus species are native to Australia?

Part C: Native Flora And Bushfires

Step 1.

In this part of the activity, you will be looking at how native flora live with bushfires. Bushfires have been a part of the Australian landscape for a very long time, and many of our native flora has had to find ways of living with fire.

Have you heard of any adaptations or behaviours that help native flora live with fire? Add your ideas to your workbooks, using keywords.

Step 2.

You will now look at some of the adaptations that some species of native flora have developed in response to fire.

Read through this factsheet: How Have Plants Adapted To Bushfires?

You can then watch this clip:

Adaptations: Fire Ecology (https://youtu.be/W1WMYn_V-mE)

Once complete, record your answers to the following questions in your workbooks (or share your ideas with an adult):

What did you find surprising and why?
What do you want to know more about?

Step 3.

You could now take a look at the Flora, Fauna, Fire resource. Open up the resources and work through the story until you reach the page listing all the species that have been studied following the Black Saturday bushfires.

Select two or three flora species and read through the information about these plants. You might need an adult to help you. Once complete, spend a few minutes talking to an adult about what you noticed in this article, what you found interesting, and what you’d like to know more about. Take some notes about key ideas as you talk. Did you find any information about adaptation in this article?

Following your discussion, you can then write one paragraph to summarise the key points of the article, and one paragraph to summarise the key ideas raised in your discussion.

Part C: Flora Adaptations In Your Area

Step 1.

You’re now going to head outside and look for some examples of the adaptations you looked at in this lesson.

Grab some drawing paper or a sketchbook, a pencil, eraser, and a ruler. If it’s sunny, pack some water, a hat, and some sunscreen. Tell an adult where you’re going and what you’re doing (or take an adult with you) and head outside.

Step 2.

For any examples that you find, spend a few minutes making a quick scientific sketch. For each example that you find, create two small sketches, one of the features you are focusing on and one of the whole plant with an arrow to where the feature you focused on is found.

Your sketch should include:

A rough outline detailing main features
Annotated labels
Measurements (where possible)
Date and time.

Once you have found at least one example (find more if you like!) you can head back indoors.

Reflection

Finally, take a moment to reflect on this activity and record your answers to the following in your workbooks:

I used to think…
But now I think…

Share your thoughts about this lesson with an adult!

How Do Plants Live With Bushfires? (home learning)

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