Babad Do'ag

Babad Doag

Elevation: 1100 meters (3600 feet), compare to Tucson valley floor at 2389 ft

Originally known by the Tohono O'odham nation as Babad Do'ag (bah-bahd doe-awk), meaning “Frog Mountain”. From the Tucson valley, the Santa Catalinas look like a giant sleeping frog. The word “Tucson” also comes from the Tohono O’odham language. It roughly translates to “at the foot of the black hill”.

Introduce idea of Sky Island

Think-Pair-Share

1. Point out view with mountains surrounding the Tucson valley

2. Ask students to think on their own about why the Catalinas are called a Sky Island (30 sec)

3. Have students share with partner or group of 3 while fellows walk around asking clarifying questions (3-5 min)

4. Direct whole group back to discussion, having leader call on individual students to share what their group discussed

5. Leader pulls out pieces from each group to create a whole picture of the Sky Islands, possibly bringing in some geology of the area

SE AZ mountain ranges map found at [1]]

Types of rock

While much of the Santa Catalinas is composed of granite, lower portions of the Catalinas have a layer of gneiss, a metamorphic rock that was created along the detachment fault when granite (an igneous rock) was heated and put under pressure when “the Tucson Mountains” slid off the “Santa Catalina Mountains”

Emphasize striations in the rock, pointing SW towards the Tucson mountains, indicating movement of a detachment fault in that direction

Types of cactus

1. Have students point out and name all the kinds they can

2. (Ocotillo is a woody shrub, not a cactus - it loses its leaves during drought seasons)

3. Help them learn new cactus. Types available are saguaro, barrel, prickly pear, cholla

Grass invasions 1. There is some buffelgrass downhill of overlook (and some dead buffelgrass that has been pulled, piled up, and held down with rocks).

2. Ask students where that grass may be from if not from here. Build on answers to explore their thinking about where else in the world is like Tucson. (Answer: This genotype came from Kenya, where it's actually hotter and drier)

3. Ask students how it got here. Explore their thinking on how plants move around the globe. (Answer: people planted it for cattle to eat and to control erosion. Some other invasive plants just hitchhike accidentally, or escape from gardens)

4. Ask students what characteristics or adaptations might make it good at growing here. Use this as a jumping off point for adaptations to desert living. (Potential answers: C4 photosynthesis, dry yellow dormant material sheltering green shoots at center, asexual seed production and vegetative growth so it doesn't require other individuals, wind dispersed seeds, germinates at high temperatures after low moisture)

5. Ask students how it might affect the desert. Explore their understanding of ecological processes and cause and effect. (Potential answers: it burns well, spreads fire, can crowd out other plants, competes for water, seeds feed ants and rodents, grass material feeds desert tortoises and termites...)

Sustainability

Trash pickup

• Pack it in, pack it out
• Leave it cleaner than you found it

Animal log (to be done throughout the trip, so introduce in the beginning)

• Watch carefully for animals, be quiet to not disturb wildlife, don’t chase after something
• Record animal sightings in your field guide in order to put into computer database later

Mini inquiry ideas for stops up the mountain

• Temperature (air, sun or shade, IR measurements of warmest and coolest objects)
• Atmospheric pressure (barometer)
• Wind speed (anemometer)
• Plant diversity (# of different species) using a transect or quadrat
• Number of each plant type (grasses, plant, cacti, bushes, trees) in a defined area
• Fraction of species that are flowering

Teambuilding

1. Do a get-to-know-you activity right away. Standing/sitting in a circle, each person would give their name and

• What they hope to see or do on the trip
• Their favorite Tucson area animal
• Their favorite hobby
• Field of science they are most interested in learning about
• What they are interested in for a career
• Etc.

Alternatively can be done as a paired interview and introduction

2. Create team name