MIOMAP Taxonomic Standards

Critical MIOMAP Information

Users of MIOMAP inplicitly agree to understanding the following key points. The FGDC-style Metadata should be consulted for additional details about the database and its development. Use for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited.

CITATION INFORMATION

Carrasco, M. A., B.P. Kraatz, E. B. Davis, and A. D. Barnosky. 2005. Miocene Mammal Mapping Project (MIOMAP). University of California Museum of Paleontology https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/miomap/.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

Applicable copyrights by the Regents of the University of California

TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTORS

Colleen Whitney at University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) and John Deck at the Berkeley Natural History Museums (BNHM) provided technical assistance during development of the database. UCMP hosts the Miomap Web site and provides ongoing support for the Web site and the database. BNHM provided and supports the mapping application, which was developed by John Deck and extended and customized for MIOMAP by Edward Davis. The BNHM hosts the mySQL database and PHP scripts, which were developed by Brian Kraatz. Imaging of type specimens was by Brian Kraatz, Alan Shabel, A. D. Barnosky, and Kacey Ballard and benefited from integration with the CalPhotos/Digital Library Project.

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Development of the MIOMAP database was funded by the National Science Foundation Geology and Paleontology Program and by the UCMP.

THE DATA

The primary data are published occurrences of mammals of late Oligocene (Arikareean) through Miocene (Hemphillian) age in the western United States (i.e. between approximately longitudes 95º-125º W in the USA, excluding the Texas Gulf Coast). For each species occurrence, the following data were entered: taxonomic name (as of 2004), latitude and longitude, land-mammal age, geological occurrence, and taphonomic information as specified at the MIOMAP data site.

Data entry began in 2000 and concluded in 2005. As of 2005, this is an archival database, meaning that the information is a static representation of the data entered before December 31, 2004, with taxonomy and age assignments appropriately converted to the standards as described below. For use in research applications, the complete or partial database can be downloaded. Users should update the archival database as appropriate for their purposes, and cite the MIOMAP project as noted above in publications. Currently there are no plans to add to the database after completion of the funding period in 2005.

M. A. Carrasco extracted the data from the literature and entered it for most of the states. For the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, data was originally compiled by A. D. Barnosky; checked, added to, and entered by Sabrina Minter and B. P. Kraatz; and updated by A. D. Barnosky and M. A. Carrasco. The Nevada portion of the database was developed by E. B. Davis. A. D. Barnosky coordinated all aspects of the project and developed the web site prototype.

DATABASE PURPOSE

The principal reason for which the database was produced was to conduct research on how major disruptions to the physical environment affected species richness, evolutionary patterns, and biogeographic patterns in mammals from approximately 30 million to 5 million years ago (Arikareean through Hemphillian Land-Mammal Ages). The perturbations of most interest were middle Miocene tectonism in the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Basin, and the climatic warming events of the late Oligocene and mid-Miocene climatic optimum. A major goal was to understand whether biotic change was triggered by climatic events or tectonic events on the hundreds-of-thousands to million-year timescale. The MIOMAP database structure parallels the FAUNMAP structure to facilitate analyses that would require both databases. Additional background is available from the MIOMAP Background Page.

DATA ACQUISTION PROCESS

We entered relevant information for more 2790 fossil localities. The data extraction and entry steps involved the following steps.

(1) The process began with extraction of primary bibliographic references, specimen information, and locality information for the relevant time periods from Appendix I (Tertiary mammal localities) of Janis et al. (1998). Additional localities were discovered by following the paper trail from one paper’s bibliography to another, and by using the UC Berkeley library system to keep abreast of literature that appeared from 1998-2004. To be included, taxa had to be represented by a voucher specimen, localities had to be described well enough to be geographically placed at least in a county, and a biochronologic age assignment had to be derivable from the information provided in the publication. We attempted to include all peer-reviewed publications, and also included information from a few Ph. D. Dissertations or Masters Theses that we deemed particularly critical. All information was keyed using individual localities. However, some publications only included faunal lists that aggregated taxa from numerous localities without attributing any of those taxa to specific localities. These faunas were entered as single locality entries with a note in the comment field discussing their composite nature. In other publications, some of the taxa in a faunal list were referred to specific localities while the remaining taxa were not attributed to a locality. In these instances, those localities with known taxa were entered as single locality entries. The remaining unattributed taxa were lumped together in a single locality entry (entitled “General ...“), even though those taxa may have come from one of the identified localities.

(2) The information we found by searching the primary literature was compared with the locality and taxon lists compiled by J. Alroy in the Paleobiology Database to ensure all principal localities and taxa were included. (Early in the project this comparison was with the North American Mammalian Paleofaunal Database, which was subsequently merged into the Paleobiology Database.)

(3) We utilized information from unpublished specimens for key areas for which little published information existed (Hepburn’s Mesa, Montana, Railroad Canyon, Idaho, the state of Nevada). In most cases these specimens were from areas in which Barnosky had worked extensively and for which better identifications than had been published were available (Hepburn’s Mesa, Railroad Canyon) or for which primary field notes and examination of key specimens was possible (Nevada). The unpublished specimens included in the database reside in the University of California Museum of Paleontology (for Nevada; the Railroad Canyon area, Idaho;), the American Museum of Natural History and University of Montana (for Railroad Canyon), and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (for Railroad Canyon and the Hepburn’s Mesa Formation, Montana). Unpublished specimen counts were also included for a few localities by surveying museum online databases. These included the online resources of the American Museum of Natural History (for the Sheep Creek, Olcott, and Snake Creek Formations, Nenzel Quarry and Timm Ranch Site, Nebraska; Wikieup, Arizona; and the San Juan and Rak Camel quarries, New Mexico) and the University of California Museum of Paleontology (Johnson Canyon and Little Dike Locality, Oregon; Tecuya Canyon, California).

(4) We coded and entered the information extracted from the literature or collections in a standard way as specified in MIOMAP data tables.

All items in the database contain entries in the Locality Table, Faunal Table, Relative Age Table, Reference Table, and Electronic Bibliography. It was not always possible to fill all of the data fields in these or the other tables, but as much information as was available from the published literature was utilized. Blank fields in the data tables mean that the information is not available from the published literature.

TAXONOMIC AND TEMPORAL CONVENTIONS

POSITIONAL ACCURACY

Latitudes and longitudes are those interpolated from the publications that reported the fossil sites. In most cases these are not exact. Rarely were latitudes and longitudes reported, especially in older literature. Commonly geographic positions were given in section, township and range. These coordinates were converted to latitude and longitude by using the conversion routines at www.esg.montana.edu/gl/trs-data.html or www.topozone.com. In some cases only a geographic description was given in publications; these localities were assigned a latitude and longitude that corresponded with the geographic description, thus are only approximations of where the true locality lies, and in the worst cases are plotted at the center of the county in which they occur. Color coding showing the accuracy of sites is available on the interactive maps. Accuracy is expressed as:

EXACT if the latitude and longitude were reported;

USGS Township if the latitude and longitude was inferred from a section/township/range description;

QUAD PRECISE if the locality description allowed precise placement on a USGS quadrangle map (usually 7.5’);

QUAD APPROX if the description allowed placement on a portion of the map but was not detailed enough for precise placement;

COUNTY CENTER if the locality information was so lacking that the best resolution was placing it in a certain county.

In general, EXACT and USGS Township implies that the locality is within a 1km radius of the latitude and longitude in the database, QUAD PRECISE within about a 5 km radius, QUAD APPROX within about a 10 km radius, and COUNTY CENTER within a county.

A representative number of localities were verified on the map plots to ensure that major positional errors were not present. In general the positions are those inferred from our reading of the primary literature and have not been ground-truthed.

As of 2004 the Landsat images used in the map interface and provided by the JPL WMS service have an offset of 100-200 meters worldwide. JPL was working to fix this but it is unknown when the fix will be completed.

USE CONSTRAINTS

Use of this data for commercial purposes is prohibited. This data should be used in a manner consistent with its accuracy and precision. In most cases locations were obtained from published information that required interpolation into latitude and longitude from section, range, and township, or even less exact specifications. Therefore most locations should be regarded as approximate. MNI and NISP information, depositional data (i.e., depositional system, environment, and facies), and taphonomic attributes (i.e., recovery methods, agent of accumulation, and mixing) reflect only what could be extracted from published literature in most cases. This results in incomplete knowledge of these data for most localities. Analyses that employ this information should account for this and other biases inherent in fossil data. In addition, all relative ages provided are best estimates based primarily on Tedford et al. (2004) and therefore will need to be updated in accordance with any future changes in the biochronologic timescale.

DISTRIBUTION LIABILITY

The compilers of the MIOMAP data and mapping service, or their associated institutions, shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and contained herein. These data and related graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The information contained is dynamic and may change over time, especially in regards to refinements of temporal placement and taxonomic nomenclature. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were obtained. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and within the limits explained in this metadata and for geospatial and paleontological data in general. The related graphics are intended as an aid in geospatial visualization only. The placement of localities in most cases is approximate as estimated from information given in published sources. The University of California gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. Users should update and verify the accuracy of the data as appropriate to their uses. It is recommended that data be acquired from the UCMP server directly and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data and interfaces work successfully on computers that we use (PCs running Windows XP and Internet Explorer and Macs running OSX and Safari), no warranty is expressed or implied for compatibility with particular computer platforms. No warranty is expressed or implied regarding the utility of the data for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data.