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- TNC Southeast Resilience
TNC Southeast Resilience
- Description:
The Nature Conservancy’s Southeast Resilience Project aimed to identify key places areas for conservation based on land characteristics that increase diversity and resilience. This is the estimated resilience score, based on the combined scores of landscape diversity and local connectedness, and ranked relative to the geophysical setting and ecoregion. The estimated resilience score is given as a SD category based on its standard normalized score for the setting and ecoregion. The Resilience Project DOES NOT take into account sea level rise.
A climate-resilient conservation portfolio includes sites representative of all geophysical settings selected for their landscape diversity and local connectedness. We developed methods to identify such a portfolio. First, we mapped geophysical settings across the entire study area. Second, within each geophysical setting we located sites with diverse topography that were highly connected by natural cover. Third, we compared the identified sites with the current network of conservation lands and with The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC’s) portfolio of important biodiversity sites identified based on rare species and natural community locations. Using this information we noted geophysical settings that were underrepresented in current conservation and identified places for each setting that could serve as strongholds for diversity both now and into the future.We prioritized among examples of the same setting using two categories of physical characteristics that increase resilience. The first, landscape diversity, refers to the number of microhabitats and climatic gradients available within a given area. Landscape diversity is measured by counting the variety of landforms, the elevation range, and the wetland density. Because topographic diversity buffers against climatic effects, the persistence of most species within a given area increases in landscapes with a wide variety of microclimates. Local connectedness, the second factor, is defined as the number of barriers and the degree of fragmentation within a landscape. A highly permeable landscape promotes resilience by facilitating range shifts and the reorganization of communities.
The study area includes the seven states of NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN, and KY in their entirety as well as large portions of VA and WV, and a tiny portion of MD. Scientists and conservation planners from those states helped with the development of these methods, the evaluation of datasets, and review of the results.
- Data Provided By:
- Eastern Division Conservation Science of The Nature Conservancy
- Data Hosted by:
- ScienceBase (USGS) View Record
- Map Service URL:
- https://www.sciencebase.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Catalog/537a4dd1e4b0efa8af081512/MapServer/
- Content date:
- 2014 (Publication Date)
- Contact Organization:
- Eastern Division Conservation Science of The Nature Conservancy
- Contact Person(s):
- not specified
- Use Constraints:
- The Nature Conservancy compiled this data set from publicly available data sources and this data is freely distributable without permission from Eastern Division Conservation Science. This data set must be cited on all electronic and hard copy products using the language of the Data Set Credit. The Nature Conservancy shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. Any sale, distribution, loan, or offering for use of these digital data, in whole or in part, is prohibited without the approval of The Nature Conservancy. The use of these data to produce other GIS products and services with the intent to sell for a profit is prohibited without the written consent of The Nature Conservancy. All parties receiving these data must be informed of these restrictions. The Nature Conservancy shall be acknowledged as data contributors to any reports or other products derived from these data.
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About the Uploader
The South Atlantic Conservation Blueprint is a living spatial plan to conserve natural and cultural resources for current and future generations in the face of future change. It spans parts of six states, from Virginia to Florida, including U.S. waters to 200 miles offshore. The Blueprint...
