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Plant Puzzlers
These problems will help students learn some surprising facts about rare native plants while practicing their math skills.
Teacher guidelines:
Make copies of the following problems for students to complete on their own. Several questions follow each problem to encourage students to think more about the facts presented. These questions may be used to stimulate class discussion and to generate topics for student papers and projects.
- In 1992, 891 species were listed as threatened or
endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and 468 of
these species were plants. In the same year, federal government agencies
spent $160 million on recovering listed species. Listed plants received
only $5.6 million from this budget. What percent of the budget was spent
on plants? If every listed species, plant and animal alike, was given
equal funding, how much would the USFWS have spent in 1992 on plants?
Why do you think our government spends more money on animals than plants? Do you think that endangered animals receive more attention in the U.S. than plants? Why or why not? How many endangered animals can you name? How many endangered plants? - About 75,000 plant species are believed to be edible,
but only about 150 of these have been widely used in agriculture. What
percent of all edible plants have not been developed for commercial
purposes? Two-thirds of the 4,000 wild U.S. plants now of conservation
concern are closely related to cultivated species. Approximately how
many plants could potentially be used in the U.S. alone?
How many different plant species can you find in your kitchen or school cafeteria? As a project, begin by recording the foods that you recognize as plants, such as rice, apples, and carrots. Then, for a challenge, make a list of foods that contain plant ingredients, such as wheat in your bread, corn syrup in your soda, and cinnamon in your cookies. Which plants are used in the foods you eat? Why do you think we rely on relatively few species for food? Why might this be unwise? Try to find out about some rare plants (such as the Price’s groundnut) that have agricultural potential and may make it to your table some day. - About 1,100 native plants currently grow in Hawaii, and 90% of these are endemic, meaning that they grow nowhere else in the world. Nine percent of these plants have already become extinct since humans settled the islands. Today, about 40% of the endemic plants are threatened with the same fate. How many plants in Hawaii are endangered? How many are already gone forever?
Many endemic species can be found on isolated islands such as Hawaii. Island plants often do not have to adapt to grazing animal species, so they evolve quickly and become so highly specialized that they are limited to a single island or even one part of an island. Why do you think plants on islands are often the most threatened in the world? Find out how many threatened and endangered plants grow in your state. Compare the percentage of threatened and endangered plants in your state versus that of Hawaii. What are the greatest threats that plants face in your area?