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Reading the Back of the Map
On the front of any ESI map, you'll see symbols representing locations where sensitive species of birds and animals are present, during some or all seasons of the year. Information about the species or species subgroup represented by each symbol is shown on the back of most ESI maps (some older maps do not include this information). Here's an example:
At right is a section of Map 8, the example map for this exercise. It shows two symbols representing subgroups of bird species present on Beach Plum Island:
- the lefthand symbol represents gulls and terns.
- the righthand symbol represents shorebirds.
The number "24" appears just below the two symbols. You'll use that number to find information about the two species subgroups on the back of the map. Also, a red box around the shorebird symbol warns you that this symbol represents a threatened or endangered species (endangered species are in danger of becoming extinct; threatened species could easily become endangered if present trends continue).
Below are the top few rows of the table on the back of Map 8. To find the information for the two symbols above, check in the left-most column for "24." It's easy to find at the top of the table, where it's associated with two species subgroups, gulls and terns, and one species, the piping plover (Charadrius melodus).
The second row in the table shows information about the piping plover. The first three cells to the right of the species name give information about its status:
- "DE" in the "ST" column shows that the State of Delaware ("DE") has designated this species as threatened or endangered.
- "S/F" in the "S/F" column tells you that both the state ("S") and Federal ("F") governments have designated this species as threatened or endangered.
- "T/T" in the "T/E" column tells you that both the state of Delaware and the Federal government have designated this species as threatened ("T"), as opposed to endangered ("E"). (On Map 8, a symbol for bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is also shown boxed in red. Information about this species is shown three rows below the piping plover row. "E/T" in the "T/E" column for bald eagles tells you that the state of Delaware has designated this species as endangered, while the Federal government has designated it as threatened.)
Other cells in the piping plover row of the table tell you when the plovers are present, what they are doing, and about how many there are:
- "LOW" in the "Concen" (Concentration) column tells you that the plovers are present in this area at low concentrations.
- The next 12 columns represent the months in the year, starting with "J" for January. An "X" in any of these columns shows that the species is present during the corresponding month of the year (a blank means that it is absent during that month). The piping plover is present from February through September.
- The remaining columns show the times of the year when species are nesting, laying eggs, hatching, and fledging. Piping plovers, for example, nest from April through August in this area.
In this exercise, your students will set protection priorities for an oil spill that happens in June. By checking the piping plover line of the table, you can quickly see that this threatened species
- is present during this month (there's a "X" in the column for the month of June).
- is nesting, laying, hatching, and fledging during this month.
Because piping plovers are present and busy with reproductive activities during this month, June is a particularly bad time for their habitat to be oiled.
Other pages in this series
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