Episode Guide

1. Introduction to North American Biomes: This introductory show helps students develop an understanding of what it means to know your ecological address.

2. Forests: Forests helps students gain a better understanding of forest dynamics by giving a snapshot of North America’s most widespread forest types: coniferous forest, deciduous forest, and mixed forest.

3. Grasslands: This program takes you on a virtual field trip to the major North American grasslands (tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass) and showcases their great natural diversity. The program also discusses some of the ecological processes that maintain grasslands, including fire and grazing.

4. Deserts: The program discusses traits common to deserts all over the world, and describes the special characteristics that distinguish each North American desert.

5. Seashore: This program unearths the mysteries of the coast by describing the characteristics of the Atlantic coast, Gulf coast, and Pacific coast. Unique maritime habitats, such as sandy barrier islands and rocky shorelines, are compared and contrasted.

6. Rivers and Streams: Did you know that North America’s rivers and streams are home to the world’s richest populations of freshwater fish, mammals, mussels, crayfish, snails, and aquatic insects? Rivers and Streams follows a river as it journeys from its headwaters to the sea, describing the natural processes and riverine plants and animals you will encounter along the way.

7. Wetlands: The confusing thing about wetlands is that sometimes they are wet, and sometimes they are bone dry. Wetlands will help students understand that there are many different types of wetlands in North America, ranging from permanent lakes to floodplains that have a fluctuating water level.

8. Conserving North American Biomes: Understanding your ecological address is an important first step in developing a conservation ethic. This concluding program helps students understand why every North American biome is important to our quality of life, as they provide us with drinking water, food, and recreation.