Lafayette Township School 6 th Grade 6 - 1

Our Forest Ecosystem

Our Ecosystem O The geography of our area features uplifted land, rolling hills and mountains. The region contains two national parks at its edges, 60,000 acres of state parkland, and a diverse geography filled with lakes, rivers and picturesque hills. O We are surrounded by trees and farmland. On any day we are likely to see white tailed deer, wild turkey, raccoons and even black bear in our back yard.

Crawling with Biodiversity O The squares were full of life.

Lafayette,New Jersey and San Marzano De San Giuseppe O In San Marzano di San Giuseppe there are many buildings, small patches of grass, and small areas of trees. The buildings are very close together in San Marzano di San Giuseppe so are the roads.

Biotic Comparisons: Animals O In Italy and New Jersey, we both have ants, beetles, flying bugs, snails, and worms. O In Italy they have lizards, millipedes, snow bugs, rose’s aphids, and we don’t have those things. O Instead, we have spiders, ticks, slugs, grasshoppers, spittle bugs, centipedes, larvae, and evidence of birds.

Biotic Comparison: Plants O In New Jersey, there is a much greater variety of plants. For example, in Italy they only recorded having bushes, grass, trees, and weeds. Some of the plants they recorded were agave, zangone, bear trees, yucca, and rosary. O Our class has recorded many more plants including dandelions, moss, lichen, and a variety of deciduous trees.

Abiotic Comparisons O In Italy and New Jersey we both have litter in our squares. O All of the litter in both squares is recyclable. O So lets recycle and keep the litter out of our school yards.

Lafayette Compared to San Antonio

San Antonio, Texas O The climate is very humid in Texas. It is around 90 degrees, in the spring. There are many trees but not as many as New Jersey. They have lawns but there grass is not as green and healthy as ours, due to the humid climate.

Biotic Comparisons: Animals O Both Texas and New Jersey have ants, beetles, flying bugs, spiders, grasshoppers, and worms. O Texas also has walking sticks, butterflies, and crickets. O New Jersey has snails, ticks, slugs, centipedes, larvae, and evidence of birds.

Biotic Comparisons: Plants O Some of the similarities between the two schools are things like trees, weeds, grass, small flowers, seeds, and moss. O In Texas they have a plant that has burrs. This seed has spikes on them and sticks to clothing and fur. We did not see this in our square but we have seen them in our own yards.

Abiotic Comparisons O Something’s they saw that we did not are; big rocks, spider web, bead from a necklace, chewed gum, faded business cards, and a piece of cloth. O Your class found dew and so did we. In Texas you also found dirt, mud, paper, plastic, and small rocks, and so did we. O Your ecosystem is not like ours, but you have big rocks that are not near or around our squares.

Throughout our square… O We enjoyed learning about Italy and Texas and their ecosystems. We found out that we were very similar, but different at the same time. We discovered that even though we all live on the same planet, we all have different biotic organisms and abiotic things.

The End!