RAIN EXPERIMENT. Mountains help make their own weather. When warm, moist air rises to cross a mountain, it cools and the moisture condenses into a cloud. What happens with taller mountains? What happens with colder air?
BEAVER MYSTERY. Yellowstone used to have valleys full of willows and beaver ponds, but not any more. Study the years to find out what happened to the beaver. What happens if you add a lot of elk to the valley?
ELK CHALLENGE. Can you keep the elk population the same? Do human hunters change the elk population? How many wolves should you bring in? What happens if there are no elk predators?
Number of Hunters/Fewer/More/0/200/400/600/800/1000
Number of Wolves/Fewer/More/0/25/50/75/100/125/150
GEYSER POOL EXPERIMENT. What makes the bright colors in thermal areas? Sample water from different parts of a hot pool. Does the color change when the water temperature or the weather changes?
BEETLE EPIDEMIC! Mountain Pine Beetle epidemics kill millions of trees, but how do these epidemics spread? Do beetles move faster in wet or in dry years? Can you tell how and where they travel?
MAKE IT BLOW! In a geyser "pipe," pressure keeps the water from boiling until, suddenly, the whole column erupts out of the opening! Change the "plumbing" and temperature. Why do some geysers erupt and others donâ•’t?
Plumbing Height/Short/Tall/Short/Tall
Plumbing Width/Narrow/Wide/Narrow/Wide
A11_001.PIC/A11_002.PIC
A11_003.PIC/A11_004.PIC
@/7
FISHY FOOD CHAIN. Hawks eat snakes. Snakes eat mice. Mice eat grass seed. That is one kind of a food chain. Move up and down the river food chain. What is at the top? What is at the bottom?
MAKE A PLANT! Every plant has special adaptations to its habitat. Can you design a plant to live on a high Yellowstone mountain? Or a sunny meadow? Or a shady river bank?
Plant Height/Short/Tall/Short/Tall
Leaf Texture & Size/Previous/Next/Smooth, big leaf/Smooth, small leaf/Fuzzy, big leaf/Fuzzy, small leaf