D A V I D P A T R I C K & M A R K A N D E R S O ND A V I D . P A T R I C K @ T N C . O R G

Going with the Flow: Conserving Resilient and Connected

Landscapes

Acknowledgements

Mark Anderson and his team

75 scientists, 8 years of work

The world is changing

npr.org

Plants and animals must adapt or relocate

Habitat alteration

Climate change and habitat alteration

Source Unoccupied habitat

Distance

Permeability

Where should we focus land conservation efforts to maximize the likelihood that terrestrial biodiversity in eastern North America can persist in a changing world?

Focal question

A continuing journey for The Nature Conservancy

1. Conserving Nature’s Stage

2. Climate-Resilient Sites

3. Resilient and Connected Landscapes

1. Conserving Nature’s Stage

Species diversity is strongly correlated with Geophysical diversity

Anderson and Ferree. 2010. Conserving the Stage: Climate change and the geophysical underpinnings of species diversity

Species Diversity predicted from:LandformBedrockSoilTopography

Create arenas for evolution, not museums of the past

Mafic (amphibolite) Moderately Calcareous Coarse Sand

Coastal Sand Limestone Fine Silt/Organic

Sedimentary (sandstone) Granite

H O W C A N W E I D E N T I F Y S I T E S W H E R E B I O D I V E R S I T Y I S L I K E L Y T O B E A B L E T O

P E R S I S T I N T H E F A C E O F C L I M A T E C H A N G E ?

2. Climate-Resilient Sites

What creates natural resilience?

Many microclimates leading to Landscape Diversity

Landform

Elevation range

Wetland density

Soil variety

Diversity is only useful if organisms can access better conditions

Local connectedness

Less fragmented areas are more connected

Areas for each Geophysical Setting with the highest landscape diversity and the highest local connectedness

Resilience Index

PRODUCT: RESILIENCE

R E S I L I E N T A N D C O N N E C T E D L A N D S C A P E S F O R T E R R E S T R I A L C O N S E R V A T I O N

3. Adding Connectivity

How we identified connecting landscapes

Circuitscape: Imagines “current” passing through landscape

Suitable habitat allows current to flow more easily

Habitat alteration creates “anthropogenic resistance”, reducing flow

Inlandbays.org

Resistance

PRODUCT: FLOW DATA

W H A T S P A T I A L C O N F I G U R A T I O N I S N E E D E D T O P R O D U C E A N E C O L O G I C A L L Y C O H E R E N T N E T W O R K T H A T A L L O W S F O R A D A P T A T I O N

A N D C H A N G E ?

Integration: Developing a Resilient and Connected Landscape

Go with the Flow!

1. Start with Resilient sites 2. Add in Flow3. Identified & emphasized important biodiversity features*4. Prioritize among resilient sites based on flow and biodiversity

Important biodiversity features

1. Resilience patches: Large roadless patches

2. Large contiguous areas of each geophysical setting

3. Underrepresented geophysical settings

4. Confirmed presence of rare species

5. Confirmed presence of exemplary natural communities

The Results

Prioritized resilient sites and linkages combined to create a resilient and connected network of sites covering 23% (106 million acres) of region

Represents all geophysical settings

Contains over 8,000 known rare species or communities

23 million acres of riparian corridors

Resilient and Connected Landscapes

Applications: A Stronger Network

Ohio DNR

Regional vision for connectivity science

Identifies priorities for land protection and management

Guides priorities for road mitigation

Resources available

Spatial datasets

Web mapper

Technical report

Connectivity white paper

Technical support

Thanks and Questions