Acer palmatum, although there are more than 100 species of maple worldwide, only one species (Acer campestre) is native to the UK.

Skip to page content

Primary navigation

A Day in the Life of a Scientist

How to use Worldmap

These instructions are for Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 students who take the role of a scientist in the A Day in the Life activities. Follow the instructions to get sample scientific results from the Worldmap software and then use these in your activity.

You can get a set of scientific results using the Worldmap software. Worldmap lets you choose a species and see how common it is in different areas of the world. 

How to use Worldmap
  1. Follow the link below to download and install the Worldmap software. Ask your teacher for help if you need it.
  2. Select and open the SIB datafile.
  3. Generate a map - go to Analytical tools, select Diversity and then select Selective Richness.
  4. Select a species that you want to plot the distribution for.
  5. To print your map, select Mapgraphics, then Print map.
  6. To save the map to your computer, select Save bitmap.
Go to Worldmap

On your map you will see circles of colour that correspond to how common a species is in that area. The higher the number associated with the colour (look at the key in the top-right corner of the map for this), the more common the species is.

The species have scientific names, so you won’t recognise them to start with. Look them up on the internet to find out their common names.

Questions to ask

Once you have generated your map, ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the common name? Search for the scientific name on the internet to find out.
  • Name one or more continents the species is found on.
  • Name a country that  has a relatively high number of this species.
  • What do you think would happen if there were fewer numbers of the species? Clue: what is the species' role in the food chain?

Use Cullumanus Cu. as an example if you're not sure which species to start with.

Print version