Name:
Ornithology 2008 – Second Writing Assignment
Fill out the questions below working within Microsoft Word. The completed assignment should
take no more than 3-5 pages. Please make sure your answers are double-spaced, and not in bold.
Make sure to put your name on the top of the page, and save the file adding your last name to the
start of the file name (e.g. Hutto Ornithology 2008 writing assignment.doc). Save the file to a
safe location, print it if necessary (files “lost in email” will not be an excuse. Please make sure
you have a backup.) Email the file to your TA.
1. In Google Earth, make a map showing the distribution pattern of interest. Change the
colors, size, and types of markers of the species/families of interest. Show other geographic
features (e.g. roads, water) that may help describe the pattern. When you are satisfied, go
to Edit>copy image. Paste that image below here, and trim so that it fits the page.
2. Describe the pattern of interest. In what way does the distribution pattern appear to be
nonrandom? How would you demonstrate that statistically?
3. Provide at least two alternative explanations for why the pattern exists. Describe why,
hypothetically, the observed pattern could be an artifact of sample design or of the methods
of data collection. Do you think the hypothetical problem you described was an issue here?
Why or why not?
4. Wildlife biologists would like to use current distribution patterns to model where species
are likely to be in places or times that have not been surveyed yet. How would you use the
data that we collected to build a model to predict where your selected species would be
expected to occur in western Missoula (where we didn’t conduct the survey)?
5. Some nonrandom patterns might be considered trivial, and others interesting. Is the
pattern you describe trivial? Why or why not? What do you believe makes a distribution
pattern interesting enough to warrant further study?