These first questions will familiarize you with the VertNet search platform, so we will walk through the actions together. First, visit http://portal.vertnet.org/search. If the link doesnt work in your browser just google Vertnet and find your way to the search page on the website. Within the search box, select Advanced search options. A number of search options will appear.

a. (1pt) What order are colugos in?

Check the box for Is mappable and type the name of this order into the All these words field, as shown below. Click the blue magnifying glass button to search.

b. (1 pt) How many records did the search retrieve?

Available data: You can view these results as a table or as a map. You can click each row of the table to see the full occurrence data, including the date that the specimen was collected, the person who collected it, the exact location of collection, and the museum/institution at which the specimen is housed. Sometimes, additional data such as sex or body size are under DynamicProperties.

Data errors: Now, turn to the map tab. Most records are in Southeast Asia, but some records appear in North America. These records may be errors in the GPS coordinates, or occasionally they represent real records of an animal that is in captivity in a zoo. You can tell if the point is in error by clicking the red marker on the map. It will likely say Location: Malaysia or Location: Philippines instead of Middle of Pacific Ocean.

Luckily, most of the records are correctly located in Southeast Asia. Zoom in on the Google Map interface to see these records more clearly.

c. (2 pts) Look closely at the distributions of records on these islands. What boundary separates islands with colugo records (in the northwest) from those without (in the southeast)?

A note on taxonomy: Mammalian taxonomy is continually being revised. The species and subspecies listed in VertNet specimen data typically reflect the taxonomic classifications at the time a specimen was collected. For example, colugos have traditionally been recognized as two species: the Philippine colugo (found in the Philippine islands) and the Sunda colugo (found on the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo). However, a recent study by Janecka et al. (2008) suggested that there may actually be three species of Sunda Colugos. Their proposed species groups are shown on the next page.

(2 pts) Does this figure represent a: (circle one and provide justification) Cladogram or Phylogram Why?

(1pt) If these three groups of Colugos were recognized as separate species, how many specimens of the West Java species are there in the mappable VertNet colugo collection (Hint: You cant use species information on the specimen records. Use the map.)

Downloading data: Next, download the data by clicking the green Download button on either the Map or Table tab. VertNet will ask you to name your file and will save it as a text file. You can open the data directly with MS Excel, or import the data as a tab-delimited file. Many of the records are missing data, but we can still explore patterns.

Manipulating data in Excel: Excel has several useful functions for finding the mean (=AVERAGE( ) ), minimum (=MIN( )), and maximum (=MAX( )) values in a dataset, where the values in the parentheses is a range of cells. You can either type out the cell range, as shown below, or you can select the cells by dragging over them with your cursor.

Find the column minimumelevationinmeters, which contains an estimate of the elevation at which the sample was collected. It may be column BV instead of column BU, as shown below. Use Excels =AVERAGE( ) function, as shown below, to calculate the average elevation in meters. It is OK to include empty cells in your calculation, like in the example below.

f. (1 pt) What is the average elevation at which colugo specimens were collected in this dataset?

Now find the column for year. You can use the minimum and maximum functions to explore the earliest and most recent collections in a dataset.

g. (1 pt) How many years ago was the earliest specimen in this dataset collected?

Part 2: The Great American Interchange (21 pts)

In class, we discussed the Great American Interchange of mammalian fauna across the Isthmus of Panama. In this section, you will use VertNet to explore the recent distributions of some of the mammals involved in the interchange.

a. (3 pts) What 3 species of currently living North American mammals came from South American in the interchange? Please name both common name and scientific name (Genus & species).

b. (3 pts) Use VertNet to search for records of these three species. Search for the species genus and species in quotations in the All these words box, and select Is mappable. Make sure to click the Clear all search terms button between each search. How many records do you retrieve for each species?

Look at the distribution maps for each of these three species in VertNet. (Remember how to check whether records in odd places on the map are likely errors?)

c. (2 pts) Which species are still distributed in both North and South America? Which species are restricted to North America?

d. (2 pts) Which species distribution extends the farthest north?

Use VertNet to look up the distribution of the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), a very handsome but fairly rare bear. (Remember to restrict results to Is mappable.)

(2 pts) On which continent(s) is the bear distributed in the wild?

(2 pts) Download the mappable records for this species into Excel, as you did for the colugos. What is the range (the lowest and highest) of elevations where the bear is found? Is it more frequently observed in the mountains (>2000m) or in the lowlands (

g. (4 pts) Propose a hypothesis to explain the current distribution of the spectacled bear. Be sure to explain where its ancestors likely came from, when its ancestors arrived in its current distribution, and how this species may have become isolated in its current range.

h. (3 pts) Select another species of mammal (your favorite, or one you know very little about) and look up its distribution on VertNet.

Species: How many mappable records did you find? Where is the species distributed?

List one scientific question that could be answered using these data (You dont need to actually answer it.)

Darwin Core terms Select institution code Sex Country County Family Genus StartDayofYear StartDayOYear EndDayonYear EndDayOyear Year leg. 1941) to Year(e.g. 1952 Month (eg.3 o Month (e.g. These filters Is fossil O Has tissues Has media Has type statusIs mappable In circle on map These traits Has length Has mass sex Has lifestage ength type ength in mm to length inm mass in g mass in g to Record type Any type All these words WHAT ORDER ARE COLUGOS IN7?2 Any of these words Identify all records that contain at least one of the words submitted. Operators OR and AND can help to focus queries Darwin Core terms Select institution code Sex Country County Family Genus StartDayofYear StartDayOYear EndDayonYear EndDayOyear Year leg. 1941) to Year(e.g. 1952 Month (eg.3 o Month (e.g. These filters Is fossil O Has tissues Has media Has type statusIs mappable In circle on map These traits Has length Has mass sex Has lifestage ength type ength in mm to length inm mass in g mass in g to Record type Any type All these words WHAT ORDER ARE COLUGOS IN7?2 Any of these words Identify all records that contain at least one of the words submitted. Operators OR and AND can help to focus queries