Migrations

Preparation

Teachers should be familiarized with the following information:

• Weather Underground’s historical data
  www.wunderground.com à at Menu Bar click More à Historical Weather à Enter Location/Zip, Month, Data, Year click View à Location’s Submenu click Calendar for a full month report of weather à month and or year can be changed at this time click View. To print on single page, take screenshot of location and calendar, Print Screenshot for hard copy, digital record, or for Answer Key to evaluate student prediction for potential migration dates.
• Vermont’s Vernal Pool locator
  val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vermont-vernal-pool-atlas
• Weather analysis of historical weather data to determine when migration occurs
• Have students identity common abiotic factors that lead up to migrations (they should be identifying several days of warm up ~60°F, followed by measurable rainfall).
• How to use the Claim, Evidence and Reasoning process with students (George Lucas Foundation, “My Dad is an Alien”)

Part I

1. Students will examine 3 months from 2016 that includes the month of known migration (February, March and April).
2. Students will examine the weather conditions and be able to identify the key factors that lead to migration displayed on the weather calendar generated from the Weather Underground website.
3. Students will examine 3 months from another year and predict when migration may have occurred using the interactive weather calendars. Months from 2018 and 2020 will be examined.
4. Students will generate their own weather calendars for Feb, March, and April prior to 2017 using the ETA Instructions Sheet (pdf) for making predictions about migration.

Part II: Explain

1. Student groups of 3–4 will use the process of Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning to explain when spotted salamanders migrated from their own weather calendars.
2. Predictions will be shared with the class, including the CER process, that backs up the time of migration.

Part III: Evaluate

1. Students will review the geographical range of the salamanders and select one other different area to retrieve historical weather data. For example, students use historical weather data from a vernal pool that is located in Vermont, from the zip code associated with your school, or with a vernal pool general location from the www.databasin.org website in Maryland. Zip codes will have to be searched based on the nearest town on the Maryland map.
   • Link for spotted salamander range: www.eol.org

1. • Link for locating vernal pools in Vermont: val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vermont-vernal-pool-atlas
     Students will use the location of the pond for their historical weather data pull.
2. Using the historical weather data from the other location, students will predict the salamander’s migration dates based on historical weather conditions. The migration date prediction must be justified with a Weather Underground data graphic, description of necessary habitat, topographic description, and land cover for that site.