Imperiled Aquatic Species (Southeast Blueprint Indicator ) [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] {2023} Full Details
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Full Details
- Title:
- Imperiled Aquatic Species (Southeast Blueprint Indicator ) [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] {2023}
- Description:
- Reason for Selection According to the Southeastern Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, "the Southeastern United States is a global hotspot of freshwater biodiversity, supporting almost two-thirds of the country's fish species, over 90% of the US total species of mussels and nearly half of the global total for crayfish species. More than a quarter of this region's species are found nowhere else in the world. Unfortunately, this region is also a hotspot for imperilment. The number of imperiled freshwater fish species in the Southeast has risen 125% in the past 20 years" (RBC and TNACI). This indicator identifies areas with abundant rare and endemic aquatic species that would benefit from conservation action. It captures patterns of rare and endemic species diversity not well-represented by other freshwater indicators. Input Data Base Blueprint 2022 extentU.S. Geological Survey (USGS)Watershed Boundary Dataset(WBD), accessed 12-2-2021: HUC12s;download the data2023 U.S. Census TIGER/Line state boundaries, accessed 5-15-2023;download the dataSoutheast Blueprint 2023 extent Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) SGCN HUC12 summaries The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership provided these summaries on April 19, 2023 as an Excel spreadsheet geodatabase containing the ID number for each HUC12 watershed and an attribute for the number of aquatic animal SGCNs observed in that watershed. This dataset is based on state Natural Heritage Program occurrence records for fishes, mussels, snails, crayfish, and amphibians. It was last updated in February 2023. More information on this dataset is available in Appendix A of theSoutheast Blueprint 2023 Development Process. Estimated Floodplain Map of the Conterminous U.S. from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) EnviroAtlas; see this factsheet for more information; download the data The EPA Estimated Floodplain Map of the Conterminous U.S. displays "...areas estimated to be inundated by a 100-year flood (also known as the 1% annual chance flood). These data are based on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-year flood inundation maps with the goal of creating a seamless floodplain map at 30-m resolution for the conterminous United States. This map identifies a given pixel's membership in the 100-year floodplain and completes areas that FEMA has not yet mapped" (EPA 2018). National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) Version 2.1 medium resolution catchments (note: V2.1 is just the current sub-version of the dataset generally called NHDPlusV2); view the user guide CatchmentsA catchment is the local drainage area of a specific stream segment based on the surrounding elevation. Catchments are defined based on surface water features, watershed boundaries, and elevation data. It can be difficult to conceptualize the size of a catchment because they vary significantly in size based on the length of a particular stream segment and its surrounding topography—as well as the level of detail used to map those characteristics. To learn more about catchments and how they're defined, check out these resources: An article from USGS explaining the differences between various NHD products The glossary at the bottom ofthis tutorial for an EPA water resources viewer, which defines some key terms Mapping Steps Join the SGCN count table to the HUC12 spatial data. Convert to a 30 m raster, where the values represent the number of SGCN. Reclassify the species count values to the 1-9 indicator values below. Mask the resulting raster to the EPA estimated floodplain. Assign a value of 0 to all areas outside the EPA floodplain. Zero values are intended to help users better understand the extent of this indicator and make it perform better in online tools. Mask the resulting floodplain-masked raster to the NHDPlus medium resolution catchments layer to remove values in the nearshore environment. Using the TIGER/Line state boundary, assign a value of NoData to areas in West Virginia, since the SARP data does not cover West Virginia. Clip to the spatial extent of Base Blueprint 2022. As a final step, clip to the spatial extent of Southeast Blueprint 2023. Note: For more details on the mapping steps, code used to create this layer is available in theSoutheast Blueprint Data Downloadunder > 6_Code. Final indicator values Indicatorvaluesareassignedasfollows: 9 = 8+ aquatic animal Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) observed 8 = 7 aquatic animal SGCN observed 7 = 6 aquatic animal SGCN observed 6 = 5 aquatic animal SGCN observed 5 = 4 aquatic animal SGCN observed 4=3aquaticanimalSGCNobserved 3 =2 aquaticanimalSGCNobserved 2=1aquaticanimalSGCN observed 1 = 0 aquaticanimalSGCN observed 0 = Not identified as a floodplain (excluding West Virginia) Known Issues As this indicator is based on occurrence records, poorly surveyed areas may be scored too low. Therefore, this data does not imply absence of species. While this indicator generally includes the open water area of reservoirs, some open water portions of reservoirs (e.g., Kerr Lake in NC/VA) are missing from the estimated floodplain dataset. Small headwaters and creeks are not included in this indicator because the EPA estimated floodplain dataset does not include them. This indicator may underprioritize areas important for aquatic plants. As most Southeast states do not identify plants as SGCNs, it includes aquatic animal species only. This indicator draws from data provided by SARP, which does not cover the full state of West Virginia. To fill that gap, we developed the West Virginia imperiled aquatic species indicator using a different data source. While states that neighbor West Virginia (Kentucky and Virginia) submitted species observations to SARP for HUC12s that cross over into West Virginia, we erased the values within West Virginia since we lacked complete information for those HUCs and the West Virginia imperiled aquatic species indicator already covered those areas in a more consistent way. In future Blueprint updates, we are working to expand the full imperiled aquatic species indicator to West Virginia to avoid the need for a separate indicator. In the area just south of Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas, this indicator depicts the floodplain as a series of linear lines that poorly match the actual floodplain. This is due to an error in the EPA floodplain map used in this indicator. The catchment boundaries are inconsistent in how far they extend toward the ocean. As a result, this indicator does not consistently apply to estuaries, coastal areas, and barrier islands. 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 EPA EnviroAtlas. 2018. Estimated Floodplain Map of the Conterminous U.S. [https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/enviroatlas/DataFactSheets/pdf/Supplemental/EstimatedFloodplains.pdf]. Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership. Species Summaries by HUC12. Accessed April 2023. The River Basin Center and The Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute. The Southeastern Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation Strategy. Accessed July 31, 2023. [https://southeastfreshwater.org/]. U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, Spatial Data Collection and Products Branch. TIGER/Line Shapefile, 2023, U.S. Current State and Equivalent National. 2023. [https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html]. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 2012. National Hydrography Dataset Plus 2. [https://www.horizon-systems.com/nhdplus/].
- Creator:
- Department of the Interior
- Provider:
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Data
- Resource Class:
- Imagery and Web services
- Temporal Coverage:
- 2023
- Date Issued:
- 2023-09-25
- Place:
- 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:
- Imagery
- Language:
- English
- Date Added:
- 2023-10-17