Resilient Terrestrial Sites (Southeast Blueprint Indicator) [United States]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Data · 2025 Full Details
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Full Details
- Title
- Resilient Terrestrial Sites (Southeast Blueprint Indicator) [United States]
- Description
- Reason for Selection Resilience scores quantify a combination of landscape diversity and local connectedness, stratified by geophysical setting and ecoregion. These measures represent the number of microclimates available to species and the current state of the landscape. This builds on research from Anderson and Ferree (2010), who showed geophysical diversity and elevation range were associated with biodiversity in the Eastern United States. Resilience emphasizes diverse landscapes where species are likely to be able to move and adjust to changing conditions. Input Data The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) combined terrestrial and coastal resilient sites for the conterminous U.S. in geodatabase format ( resilient_sites_national.zip ), accessed 12-3-2024 Southeast Blueprint 2025 extent Mapping Steps Clip the TNC data to the bounding box around the Southeast Blueprint 2025 extent. To extract the terrestrial component of the analysis, reclassify the "type_des" field to assign "Terrestrial Resilience" a value of 1 and everything else a value of NoData. Reclassify the "CONUS_Legend" field into the final indicator values: 11 Most resilient = 7 12 More resilient = 6 13 Slightly more resilient = 5 17 Average/median resilient (terrestrial or coastal) = 4 18 Slightly less resilient (terrestrial or coastal) = 3 19 Less resilient (terrestrial or coastal) = 2 20 Least resilient (terrestrial or coastal) = 1 91 Developed = 0 As a final step, clip to the spatial extent of Southeast Blueprint 2025. Note: For more details on the mapping steps, code used to create this layer is available in the Southeast Blueprint 2025 Data Download under > 6_Code. Final indicator values Indicator values are assigned as follows: 7 = Most resilient 6 = More resilient 5 = Slightly more resilient 4 = Average/median resilience 3 = Slightly less resilient 2 = Less resilient 1 = Least resilient 0 = Developed Known Issues This indicator does not account for the occurrence and timing of disturbance processes, particularly fire. Without fire, resilient sites in many terrestrial ecosystems will not serve as biodiversity hotspots. This is particularly problematic in pine and prairie ecosystems in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Disclaimer: Comparing with Older Indicator Versions There are numerous problems with using Southeast Blueprint indicators for change analysis. Please consult Blueprint staff if you would like to do this (email hilary_morris@fws.gov ). Literature Cited Anderson, M.G., A. Barnett, M. Clark, C. Ferree, A. Olivero Sheldon, J. Prince. 2016. Resilient Sites for Terrestrial Conservation in Eastern North America. The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Conservation Science. [ https://easterndivision.s3.amazonaws.com/Resilient_Sites_for_Terrestrial_Conservation.pdf ]. Anderson, M.G., Ferree, C.E., 2010. Conserving the stage: climate change and the geophysical underpinnings of species diversity. PLoS One 5, e11554. [ https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011554 ]. The Nature Conservancy. Datasets for the Conterminous U.S.: Resilient Sites (Terrestrial and Coastal). Esri File Geodatabase format. Accessed December 3, 2024. [ https://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/ClimateChange/Pages/RCN-Downloads.aspx ].
- Creator
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- Publisher
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Data
- Temporal Coverage
- Last Modified: 2025-08-12
- Date Issued
- 2025-08-12
- Rights
- The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. While the Service makes every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of data provided for distribution, it may not have the necessary accuracy or completeness required for every possible intended use. The Service recommends that data users consult the associated metadata record to understand the quality and possible limitations of the data. The Service creates metadata records in accordance with the standards endorsed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee. As a result of the above considerations, the Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the data. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data in a manner consistent with the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the Service, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This applies to the use of the data both alone and in aggregate with other data and information.
- Access Rights
- Public
- Format
- ArcGIS ImageMapLayer
- Language
- English
- Date Added
- December 08, 2025
- Provenance Statement
- The metadata for this resource was last retrieved from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Data on 2026-01-08.
Cite and Reference
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Citation
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2025). Resilient Terrestrial Sites (Southeast Blueprint Indicator) [United States]. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Data. https://gis-fws.opendata.arcgis.com/content/fws::resilient-terrestrial-sites-southeast-blueprint-indicator-1 (web service) -
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