Index of Forested Wetland Amphibians
This layer is one of the South Atlantic LCC indicators in the forested wetland ecosystem. To read more about the indicators and how they are being used, please visit the indicator page.
Reason for selection
Amphibians provide an indicator of the condition and arrangement of embedded isolated wetlands.
Input Data
South Atlantic LCC Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAS). PARCAs are a nonregulatory designation whose purpose is to raise public awareness and spark voluntary action by landowners and conservation partners to benefit amphibians and/or reptiles. Areas are nominated using scientific criteria and expert review, drawing on the concepts of species rarity, richness, regional responsibility, and landscape integrity. Modeled in part after the Important Bird Areas program developed by BirdLife International, PARCAs are intended to be coordinated nationally but implemented locally at state or regional scales. Importantly, PARCAs are not designed to compete with existing landscape biodiversity initiatives, but to complement them – providing an additional spatially explicit layer for conservation consideration.
PARCAs are intended to be established in areas:
- capable of supporting viable amphibian and reptile populations
- occupied by rare, imperiled, or at-risk species, and
- rich in species diversity or endemism
There are four major steps in implementation:
1. Regional PARC task teams or state experts can use the criteria and modify them when appropriate, to designate potential PARCAs in their area of interest.
2. Following the identification of all potential PARCAs, the group then reduces these to a final set of exceptional sites that best represent the area of interest.
3. Experts and stakeholders in the area of interest collaborate to produce a map that identifies these peer-reviewed PARCAs.
4. Final PARCAs are shared with the community to encourage the implementation of voluntary habitat management and conservation efforts. PARCA boundaries can be updated as needed.
Mapping Steps
PARCA areas were clipped to Forested Wetlands (NLCD 2011)
GIS Processing
All indicators were initially computed, or in the case of existing data, were resampled to 1 ha spatial resolution using the nearest neighbor method. For computational reasons, we then used the Spatial Analyst aggregate function to rescale the resolution to 200 m. The aggregate function avoided loss of detail by taking the maximum value of each cell in the conversion (e.g., species presence).
Literature Cited
Sutherland and deMaynadier. 2012. Model Criteria and Implementation Guidance for a Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area (PARCA) System in the USA. Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Technical Publication PARCA-1. 28 pp.
This layer is one of the South Atlantic LCC indicators in the forested wetland ecosystem. To read more about the indicators and how they are being used, please visit the indicator page.
Reason for selection
Amphibians provide an indicator of the condition and arrangement of embedded isolated wetlands.
Input Data
South Atlantic LCC Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAS). PARCAs are a nonregulatory designation whose purpose is to raise public awareness and spark voluntary action by landowners and conservation partners to benefit amphibians and/or reptiles. Areas are nominated using scientific criteria and expert review, drawing on the concepts of species rarity, richness, regional responsibility, and landscape integrity. Modeled in part after the Important Bird Areas program developed by BirdLife International, PARCAs are intended to be coordinated nationally but implemented locally at state or regional scales. Importantly, PARCAs are not designed to compete with existing landscape biodiversity initiatives, but to complement them – providing an additional spatially explicit layer for conservation consideration.
PARCAs are intended to be established in areas:
- capable of supporting viable amphibian and reptile populations
- occupied by rare, imperiled, or at-risk species, and
- rich in species diversity or endemism
There are four major steps in implementation:
1. Regional PARC task teams or state experts can use the criteria and modify them when appropriate, to designate potential PARCAs in their area of interest.
2. Following the identification of all potential PARCAs, the group then reduces these to a final set of exceptional sites that best represent the area of interest.
3. Experts and stakeholders in the area of interest collaborate to produce a map that identifies these peer-reviewed PARCAs.
4. Final PARCAs are shared with the community to encourage the implementation of voluntary habitat management and conservation efforts. PARCA boundaries can be updated as needed.
Mapping Steps
PARCA areas were clipped to Forested Wetlands (NLCD 2011)
GIS Processing
All indicators were initially computed, or in the case of existing data, were resampled to 1 ha spatial resolution using the nearest neighbor method. For computational reasons, we then used the Spatial Analyst aggregate function to rescale the resolution to 200 m. The aggregate function avoided loss of detail by taking the maximum value of each cell in the conversion (e.g., species presence).
Literature Cited
Sutherland and deMaynadier. 2012. Model Criteria and Implementation Guidance for a Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area (PARCA) System in the USA. Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Technical Publication PARCA-1. 28 pp.
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