Mapping Western Hemisphere Fauna

Mapping Western Hemisphere Mapping Western Hemisphere FaunaFauna

Bruce E. [email protected]

Association for Biodiversity Information(http://www.abi.org)

Association for Association for Biodiversity Biodiversity InformationInformation

(ABI)(ABI)

Mission: To develop, manage, and

distribute authoritative information

critical to the conservation of the

world’s biological diversity.

What Information do we Need for What Information do we Need for Conservation?Conservation?

• What is it?

• Where is it?

• How is it doing?

• What are its requirements?

• Where to conserve it?

• At a site, what are the threats and how do we address them?

ABI: ~80 staff plus members of the ABI: ~80 staff plus members of the Natural Heritage NetworkNatural Heritage Network

• A “spin-off” of The Nature Conservancy

• 77 independent “member” programs

• Common methodology

• Each program: ecologists, botanists, zoologists, data specialists

• Programs in 50 U.S. states, 10 Canadian provinces, and 10 Latin American countries

Organizational Homes for Natural Organizational Homes for Natural Heritage ProgramsHeritage Programs

(US and Canada)(US and Canada)

• 78% State or provincial agency• 12% University• 5% Non-profit (e.g., Nature Conservancy)• 5% Other (Navajo Nation, National Park,

District of Columbia)

What do Natural Heritage What do Natural Heritage Programs Do?Programs Do?

Gather, manage, analyze, and distribute information about the biological diversity found within their jurisdictions– Secondary sources & field inventories– Map & manage data– Conduct environmental reviews &

assessments– Design, protect, and manage conservation

areas

Element OccurrenceElement OccurrenceElement Occurrence• is an area of land

and/or water in which a species is, or was present.

• has practical conservation value.

• tracked for endangered species

Protection

Ecomonitoring

Ecovisits

Projects

Transactions

InformationRequests

InformationSources

Actcode Experts

relatedrequests

MAs

El char Tracts

EOs MAsSites

Contacts

El stewEl rank EcomonEl track

Sites

EOs

Conceptual model of the BCD System

Design by Conservation Systems DepartmentThe Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia

Diagram Prepared September 1996

1996 Edition

non-spatialentity

geographicentity

Contacts

TransactionsTractsEOs

Actions

SitesMAs Projects

EOs Tracts

Sites

Designations

Tracts

Taxes

nesting chain oftit le

ElementRanking

ElementTracking

subunitscluster

Element

Location

Condition& Trend

ElementStewardship

TractTransactions

BIOLOGICAL and CONSERVATION DATA SYSTEMDATA RELATIONS DIAGRAM

MapQuadrangles

EOsRequests

SitesMAs

States

Requests

El char

MAs ProjectsContacts

Sites

EOs Tracts

Counties

MAs

SitesTractsRequests

TaxesEl char EOs

ElementOccurrences

Taxes

one-to-manyrelationship

one-to-onerelationship

many-to-manyrelationship

ManagedAreas

ElementCharacterization

Six generationsSix generationsto date ofto date ofNatural HeritageNatural Heritagedatabase database softwaresoftware

Bird and Mammal Mapping Project

Objectives

– Digitize the ranges of all bird and mammal species (~5,600) of the Western Hemisphere

– Disseminate the data to the conservation public


History– TNC-Wings “Setting Priorities” project

(1,300 birds-at-risk)– WWF-US project in Southeastern Brazil

(~800 birds)– MOU among CI-CABS, WWF-US,

TNC-Wings, ABI


Strategy– Gather existing digitized maps– Digitize remaining maps

Quality Standards– Minimum 1 degree lat/long grid– Comparable base map– Up-to-date source


Sources for Digitized Maps– TNC-Wings– WWF-US– Gerardo Ceballos (UNAM)– Patricia Escalante (UNAM)– Stuart Pimm (U. Tennessee)– Ross Keister (USFS)– Don McNicol (CWS)


Data Sources

Birds• North America: Birds of North America• Mexico, northern Central America: Howell

& Webb• Southern Central America: James Zook• South America: Robert Ridgely• Caribbean: Raffaele et al.


Data SourcesMammals• North America: Wilson & Ruff• Central America: Reid• South America: Eisenberg & Redford• Caribbean: Literature

Expert Review: Bruce Patterson


Details

• ArcView 3.x

• Digitize polygons & points (South American birds only)

• ~1:5,000,000

• Degrade data as necessary


Polygon data fields

• File name: gggg_ssss_pl.xxx

• Family, genus &species, common name

• Migratory status1 = Year-round Resident 6 = Boreal wintering

2 = Austral breeding 7 = Boreal transient (migrating)

3 = Austral wintering 8 = Vagrant

4 = Austral transient (migrating) 9 = Uncertain

5 = Boreal breeding 10 = Extinct/extirpated


Point data fields• File name: gggg_ssss_pt.xxx• Family, genus &species, common name• Migratory status• Location• Source type (specimen, observation)• Institution/Observer• Date• Locational Uncertainty• Comments


Determine Source

Digitize Map

Expert Review

Redigitize

Data Roll-up


Final Products– Compact Disk– Downloadable Data– InfoNatura (not funded yet)


• Status– Received: about 4,000 maps– Already digitized: about 1,400– Remaining: digitizing, review, revision

Courtesy of R. Ridgely, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia

# # #

#

# #

#

##

#

#

#

##

##

##

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

# ####

###

Long-tailed Woodcreeper, Deconychura longicauda

Courtesy of R. Ridgely, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia


Challenges• Variable precision of contributed maps• Variety of base maps used• Schedules of contributors• Taxonomic instability• Protecting unpublished information• Reflecting movement status• Funding for updates

www.infonatura.org

InfoNatura: Search by Name

InfoNatura: Search by Country

InfoNatura: Search by Status

InfoNatura: Search Results

InfoNatura: Report

InfoNatura: Distribution

Mapping Western Hemisphere Fauna

Documents

Transcript of Mapping Western Hemisphere Fauna