National Water Week
Which part of the water cycle is interrupted when we remove plants from an environment? If lots of plants are removed from an area, what effect might this have on the community and the people who live there?
I am extremely impressed by the responses from classes and the different activities undertaken to determine an answer. I enjoyed viewing the discussion Room 32 was having on their Connect page and received some wonderful photos from Room 36 showing their answers to the question.
Some of the classroom responses are below:
Room 30
When we remove plants from an environment it interrupts the Transpiration part of the water cycle. There would be less rain, this would lead to less drinking water or water to grow new plants. Transpiration is the evaporation of water from the plants, this accounts for 10% of the water cycle.
If lots of plants were removed from an area it would affect the community greatly because we need plants to take in carbon dioxide and convert this to oxygen as well as provide shade.
Room 37
If there are no plants there will be less water and there will be no oxygen so we won’t be able to breathe. We wouldn’t be able to talk or do anything and we would probably die because we wouldn’t be able to breathe.
Room 41
Trees release water vapour which then evaporates into the atmosphere before precipitating back to the Earth. If all the plants are removed there is less water to be evaporated into the atmosphere which means less rain. Also, instead of the water being soaked up, there is more run-off which means more droughts and floods happen.
This means lots of people and animals could die and communities would be scared of things like drowning and electricity shortages. If there is no rain, we can’t grow food and we will die.
Room 25
Transpiration is when water comes off plants and goes into the sky. It is affected when plants are removed from the environment because plants give us oxygen to help us breathe. If all the plants are removed from an area people, animals and all living things will get sick and die.
Well done to everyone who participated in this Year’s Water Week Activity.
Mrs Standley and the Sustainability Team
