The Pasture Crew: teacher key
Bugs That Clean Up, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. Dung beetles, earthworms, millipedes, termites and fly larvae break down dung, leaves and food waste. Field tests show how much work they do, and dung beetle numbers are falling around the world.
Read the book. Print this page for the key.
Questions and answers
- How did the South Dakota researchers test whether insects break down dung?
- They counted beetles at night
- They caged some dung pats and left others open (answer)
- They moved dung to a new field
- What are the walls of earthworm tunnels lined with?
- Castings that act like fertilizer for crop roots (answer)
- Sand that stops rain soaking in
- Roots that hold the soil together
- Why might dung buried by beetles help a pasture more than dung left on top?
- Buried dung turns into grass at once
- Buried dung is eaten by cattle
- Buried dung's nutrients go back into the soil, while nutrients on top can be lost or run off (answer)
- What is frass?
- The eggs of a soldier fly
- Black soldier fly larvae's droppings and leftovers (answer)
- A pesticide for pastures
- What is true of some animal medicines that pass out in dung?
- They make dung beetles grow faster
- They help beetles find dung
- They are particularly toxic to dung beetles (answer)
Words
- tunnellers: tunnel diggers
- brood: young raised together
- castings: worm droppings
- frass: larvae droppings
- decomposition: breaking down