A Landscape Approach for Fisheries Database Compilation and Predictive Modeling

A strong data foundation is needed to inform science-based decisions for fisheries management at a watershed level. In preparation for a shift towards comprehensive watershed-scale planning, Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) is developing a fisheries data management system with an initial focus on compiling and formatting several hundred thousand fish survey and stocking records. Fish data will be integrated within a Geographic Information System (GIS) by georeferencing observations to an existing national spatial framework (National Hydrography Dataset), which will allow for broader transferability to watersheds shared with neighboring states, creating a seamless layer not limited by state boundaries. In...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Academics & scientific researchers, Arizona, Conservation NGOs, Data Management and Integration, Datasets/Database, Decision Support, Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, EARTH SCIENCE SERVICES > DATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLING, Federal resource managers, GIS, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, NM-01, NM-02, NM-03, New Mexico, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Presentation, Project, Publication, State agencies, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, United States, aquatic, biota, climate change, completed, environment, fish, invasive species, riparian, water management, water use, Fewer tags

Developing tools for detecting climate change impacts on birds and their habitats in the desert southwest and northwest Mexico

Assessing the vulnerability of species or ecosystems to climate change and formulating appropriate management responses requires predictions of the exposure and sensitivity of the species or ecosystems to projected changes. This collaborative effort by the Sonoran Joint Venture, Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and Point Reyes Bird Observatory will develop a foundation for monitoring environmental change in the desert southwest by identifying where and what to monitor in order to evaluate climate-change impacts.Climate change will not have the same effects in all locations of the southwest. Some areas will change quickly (hotspots) and others will change slowly (refugia). Identifying both types of areas...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service, Shapefile; Tags: 2012, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Applications and Tools, Arizona, Arizona, Big Bend ‐ Río Bravo & Lower Río Conchos Pilot Area, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Datasets/Database, Decision Support, Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Durango, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > BIRDS, Federal resource managers, Jalisco, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Mexico, Mexico, Monitoring, NM-01, NM-02, NM-03, Nayarit, New Mexico, New Mexico, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Project, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, TX-01, TX-02, TX-03, TX-04, TX-05, TX-06, TX-07, TX-08, TX-09, TX-10, TX-11, TX-12, TX-13, TX-14, TX-15, TX-16, TX-17, TX-18, TX-19, TX-20, TX-21, TX-22, TX-23, TX-24, TX-25, TX-26, TX-27, TX-28, TX-29, TX-30, TX-31, TX-32, TX-33, TX-34, TX-35, TX-36, Tamaulipas, Texas, Training/Outreach/Workshop, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, United States, adaptation, biota, bird, climate change, completed, habitat shifting and alteration, map, model, monitoring, vulnerability, Fewer tags

Desert LCC Land Cover Map Pilot Project

The Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) is a partnership formed and directed by resource management entities as well as interested public and private entities in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Desert and montane sky island regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Desert LCC science depends on access to transboundary base datasets. Given the importance of vegetation such as grasslands and riparian vegetation in conservation science, a bi-national, landscape-scale vegetation data layer with classes relevant to Desert LCC research is crucial. One objective of this project is to investigate appropriate methodologies and landscape scales to create a Desert LCC binational land cover...

Categories: Data, Project; Tags: 2014, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Academics & scientific researchers, Aquascalientes, Arizona, Baja California, Big Bend ‐ Río Bravo & Lower Río Conchos Pilot Area, CA-08, CA-23, CA-25, CA-27, CA-36, CA-50, CA-51, California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, DATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATION, DATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATION, Data Acquisition and Development, Desert Ecoregions, Desert LCC (all), Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Durango, EARTH SCIENCE SERVICES, EARTH SCIENCE SERVICES, Federal resource managers, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, GIS, Guanajuato, Interested public, Jalisco, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Map, Methodology/Protocol, Mexico, Mojave Desert Pilot Area, NM-02, NV-01, NV-03, NV-04, Nayarit, Nevada, New Mexico, Nuevo León, Project, Querétaro, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, TX-16, TX-23, Tamaulipas, Texas, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, US-Mexico Border, UT-02, United States, Utah, Zacatecas, biota, completed, grasslands, land use land cover, remote sensing, shrublands, Fewer tags

Grasslands Conservation Geospatial Data Compilation and Synthesis

Grasslands are among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet (Hoekstra et al 2004). Recently, the bird conservation and grasslands communities have united around a forward looking approach to conservation planning. To accomplish this the following information is needed:1) The location, quantity, and quality of desert grasslands,2) the regional risks associated with loss or degradation of grasslands,3) the vulnerability of those grasslands and the species that depend on them to environmental and climate stressors,4) where and what types of programs or partnerships exist on the landscape to address system stressors and implement further conservation programs, and5) what capacity for conservation do these entities...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2014, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Academics & scientific researchers, Aquascalientes, Arizona, Baja California, Big Bend ‐ Río Bravo & Lower Río Conchos Pilot Area, CA-23, CA-25, CA-27, CA-36, CA-50, CA-51, California, Chihuahua, Chihuahuan Desert, Coahuila, Conservation Planning, Data Acquisition and Development, Data Management and Integration, Desert LCC, Desert LCC (all), Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Durango, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS > GRASSLANDS, Federal resource managers, Guanajuato, Jalisco, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Map, Mexico, Mojave Desert, Mojave Desert Pilot Area, NM-02, NV-01, NV-03, NV-04, Nayarit, Nevada, New Mexico, Nuevo León, Presentation, Project, Querétaro, Report, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Sonoran Desert, TX-16, TX-23, Tamaulipas, Texas, Training/Outreach/Workshop, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, UT-02, United States, Utah, Zacatecas, biota, climate change, completed, conservation, grasslands, vulnerability assessment, Fewer tags

Developing a Geodatabase and Geocollaborative Tools to Support Springs and Springs-Dependent Species Management in the Desert LCC

Museum of Northern Arizona, Inc. will leverage tools previously developed by the Springs Stewardship Initiative to help resource managers in the southwestern U.S. collect, analyze, report upon, monitor and archive the complex and interrelated information associated with springs and spring-dependent species in the region. The information will be compiled and made readily available online. The Museum will further develop interactive online maps and climate change risk assessment tools of springs-dependent sensitive plant and animal species.

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service, Shapefile; Tags: 2013, AL-05, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, All tags... AZ-04, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Applications and Tools, Arizona, CA-08, CA-23, CA-25, CA-27, CA-36, CA-50, CA-51, California, Conservation NGOs, DATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATION, Data Management and Integration, Datasets/Database, Decision Support, Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Dos Rios Pilot Area, EARTH SCIENCE SERVICES, Eastern Mojave Desert Pilot Area, Federal resource managers, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Interested public, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, NM-02, NV-01, NV-03, NV-04, Nevada, New Mexico, Project, TX-16, TX-23, Texas, Training/Outreach/Workshop, UT-02, United States, Utah, Vulnerability Assessment, biota, climate change, completed, seeps, species of concern, springs, springs dependent species, vulnerability, water, Fewer tags

Fire Effects and Management in Riparian Ecosystems of the Southwestern United States and Mexico

Riparian ecosystems are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems in desert biomes. In the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Mojave deserts of the United States and Mexico, riparian ecosystems support regional biodiversity and provide many ecosystem services to human communities. Due to the dynamic nature of these ecosystems and their abundance of resources, riparian areas have been modified in various ways and to a large extent through human endeavor to manage water and accommodate various land uses, particularly in lowland floodplains and stream channels. Modifications often interfere with multiple and complex ecological processes, resulting in the loss of native riparian vegetation and increasing vulnerability...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2013, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Aquascalientes, Arizona, Baja California, Big Bend ‐ Río Bravo & Lower Río Conchos Pilot Area, CA-08, CA-23, CA-25, CA-27, CA-36, CA-50, CA-51, California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Desert LCC (all), Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Durango, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > FIRE ECOLOGY, Federal resource managers, Guanajuato, Informing Conservation Delivery, Jalisco, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Mexico, Mojave Desert Pilot Area, NM-02, NV-01, NV-03, NV-04, Nayarit, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Mexico, Nuevo León, Project, Querétaro, Report, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Southwest US, TX-16, TX-23, Tamaulipas, Texas, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, UT-02, United States, Utah, Zacatecas, biota, completed, fire, riparian ecosystems, Fewer tags

Publication: The effects of riparian restoration following saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) biocontrol on habitat and herpetofauna along a desert stream

Amphibians and reptiles (herpetofauna) have been linked to specific microhabitat characteristics, microclimates, and water resources in riparian forests. Our objective was to relate variation in herpetofauna abundance to changes in habitat caused by a beetle used for Tamarix biocontrol (Diorhabda carinulata; Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and riparian restoration. During 2013 and 2014, we measured vegetation and monitored herpetofauna via trapping and visual encounter surveys (VES) at locations affected by biocontrol along the Virgin River in the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States. Twenty-one sites were divided into four riparian stand types based on density and percent cover of dominant trees (Tamarix,...

Categories: Data, Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Academics & scientific researchers, Arizona, Arizona, BIOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, CA-08, CA-36, CA-51, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, Conservation NGOs, Data.gov Desert LCC, EARTH SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, Federal resource managers, INVASIVE SPECIES, INVASIVE SPECIES, INVASIVE SPECIES, Informing Conservation Delivery, LCC Network Science Catalog, Lower Colorado River Basin, NM-02, NM-03, NV-04, Nevada, Nevada, Policy makers & regulators, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Publication, Publication, UT-02, United States, Utah, Utah, Virgin River, Vulnerability Assessment, amphibians, biocontrol, biota, birds, completed, invasive species, product, reptiles, riparian, tamarisk, tamarisk beetle, Fewer tags

Evaluation of Decision Support System Platforms and Tools for Integrated Water Management in the Colorado River Basin

The project will result in recommendations for a decision support platform that links coarse and fine scale tools and for improving the Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS) as the central analytical tool for basinwide water supply planning. The work will largely be accomplished by assembling an exceptionally qualified team in cross-disciplinary, water management decision support systems, in the CRSS, and in two finer scale water management decision supports within the basin and by responding to an advisory group oflead water management agencies.The project will immediately build on the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study being led by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, will extend the interface between...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, AZ-05, All tags... AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Arizona, CA-08, CA-36, CA-51, CO-02, CO-03, California, Colorado, Colorado River Basin, Colorado River Basin, Conservation Planning, Decision Support, Federal resource managers, Green River Basin, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, NM-02, NM-03, NV-01, NV-03, NV-04, Native Fish, Nevada, New Mexico, Project, SRLCC, State agencies, Streamflows, UT-01, UT-02, UT-03, Utah, WY-00, Wyoming, completed, decision support systems, decision support systems, decision support tools, decision support tools, ecological flows, ecological flows, water, water, water management, water management, water supply planning, water supply planning, Fewer tags

Final Report and Publication: From Genotype to River Basin: The combined impacts of climate change on bio-control on a dominant riparian invasive tree/shrub

Executive summary: Tamarisk control and removal has become a priority of riparian ecosystem management, due in part to its potential negative impacts on stream flow and groundwater recharge. Among the most controversial, and potentially most effective tamarisk control approaches is the introduction of the tamarisk leaf beetle, Diorhabda carinulata. The beetle has spread throughout virtually the entire upper Colorado River Basin, established major populations at Lake Mead in 2012, and is now poised to expand into the lower Colorado River Basin concordant with documented evolutionary change in beetle developmental response that may enable survival in southern regions. Superimposed on this direct plant/herbivore relationship...

Categories: Data, Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Arizona, BIOSPHERE, CA-08, CA-36, CA-51, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, Conservation NGOs, Conservation Planning, Data.gov Desert LCC, Datasets/Database, EARTH SCIENCE, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, Federal resource managers, INVASIVE SPECIES, LCC Network Science Catalog, Lower Colorado River Basin, Map, Methodology/Protocol, Mojave Desert Pilot Area, NM-02, NM-03, NV-04, Nevada, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Publication, Report, State agencies, UT-02, United States, Utah, Virgin River watershed, Vulnerability Assessment, biota, climate change, completed, drought, genetics, invasive species, phenology, riparian, stream flow, tamarisk, tamarisk leaf beetles, water supply, woody plants, Fewer tags

Predicting Effects of Climate Change on Riparian Obligate Species in the Southwestern United States

Riparian vegetation provides crucial habitat for wildlife and is a high conservation priority for land managers throughout the Southwest but a central scientific challenge is to generate quantitative predictions of how changes in water availability will affect the amount and quality of riparian wildlife habitat. Researchers will study areas that have long-term datasets available (i.e., hydrological, geomorphological, biological), that characterize a broad range of riparian conditions found in the Southwest. Building on recently developed models funded by the USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC), this work will link various hydrologic, geomorphic and habitat models to better understand...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2011, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-04, AZ-06, All tags... Applications and Tools, Arizona, Arizona, Data Acquisition and Development, Datasets/Database, Decision Support, Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION, Federal resource managers, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Project, Report, San Pedro River, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, United States, Verde River, biota, completed, hydrology, riparian, vegetation, wildlife, Fewer tags

Final Report: Predicting Effects of Climate Change on Riparian Obligate Species in the Southwestern United States

ABSTRACT: The Lower Colorado River and Rio Grande Basins are home to many riparian vertebrate species with different degrees of rarity. In our study, we focused on two species of birds and two species of gartersnakes that are associated with riparian areas: the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia), the Northern Mexican Gartersnake (Thamnophis eques megalops) and the Narrow-headed Gartersnake (T. rufipunctatus). While the extent of distributions of these species is relatively large, they are often patchily distributed in populations that are small; in addition, both gartersnake species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Aside from detrimental effects...

Categories: Data; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2011, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-04, AZ-06, All tags... Applications and Tools, Arizona, Arizona, Data Acquisition and Development, Datasets/Database, Decision Support, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION, Federal resource managers, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Report, San Pedro River, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, United States, Verde River, biota, biota, hydrology, product, report, riparian, vegetation, wildlife, Fewer tags

Science Brief for Resource Managers: Effects of Biocontrol and Restoration on Wildlife in Southwestern Riparian Habitats

Description: Invasive saltcedar is the third most abundant tree in Southwestern riparian systems. Resource managers must often balance the goals of protecting native wildlife species and habitats with the control of non-native and invasive plants. This project examined the impact of the tamarisk leaf beetle (a biocontrol agent) on amphibian and reptile (herpetofauna) and bird populations and communities along the Virgin River in Utah, Arizona and Nevada.Building on two years of pre-biocontrol monitoring, the researchers tracked changes in herpetofauna communities as the biocontrol entered a system dominated by a non-native plant species. The tamarisk leaf beetle is known to be eaten by several wildlife species....

Categories: Data, Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Academics & scientific researchers, Arizona, Arizona, BIOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, CA-08, CA-36, CA-51, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, Conservation NGOs, Data.gov Desert LCC, EARTH SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, Federal resource managers, INVASIVE SPECIES, INVASIVE SPECIES, INVASIVE SPECIES, Informing Conservation Delivery, LCC Network Science Catalog, Lower Colorado River Basin, NM-02, NM-03, NV-04, Nevada, Nevada, Policy makers & regulators, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Publication, Publication, UT-02, United States, Utah, Utah, Virgin River, Vulnerability Assessment, amphibians, amphibians, biocontrol, biocontrol, biota, birds, birds, completed, invasive species, invasive species, product, reptiles, reptiles, riparian, riparian, tamarisk, tamarisk, tamarisk beetle, tamarisk beetle, Fewer tags