Ecological Community Types

Comprehensive ecological community map for the Rensselaer Plateau based on the one ecological community most likely/certain from each location, plus two additional county-rare communities that were identified from only one location each on the plateau but as less certain. With one record per community type and information more relevant to the general community type globally and across the plateau than to individual patches. Ecological communities are basic ecological units representing an assemblage of specific plants and animals that repeat across a landscape. Community types identified from the plateau include various uplands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and caves, some classified as natural types, others as cultural types. Numerous attributes on GIS provide detailed community-specific information including ones for the community classification hierarchy, land cover classification, community rarity, ecological feature indicators, forest-interior disturbance, and abundance characteristics. Additional information on presence certainty on the plateau, regional community distribution, characteristic biota, conservation importance, and occurrence ranking guidelines are pending uploading onto GIS. Linear and the two county-rare PatchCode 2 communities, which overlap with polygon communities, are shown in cross hatch symbols.