As an Undergraduate teacher of Biological Sciences or Agricultural Sciences, you can use this set of computer based tools to teach about cultivation of mulberry plants as an important food source of the silkworm, Bombyx mori for the sericulture industry. Mulberry is a deciduous treebelonging to the Moraceae family having traditional economic importance for the sustainability of the sericulture industry. This plant grows in various climatic ecosystems including the temperate and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Europe and USA.
This lesson plan will allow you to teach about the cultivation of the mulberry plant, impact of climate change on its growth and quality and quantity of leaf production which will ultimately impact the silkworm rearing and silk production. This lesson could thereby help in the understanding of the management and cultivation practices of mulberry. Climate change impacts such as increased level of CO2 affects plant yield through photosynthesis and stomatal conductance but the beneficial impact of elevated CO2 can be offset by other effects of climate change such as elevated temperature and altered patterns of precipitation. This could help in teaching and developing better management practices for the sericulture industry as the climate change may directly affect the mulberry plantation, soil, pest and the silkworms
Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a core topic in Biological Sciences and Agricultural Sciences
The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:
Teacher-contributed lesson plan by Dr Neeti Mehla, Dr Amit Vashishtha and Dr Aditi Kothari Chhajer, Sri Venkateswara College (University of Delhi), India.
Want to know more about how to contribute? Contact us.
| Grade Level | High School |
| Discipline | Biological Sciences |
| Topic(s) in Discipline | Plant Phenology, Phenophase, Phenological Variations, Timing of Fruit Production, Length of Fruit Production, Precipitation Patterns, Photoperiod |
| Climate Topic | Climate and the Biosphere |
| Location | North America, USA, New England |
| Language(s) | English |
| Access | Online / offline |
| Approximate Time Required | 50 mins |
| Share | |
| Resource Download |
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Video and associated reading (20 min)
Play the video, ‘The Stories Plants Tell: The Science of Phenology’, by Project Budburst to introduce phenology and factors influencing phenology in plants.
Use the associated reading, ‘What is Phenology?’, to discuss phenology in plants in detail, including topics such as what are phenophases and the influence of environmental factors like light, temperature, humidity, and length of day on plant phenology. Use the reading to also describe some phenological studies that showed a link between climate and phenology. Stress on how phenological changes in different species could be indicative of climate induced environmental change.
Reading (15 mins)
Use this classroom activity, ‘The Timing of Fruit Production in Wild Strawberry Plants’, by Elissa Koskela and Dr Molly Schauffler, University of Maine, to explore a phenology dataset on the timing and length of wild strawberry production in northern New England, USA. Using the data provided on page 1, have your students create graphs that compares strawberry production over 4 consecutive years. Then, use the questions posed in the activity sheet to enable students to understand the differences observed in fruit production in different years. Discuss the implications of such differences in the context of a changing environment due to climate change.
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
| 1 | Reading | A reading, ‘Phenology as an Indicator of Environmental Variation and Climate Change Impacts’ by the National Phenology Network, USA, to understand the importance of phenological observations in climate change.
This can be accessed here. |
| 2 | Reading | A research paper, ‘Impact of climate change on the timing of strawberry phenological processes in the Baltic States’, by Liga Bethere, Tija Sile, Juris Sennikovs and Uldis Bethers, University of Latvia, to understand the phenological changes in strawberry plants using Regional Climate Models.
This can be accessed here |
| 1 | Video and associated reading; “About Phenology” | Developed by ProjectBudBurst, a project by the Chicago Botanic Garden. |
| 2 | Classroom/Laboratory Activity; “The Timing of Fruit Production in Wild Strawberry Plants” | Authored by Elissa Koskela (University of Maine Cooperative Extension) and Dr Molly Schauffler (University of Maine Climate Change Institute and RiSE Center). Made available by the Signs of the Seasons: A New England Phenology Program by University of Maine Cooperative Extension. |
| 3 | Additional Resources | “Phenology as an Indicator of Environmental Variation and Climate Change Impacts” by the National Phenology Network, USA; “Impact of climate change on the timing of strawberry phenological processes in the Baltic States” by Liga Bethere, Tija Sile, Juris Sennikovs and Uldis Bethers, University of Latvia. Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2016, 65, 1, 48–58; Estonian Academy Publishers. |
| Grade Level | High School |
| Discipline | Biological Sciences |
| Topic(s) in Discipline | Plant Phenology, Phenophase, Phenological Variations, Timing of Fruit Production, Length of Fruit Production, Precipitation Patterns, Photoperiod |
| Climate Topic | Climate and the Biosphere |
| Location | North America, USA, New England |
| Language(s) | English |
| Access | Online / offline |
| Approximate Time Required | 50 mins |
| Share | |
| Resource Download |
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Video and associated reading (20 min)
Play the video, ‘The Stories Plants Tell: The Science of Phenology’, by ProjectBudburst to introduce phenology and factors influencing phenology in plants. Use the associated reading, ‘About Phenology’, to discuss phenology in plants in detail, including topics such as what are phenophases and the influence of environmental factors like light, temperature, humidity, and length of day on plant phenology. Use the reading to also describe some phenological studies that showed a link between climate and phenology. Stress on how phenological changes in different species could be indicative of climate induced environmental change.
Reading (15 mins)
Use this classroom activity, ‘The Timing of Fruit Production in Wild Strawberry Plants’, by Elissa Koskela and Dr Molly Schauffler, University of Maine, to explore a phenology dataset on the timing and length of wild strawberry production in northern New England, USA. Using the data provided on page 1, have your students create graphs that compares strawberry production over 4 consecutive years. Then, use the questions posed in the activity sheet to enable students to understand the differences observed in fruit production in different years. Discuss the implications of such differences in the context of a changing environment due to climate change.
Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
| 1 | Reading | A reading, ‘Phenology as an Indicator of Environmental Variation and Climate Change Impacts’ by the National Phenology Network, USA, to understand the importance of phenological observations in climate change.
This can be accessed here. |
| 2 | Reading | A research paper, ‘Impact of climate change on the timing of strawberry phenological processes in the Baltic States’, by Liga Bethere, Tija Sile, Juris Sennikovs and Uldis Bethers, University of Latvia, to understand the phenological changes in strawberry plants using Regional Climate Models.
This can be accessed here |
| 1 | Video and associated reading; “About Phenology” | Developed by ProjectBudBurst, a project by the Chicago Botanic Garden. |
| 2 | Classroom/Laboratory Activity; “The Timing of Fruit Production in Wild Strawberry Plants” | Authored by Elissa Koskela (University of Maine Cooperative Extension) and Dr Molly Schauffler (University of Maine Climate Change Institute and RiSE Center). Made available by the Signs of the Seasons: A New England Phenology Program by University of Maine Cooperative Extension. |
| 3 | Additional Resources | “Phenology as an Indicator of Environmental Variation and Climate Change Impacts” by the National Phenology Network, USA; “Impact of climate change on the timing of strawberry phenological processes in the Baltic States” by Liga Bethere, Tija Sile, Juris Sennikovs and Uldis Bethers, University of Latvia. Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2016, 65, 1, 48–58; Estonian Academy Publishers. |
