ENSC1000 Earth and its Environment
P05- What to do with the information?
Starting point:
Collecting information
To answer the question you rise during your observation.
To validate or not your hypothesis.
Once you have all these data what can you do with them?
➢ Organize the data (table, figures, or others)
➢ Analyze the information from general to details.
➢ Use Statistics to summarize the information: (average,
median, mode frequency..)
➢ How can you represent the information?
➢ Determine what is important to show
it all depends on the data and on what you want to show.
Example#1: The African lions
1. Topics and location
➢ Study area, what where and when?
Data have been collected and organized in tables:
Table 1: Number of African lions, areas, and countries within
four regions of Africa: Western, Central, Eastern and southern
Africa in 2018. see Appendix 1
A table is not always the best way to present the information.
However, it helps organizing the information and it is
convenient for statistics.
1. Summarize the information and Highlight RESULTS
➢ How detailed the information should be ?
➢ What do you want to show?
➢ ONE value can represent the overall total number of lions
in Africa for example (knowing that some countries do not
have lions)
GENERAL
➢ Total number of lions?
➢ 34 907 lions in Africa. This information represents the
general information and is always the starting point or, an
average.
INTO DETAILS
➢ Per region?
➢ Table 2: Lion’s habitat in four regions in Africa. Give more
details about where/how the lion population is distributed
across Africa.
➢ What other information could you calculate based on what
is in Table 2. This should help to easily describe
information compared to raw data.
o Write a brief description of the Lion’s distribution across
Africa
Answer here
Table 2: Lion’s habitat in Western, Central, Eastern and
Southern Africa.
Lion Area No. of Lions Area (km2)
WESTERN AFRICATOTAL 480 133784
CENTRAL AFRICATOTAL 2419 936465
EASTERN AFRICATOTAL 19972 780401
SOUTHERN AFRICATOTAL 12036 1540171
total 34907 3,390,821
➢ Per countries within the region?
➢ Is the number of countries hosting lions is large in each of
the region?
➢ Does it bring more information?
➢ Would it be possible to relate this with the general
information regarding the African Continent?
o Complete your former description.
Answer here:
➢ Evolution of the distribution of the lion between 2008 and
2018 and historical range.
The data allow to draw Figure 1.
o Write one or two sentences about the evolution of the
lion’s distribution
Answer here:
Figure 1: Distribution of the lions across Africa based on
historical data and, for 2008 and 2018
2. Discussion of the Results presented in the description above.
➢ Suggestion to explain why lions are living in these specific
regions.
➢ Why are the lions NOT living in Congo Gabon or the
Democratic Republic of Congo?
➢ Why are the lions NOT living in Algeria, Libya or Egypt?
Appendix 1
Table 1: Number of African lions, areas and countries within
four regions of Africa: Western, Central, Eastern and southern
Africa.
No. of
Lion Area LionsArea (km2) Countries
Guinea, Guinea Bissau,
Niokolo-Guinea <50 90,384 Mali, Senegal
Haut Niger 6 613 Guinea
Benin, Burkina Faso,
W-Arly-Pendjari 350 29,403 Niger
Mr Kouffe-Wari Maro 3 3,152 Benin
Aliboro Superieur 18 1,742 Benin
Trois Rivieres 19 1,939 Benin
Kainji Lake 32 4,171 Nigeria
Yankari 2 2,380 Nigeria
WESTERNAFRICA
TOTAL 480 133,784
No. of
ion Area Lions Area (km2) Countries
Waza 17 1,452 Cameroon
Benoue Complex 200 14,682 Cameroon
Central African
Bozoum 4 8,383 Republic
Central African
Nana-Barya 4 2,314 Republic
South-East Chad 400 133,408 Chad
East-Central African Central African
Republic 1,244 328,721 Republic
Democratic Republic of
Garamba-Bili Uere 175 115,671 Congo
South-West Sudan 375 331,834 South Sudan, Sudan
CENTRALAFRICA
TOTAL 2,419 936,465
No. of
Lion Area Lions Area (km2) Countries
Kissama-Mumbondo <10 4,593 Angola
Bocoio-Camucuio 55 22,005 Angola
South-East Angola 1,905 386,962 Angola
Liuwa Plains 4 3,866 Zambia
Sioma Ngwezi <50 4,155 Zambia
Kafue 386 58,898 Zambia
Nsumbu <50 5,650 Zambia
Luangwa 574 72,992 Malawi, Zambia
Kasungu 6 2,341 Malawi
Nkhota Kota 18 1,846 Malawi
Etosha-Kunene 455 123,800 Angola, Namibia
Khaudom-Caprivi 150 92,372 Namibia
Xaixai 75 12,484 Botswana
Botswana, South
Kgalagadi 800 163,329 Africa
Okavango-Hwange 2,300 99,552 Botswana, Zimbabwe
Greater Botswana, South
Mapungubwe 25 5,158 Africa, Zimbabwe
Bubye 200 4,875 Zimbabwe
Mozambique,
Mid-Zambezi 755 64,672 Zambia, Zimbabwe
Tete South of
Cahora Bassa 59 13,612 Mozambique
Mozambique,
Niassa 1,573 177,559 Tanzania
Gile 45 22,322 Mozambique
Gorongosa -
Marromeu 229 46,781 Mozambique
Mozambique, South
Great Limpopo 2,311 150,347 Africa, Zimbabwe
SOUTHERNAFRICA
TOTAL 12,036 1,540,171
The status of lions in
this area is
Total without Angola 10,066 1,126,611 questionable.
No. of
Lion Area Lions Area (km2) Countries
Kissama-Mumbondo <10 4,593 Angola
Bocoio-Camucuio 55 22,005 Angola
South-East Angola 1,905 386,962 Angola
Liuwa Plains 4 3,866 Zambia
Sioma Ngwezi <50 4,155 Zambia
Kafue 386 58,898 Zambia
Nsumbu <50 5,650 Zambia
Luangwa 574 72,992 Malawi, Zambia
Kasungu 6 2,341 Malawi
Nkhota Kota 18 1,846 Malawi
Etosha-Kunene 455 123,800 Angola, Namibia
Khaudom-Caprivi 150 92,372 Namibia
Xaixai 75 12,484 Botswana
Botswana, South
Kgalagadi 800 163,329 Africa
Okavango-Hwange 2,300 99,552 Botswana, Zimbabwe
Greater Botswana, South
Mapungubwe 25 5,158 Africa, Zimbabwe
Bubye 200 4,875 Zimbabwe
Mozambique,
Mid-Zambezi 755 64,672 Zambia, Zimbabwe
Tete South of
Cahora Bassa 59 13,612 Mozambique
Mozambique,
Niassa 1,573 177,559 Tanzania
Gile 45 22,322 Mozambique
Gorongosa -
Marromeu 229 46,781 Mozambique
Mozambique, South
Great Limpopo 2,311 150,347 Africa, Zimbabwe
SOUTHERNAFRICA
TOTAL 12,036 1,540,171
The status of lions in
this area is
Total without Angola 10,066 1,126,611 questionable.
Example#2: Population in Barbados
1. Topic and location
➢ What where when
➢ Table 1 contains the information relative to Barbados’s
population based on the last four censuses since 1980
(1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010).
➢ What other information do you have in Table 1?
➢ GIVE one or two sentences that set up the general topic
and context.
Table1: Barbados population in 1980,1990,2000 and 2010, along
with population density and growth rate for the 11 parishes
2. RESULTS
➢ Analyze data and highlight main results
➢ INFO #1 Population in Barbados
➢ What type of graph/ figure would help visualize the
information?
➢ What could be the best way to represent/ summarize the
information?
➢ Is Figure 1 facilitate the visualization of the population’s
distribution in Barbados?
o Write a short paragraph describing the distribution of the
population across Barbados in 2010
100,000
90,000
80,000
70,000
Series1
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Chri st St. St. St. St. John St. St. Lucy St. St. Peter St. Phili p St.
Church An drew Ge orge James Joseph Michael Thomas
Figure1: Population by parish in Barbados in 2010.
➢ Additional info : Population growth
o Briefly describe the population growth in Barbados
between 1980 and 2010
o Relate the population growth to the population density?
o What does that suggest?
3. Discussion of the results
o Population distribution:
most of the population is living …… because….
o Population growth
Largest population growth is observed in……..
because……