Spatial Database of Known and Potential Ciénegas in the Greater Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion
Dates
Publication Date
2022-02-15
Start Date
1983
End Date
2021-10-26
Citation
Middleton, B.R., Norman, L.M., Hendrickson, D.A. and Minckley, T.A., 2022, Spatial Database of Known and Potential Ciénegas in the Greater Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9WGNZFG.
Summary
This dataset provides location information and some limited attributes of known and potential ciénegas in the Madrean Archipelago ecoregion and closely surrounding area. This was created using point data and information provided by Dean Hendrickson and Thomas Minckley, combined with potential locations derived from analysis of classified raster land cover images and other specialized datasets. Ciénegas, as defined here, are wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions associated with groundwater or lotic components that ideally result in perennial waters on temporal scales of decades to centuries. Ciénegas are typically located at elevations ranging from 0 to 2000m. Ciénegas are typified by significant differences in flora and fauna relative [...]
Summary
This dataset provides location information and some limited attributes of known and potential ciénegas in the Madrean Archipelago ecoregion and closely surrounding area. This was created using point data and information provided by Dean Hendrickson and Thomas Minckley, combined with potential locations derived from analysis of classified raster land cover images and other specialized datasets. Ciénegas, as defined here, are wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions associated with groundwater or lotic components that ideally result in perennial waters on temporal scales of decades to centuries. Ciénegas are typically located at elevations ranging from 0 to 2000m. Ciénegas are typified by significant differences in flora and fauna relative to the greater terrestrial conditions in the region in which they are located. Ciénegas are freshwater to brackish North American wetlands associated with fluvial systems of arid/semi-arid areas of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. Once extensively utilized by the region's indigenous human cultures, as well as early European explorers and settlers, the extent of these aquatic riparian communities has dramatically decreased from historic conditions. These communities are now considered imperiled in North America.
Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.
Cienegas_locations_Madrean_metadata.xml Original FGDC Metadata
View
62.33 KB
application/fgdc+xml
Cienegas_locations_Madrean.zip
33.17 KB
application/zip
Purpose
The data were collected to provide an up-to-date inventory of ciénegas, along with the locations of potential ciénegas, in the Madrean Archipelago ecoregion (and surrounding 15km buffer) in the US and Mexico. This database is meant to bring attention to ciénegas and ultimately prompt more research and restoration activities on these rare and vulnerable ecosystems. The point data are not meant to provide the precise location, but rather depict a general location. The locations of potential ciénegas were calculated as the centroid of the associated, classified raster image pixels or vector polygons. These points would, therefore, not be ideal as target information for a supervised classification of remotely sensed data. This dataset, however, is useful for locating ciénegas for further research, analysis, management and restoration. Additionally, this census of known and potential ciénegas provides a regional geospatial overview of this important ecosystem that few resources can match. In the near future, moreover, we are intending to perform a landscape change analysis focused on ciénegas of the greater Madrean Archipelago ecoregion.
