Arizona Electronic Atlas Learning Module
Natural Resources Theme: Biotic Communities

Intended Audience: The audience targeted by the application consists of average undergraduate students. These users will include general interest users and users that will access the Atlas as part of class coursework.

Learning Goal: To gather relevant natural resources information for a specified stretch of highway in Arizona.

Learning Objective #1: Using the Arizona Electronic Atlas the student will be able to choose a 5-10 mile stretch of highway in Arizona that crosses the boundary between two vegetation types / biotic communities and identify those biotic communities by name. (Note: The Native Vegetation areas that are mapped and labeled in the Arizona Electronic Atlas are equivalent to biotic communities.)

   Sub-Objectives:

• Student will be able to use the zoom in, zoom out and pan tools.
• Student will be able to do a Place Finder search.
• Student will be able to use the measure tool.
• Student will be able to use the Show Data tool.

Learning Objective #2: Using the Arizona Electronic Atlas the student will be able to determine the average annual precipitation for the areas identified in Learning Objective #1.

   Sub-Objectives:

• Student will be able to use the measure tool.
• Student will be able to use the Show Data tool.

Resources / Equipment Needed: PC or Mac computer with one of the following internet browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6 or higher
• Netscape 7 or higher

Limitations / Parameters: Some highways or roads that the student may choose, may not appear in the Arizona Electronic Atlas database (for example, Mt. Lemmon highway!).

Steps and Tasks for Learning Objective #1:

Open Az E-Atlas and select the Make a Map function.

Select the Natural Resources theme.

When the browser screen opens for Natural Resources, maximize window size and refresh so map fills box.

You may want to turn the Overview map off by clicking on the "Overview Off" button on the tool bar on the top of the map display box.

Scroll down folder list on right side of screen and open the folder for "Land" data.

Bring up desired highway location by either zooming in or doing a place finder search on a nearby landmark, such as "Kitt Peak" or "Three Points".

If you have chosen the place finder search option, when the results box is displayed, click on the magnifying glass in the entry that most closely matches your desired result. When map displays the detailed location, close the search results box.

Now that you've focused in on a more detailed level of the map, the "Land" folder has a check box next to "Native Vegetation". Click on the hyperlink for "Native Vegetation". The metadata information box that opens indicates the data for native vegetation is derived from the Biotic Communities of the Southwest (Vegetation) dataset (1993). The Native Vegetation areas that are mapped and labeled in the Arizona Electronic Atlas are equivalent to biotic communities.

Select the Native Vegetation data layer by clicking in the box next to the label.

Click on the "Redraw Map" button at the bottom of the right hand column in order to display the Native Vegetation data.

It may be necessary to adjust the view and scale of the map by using either the zoom in, zoom out and/or pan tools (see tool bar on top of map display box).

Use the "Measure" tool on the top edge of the map to get an approximation of the length of the highway section you are examining.

Find a section of the highway that crosses two "Native Vegetation" areas / Biotic Communities (for example between Three Points, Arizona and the turn-off from Highway 86 to Kitt Peak (Highway 386).

To identify the native vegetation area / biotic community, click on the "Show Data" button on the top edge of the map and then click in one of the colored sections of the map. A separate "Show Data Results" box will open. At least one of the data layers identified will be the Native Vegetation layer and that entry will give the name of the biotic community - for example "Semidesert Grassland". Click on the map where the color shows a different native vegetation / biotic community area to open a Show Results box that will name the other area - for example "Arizonan Upland Sonoran Desert Scrub".

Steps and Tasks for Learning Objective #2:

The student will:

Continue with the stretch of highway in the map that you've created in Learning Objective #1 (above).

De-select the Native Vegetation layer by un-checking the box next to the label on the right-hand side of the map display box.

Open the Climate folder by clicking on it. Select "Mean Total Precipitation - Annual" by clicking in the check box next to that label.

Click on the "Redraw Map" button at the bottom of the right hand column in order to display the new data layer.

To determine the mean total annual precipitation for an area on the stretch of highway:

• Click on the "Show Data" button on the top edge of the map and then click on one point that you know from Learning Objective #1 is in one of the two native vegetation areas.
  
• A separate "Show Data Results" box will open. At least one of the data layers identified will be the Mean Total Precipitation - Annual layer and that entry will give the precipitation data - for example "12.01 - 20.00" inches at Three Points intersection of Highway 86 and Highway 286 (which is in a Semidesert Grassland vegetation area).
  
• Click on the map again at a point where you had identified a different native vegetation / biotic community area (for example, approximately 7 miles from the Three Points intersection). This will open a second Show Results box that will show precipitation data for the "Upland Sonoran Desert Scrub" area.
  

Note: You can choose to keep the Native Vegetation layer selected but it will be overlaid by the Mean Total Precipitation data in the display. Nevertheless, if you use the Show Data tool and click on a location on the map, it will show data for both vegetation type and precipitation.

Questions for Further Exploration:

Do you think there is any significant relationship between rainfall and the type of native vegetation found? Why or why not?

How was the visual presentation of the data helpful in doing the assignment?

What other questions or issues does this bring up? What other data would you like to look at?