Introduction:
What is the big attraction in African Safari hunts, why do tourists cause traffic jams in the National Parks when they see an animal, or why do people pay money to go out and watch whales? We live in a society where our wildlife and wilderness areas are "shrinking" and the cities are "growing". There are thousands of people across the states that have never seen a "wild" animal in its natural habitat. If a person is lucky to live in an area close to a wilderness area or a National Park, they have seen many wild animals, yet they still stop and stare when an animal appears on the side of the road.This first unit deals with Bighorn Sheep found in Yellowstone National Park and the technology scientists use to find them.
Purpose:The underlying basis of this unit is about finding and viewing wild animals; where they can be found, what do they eat, what preys on them, what do they prey on, etc.
Activities:
A. Ecological Literature Review
The first part of this assignment is to conduct an information search on Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. Students are to conduct an information search on the ecology and habitat of the Bighorn Sheep. The information may include such items as what they eat, what are some features of their habitat, do they have natural predators, and if so what are they, and in what type of topography might you find them. Students are to have at least 5 sources and one full page of text with one-inch margins. Even though we live in a technological age, there may be many things that cannot be found on the Internet. Students should be familiar with how to conduct research; a library search, an Internetsearch, or write letters/phone calls to State or National Departments for information.
This type of search could be accomplished by using the following:
Internet--- the following may be helpful
What is GIS? How is it used? What types of data can you find? What math is used? Can you make a "simple" model from data? Students need to know how GIS works, not the full-blown mathematical reasoning, but enough that when they look at maps, they understand the mathematics involved and how the maps were made. The three exercises below provides the student a starting point.
1. Gathering Data and Graphing Data Using A Spreadsheet -
Edinburgh Scotland has an excellent description of "What is GIS?" Students need to remember that GIS is not "simple" x-y graphing. There are other important components to consider. Take this link to look at a table of values/attributes for one day in August 1995 in Argentina. The first column lists latitude- or feature-identifiers (e.g. measuring points, political districts, land-cover types, etc.), the other columns are an assignment of some attributes (temperature at measuring point, dew point temperature, windspeed, etc.).
This graph shows the x-axis as the latitude and the other axis shows longitude and the different attributes associated with that longitude. It is very important to remember that the horizontal axis is always the x (or y) and the vertical axis is the z-axis when working with GIS. This graphs shows five different attributes for the same day, at different locations in Argentina. This is the basis of GIS, looking at vertical slices of a particular region. To think of this another way, picture a set of maps, each one showing different features of your state. One may show just rivers, another just roads, one shows counties, etc. GIS will superimpose these different maps and make one overlay. The graph you looked at is very similar to what GIS does, yet in a simplistic way.
2. Interpretations of data/Use the graph to interpret.
Investigate the site at the University
of California, Davis. This is an interactive GIS program from California.
There is lots of help, it is easy to use, and it gives students a feel
for what GIS can and can't do. Have your students work through an interaction.
They can produce a map that looks similar to this one
and a legend to help interpret the maps.
Some additional GIS Internet Sites are:
Yellowstone Park personnel have created GIS maps of various parameters inside the park as they relate to the range of Bighorn Sheep. Among the parameters available are topography, distance to water and vegetation types utilized by the sheep as food and cover. This part of the unit, students will synthesize their search information and compare it with GIS data from Yellowstone National Park. Henry Shovic, Head Scientist at Yellowstone National Park, gave the following quote: "From Smith (1992) we know that bighorn sheep need the following habitat conditions:
The three exercises in Part B above, helped students understand what GIS is, how it works, and how to read the maps. This activity lets the students use their researched data and make predictions using GIS.
Using a GIS Model to interpret data
Topography Map: The map of topography shows the study area, with an overlay of steep rocky cliffs. This was taken from a Yellowstone National Park landform map, selecting those features having slopes greater than 40% and rock outcrop greater than 20%. These are generally barren slopes.
Watercourses: The map for watercourses shows streams, places, and roads. Note the spacing of streams is generally less than 3200 m. Therefore, distance to water does not limit habitat in this area. Students can measure this.
Sightings of Bighorn Sheep: The Park has 40 years of sighting point data. The last map is a mixture of sightings by biologists, other park staff, and visitors. It tends to be restricted to roads or near trails, or in areas where viewing from afar is possible. However, it does reflect the general location of animals during clear weather.
1. Did the information they collected reflect the following?:
3. Are there other places where you expected to find sheep?
4. Can you explain why your data and the final maps may have differed?
5. Before going on, combine your vegetation and topography maps? Does
this help in making any prediction?
Two or more parameters, a comparison
Now look at the first combination overlay map.
By using the GIS program the individual maps can be overlayed to give a composite picture of one of more factors at any given time. The topography and vegetation map of Bighorn Sheep shows the two parameters of topography and vegetation distributution at the same time. The overlay should reveal to the students the relation of the two parameters to occurrence of the sheep in the park.
NOTE: there is little overlap. (because cliffs generally have no significant forest cover)
REMINDER: What kind of areas should provide good habitat potential? Hint: Check the information from Henry Shovic above.
Assessment:
Students will be graded on the following:
