Land Snail Data

The land snail data are available as text files in two forms. The complete data set is available in a comma separated value file. These data can't be easily read by the XLisp-Stat software, but they can be imported to a wide range of other statistical software applications, databases, or spreadsheets. A reader wishing to explore analyses not possible with the XLisp-Stat software will be best served by the complete data set. The data are also available as a set of files prepared for the XLisp-Stat software. These files contain information on land snail abundances, mean depth below surface of collections, and ecological groups of snails. The article contains numerous worked examples that show how these data might be analyzed.

Complete data set

Information on 128 land snail collections is provided in a comma separated value file. In this type of plain text file, data columns are separated by commas and character data are quoted. This type of file can be imported by many applications and can be viewed with a text editor or word processor.

Definitions of column heads

"Collection"

A unique number identifier.

"State_site"

The State of Hawaii site number.

"Year"

The year the data were published or made available.

"Feature"

A feature designation within the State_site.

"Old_site"

A site number not assigned by the State of Hawaii.

"Layer"

The layer designation assigned by the excavator.

"Level"

A level designation, usually a subdivision of a layer.

"Depositional_unit"

Not used.

"Upper_depth"

Depth in cm of the top of the Layer or Level.

"Mid_depth"

Depth in cm midway between Upper_depth and Lower_depth.

"Lower_depth"

Depth in cm of the base of the Layer or Level.

"Sample_weight"

Weight in grams of the land snail collection.

"Max_native_taxa"

The expected maximum number of native taxa in the collection. Not useful.

"Neritina_sp"

MNI of Neritina sp., an aquatic snail.

"Orobophana_uberta"

MNI of Orobophana uberta (Gould, 1847), an extinct native snail.

"Assiminea_nitida"

MNI of Assiminea nitida (Pease, 1865), an aquatic snail.

"Melampus_sp"

MNI of Melampus sp., an aquatic snail.

"Lamellidea_spp"

MNI of Lamellidea spp., extant native snails.

"Pacificella_sp"

MNI of Pacificella sp., an extinct native snail.

"Tornatellides_spp"

MNI of Tornatellides spp., extant native snails.

"Achatinella_mustelina"

MNI of Achatinella mustelina Mighels, 1845, an extinct native snail.

"Leptachatina_cookei"

MNI of Leptachatina (Angulidens) cookei Pilsbry, 1914, an extinct native snail.

"L_subcylindracea"

MNI of Leptachatina (Angulidens) subcylindracea Cooke, 1911, an extinct native snail.

"Leptachatina_spp"

MNI of Leptachatina spp., extinct native snails.

"Amastra_subrostrata"

MNI of Amastra (Metamastra) subrostrata (Pfeiffer, 1859), an extinct native snail.

"Amastra_umbilicata"

MNI of Amastra (Cyclamastra) umbilicata umbilicata (Pfeiffer, 1855), an extinct native snail.

"Amastra_spp"

MNI of Amastra spp., extinct native snails.

"Lyropupa_sp"

MNI of Lyropupa sp. (sinistral), an extinct native snail.

"Lyropupa_ovatula"

MNI of Lyropupa (Mirapupa) ovatula Cooke and Pilsbry, 1920, an extinct native snail.

"Lyropupa_perlonga"

MNI of Lyropupa (Mirapupa) perlonga (Pease, 1871), an extant native snail.

"Lyropupa_M_spp"

MNI of Lyropupa (Mirapupa) spp., extant (?) native snails.

"Nesopupa_litoralis"

MNI of Nesopupa (Nesopupilla) litoralis Cooke and Pilsbry, 1920, an extinct native snail.

"Nesopupa_newcombi"

MNI of Nesopupa (Limbatipupa) newcombi (Pfeiffer, 1852), an extinct native snail

"Nesopupa_wesleyana"

MNI of Nesopupa (Nesodagys) wesleyana Ancey, 1904, an extinct native snail.

"Nesopupa_spp"

MNI of Nesopupa spp., extinct native snails.

"Pupoidopsis_hawaiiensis"

MNI of Pupoidopsis hawaiiensis Pilsbry and Cooke, 1921, an extinct native snail.

"Gastrocopta_servilis"

MNI of Gastrocopta servilis (Gould, 1843), snail introduced to Hawaii in historic times.

"Cookeconcha_sp"

MNI of Cookeconcha n. sp.(?), a native extinct snail.

"Endodonta_kalaeloana"

MNI of Endodonta kalaeloana Christensen, 1982, an extinct native snail.

"Succinea_caduca"

MNI of Succinea caduca Mighels, 1845, an extant native snail.

"Lamellaxis_gracilis"

MNI of Lamellaxis gracilis (Hutton, 1834), snail introduced to Hawaii in Polynesian times.

"Bradybaena_similaris"

MNI of Bradybaena similaris (Ferussac, 1821), snail introduced to Hawaii in historic times.

"Unidentified"

MNI of unidentified snails.

Files prepared for XLisp-Stat

Data files prepared for use with XLisp-Stat software are available in an archive file. This file should be placed in its own directory and unzipped there. It contains 38 files totalling just over 25 kilobytes. When using XLisp-Stat software you will probably want to (set-working-directory) to this directory.

You can find out about how to install and run the software used in this analysis at: http://www.tsdye.com/IA/software/diversity-software.html. The software is freely distributed under the GNU Public License.

Data on land snail abundances are held in a series of files with the .dat suffix. Eighteen of the files contain information from single sites. These are named with site numbers. Each row in a file contains information from a single collection and the collections are ordered stratigraphically in the files from youngest to oldest. One of the files, kalaeloa-all.dat, contains information on all 18 sites. Each line of this file contains information on a single site.

All of the individual .dat files are listed here.

 1710-1.dat
 1715-1.dat
 1716.dat
 2700-1.dat
 2700-18.dat
 2701-1.dat
 2701-3.dat
 2701-8.dat
 2705-7.dat
 2706-6e.dat
 2706-8b.dat
 2711-28.dat
 2717-23.dat
 9574.dat
 9647-2.dat
 9659-1.dat
 9661-2.dat
 9670-p1.dat
 kalaeloa-all.dat
 

Also included are files that contain information on the mean depth below surface of each collection. The files have a suffix .xax, so-called because this information is most often used to order the x-axis of plots. There is one .xax file per site. Each file contains information on one or more x-axes. The files can be read directly with XLisp-Stat software using the message: read-x-axis "filename.xax"

The complete list of the individual .xax files is here.

 1710-1.xax
 1715-1.xax
 1716.xax
 2700-1.xax
 2700-18.xax
 2701-1.xax
 2701-3.xax
 2701-8.xax
 2705-7.xax
 2706-6e.xax
 2706-8b.xax
 2711-28.xax
 2717-23.xax
 9574.xax
 9647-2.xax
 9659-1.xax
 9661-2.xax
 9670-p1.xax
 

Finally, a single file containing various useful subset definitions is also provided. This file is called example.sub, and it can be read by the XLisp-Stat software with the message: read-subset "example.sub"

© Internet Archaeology URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue10/dye/data/data-description.html
Last updated: Tue May 29 2001