Spiders of the World
Working with Spider Data
When you submit your spider data using e-mail or the online
Spider Data Entry Form
, your data is added to our growing JASON Project Spider
Database. This database will be used by Dr. Gillespie as well as by students
and teachers around the world. Participating in the online exercise also
gives you the opportunity to use data that other people have submitted. All
the data is stored here on the JASON Project homepage which automatically
produces up-to-date charts that describe the database. You can view these
charts or even look at the individual data records.
The following charts are available:
-
Global Distribution of Sampling Sites
This is a map of the Earth
indicating all of the sites that have submitted spider data. You can click
on the map to see charts of the data from individual sites.
- Total Number of Spider Families Observed (Graphic
version)
or
(ASCII version)
This is a chart indicating the total
number of spiders reported in each family, including all the data from all
the sites. Below the chart is a list of the JASON PINS indicating the number
of records submitted by each site. For those of you who are using a text
browser such as Lynx, this chart is also available in an ASCII version.
- Distribution of Spider Families by PIN
Site
From this menu, you can see the number of reported spider
families broken down by PIN Site. Below the chart for each site, you have
the option of viewing the individual data records that have been submitted
by students affiliated with that site.
Below are some suggestions for teachers for class exercises and projects
that make use of compiled spider data. To expand this list of ideas for others
please leave your own suggestions on the JASON Teacher's Discussion Group.
- Daily reports:
Have students regularly monitor the data that is
submitted to determine which PINS or areas are submitting the most data
sets. From this information have students send an electronic mail message to
these sites
introducing themselves and shareing with them successes and failures in
collecting their data.
- Working with other sites:
Once a partnership has begun with another
site. Have students work together electronically to write reports
on a chosen family of spiders common to both locations. This report
should include a description of the habitat(s) in which the spider was
found.
- Class projects:
Collect data from different sites and compare it.
Have
students create their own map indicating the total number of famiies and
individuals found for each site. Students can also choose a family,
determine its range (based on the global distribution of sampling sites)
and present a poster or report describing the family, its characteristics
and range. Ask students to include the physical or environmental
boundaries which have caused these ranges (eg. mountains, water, etc.)?
- Collecting more data:
After submitting their data, students can
repeat
the exercise in the spring to see if they found any new families not
previously recorded at their site. Why were these families not presented
earlier?
To conclude Dr. Gillespie's work, ask the following questions: Which
spiders live in similar habitats? Do they share common features
(morphological, ecological or behaviorial?) What would students predict
would happen if individuals from their family of spider were left on an
island chains such as Hawai`i?
Spiders
of the World
JASON Project homepage
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Teachers' Guide
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Students' Corner
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Search
Gene Carl
Feldman
(gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov)
(301) 286-9428
Todd Carlo Viola,
JASON Foundation for Education
(todd@jason.org)