The Appalachian LCC tasked NatureServe with a two-phase project that explores the understanding of climate change in the Appalachian landscape. The first phase focused on assembling a panel of experts to provide guidance on a) prioritizing species and habitats to assess for vulnerability to climate change; b) selecting approaches to conduct vulnerability assessments, and c) identifying appropriate climate data to use in the assessments. Guided by the recommendations of the Panel, Phase II analyzes the results of 700 existing species assessments, and conducts vulnerability analyses on 41 additional species and 3 habitats. We used the recommendations of the Expert Panel, as well as the existing compilation to guide our recommended list of additional species and habitats to be assessed in Phase II. Criteria included a focus on the Interior Low Plateau and on plants, neither of which were well represented in existing assessments, as well as species of high conservation significance, keystone or species otherwise important to the habitat, and those of high value as indicators of climate change. This report summarizes Phase II of this effort.
Historically, cave fauna, and any biota for that matter, were largely studied from a taxonomic perspective. With the advent of interest in species diversity in the late 1960’s and especially with the interest in biodiversity and biodiversity hotspots in the late 1980’s, the focus changed. Studies of cave fauna reflected the changing research agendas. In this bibliographic review, we examine five areas of interest: 1) National cave fauna studies; 2) Regional and local cave fauna studies in the Appalachians; 3) A summary of the major taxonomic studies; 4) Previous mapping of biodiversity in the region and the techniques employed; 5) Models for explaining subterranean biodiversity patterns, both in the Appalachians and elsewhere.
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This visual guide documents the work gathering and analyzing data on caves and karst resources in the Appalachian LCC. The maps and files provide a comprehensive overview of data available for examining relationships between environmental factors and biological diversity and distribution within karst areas in the region. This visual survey is intended to be a guide to what the researchers have accomplished, and a guide to what new questions and results would be interesting to end-users.
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This study developed a mapped classification system for stream and river systems in the Appalachian LCC region to inform conservation planning for aquatic biodiversity. Stream habitats were classified using six primary attributes: size, gradient, temperature, hydrology, buffering capacity, and confinement. Information on each variable was based on extensive data compiled or modeled. Variable classes were then combined to yield a regional taxonomy.
Access this Story Map that illustrates the mapped classification system for streams and rivers.
Identifying aquatic ecosystems requires a classification of stream and lake features into recognizable categories. Although a number of nationally recognized terrestrial community classifications exist, currently there is no national or international standard for classifying aquatic communities or ecosystems. Despite the lack of a national aquatic community classification, aquatic ecosystem classifications and frameworks have been developed at a variety of spatial scales to reflect the distribution of aquatic biological communities. This report reviews these freshwater classification frameworks, providing detailed analysis and application examples of taxonomic, environmental, and hydrologic classifications in use within the Appalachian region.
The entire stream classification dataset is available for download as a zip file.
Included in the download, is a shapefile of all of the stream flow lines within the study area. Information about each of the features is available in the attribute table of the shapefile. An Excel file is included which describes each of the fields in the attribute table. In addition, several layer files are also included: alkalinity classes; confinement classes; gradient classes; hydrologic classes; size classes; temperature classes; and a combination of temperature, gradient, confinement, and size classes. The layer files refer to data within the shapefile, but preserve a pre-defined symbology for users to more easily visualize the data based on certain characteristics.
Data Download Link: http://applcc.s3.amazonaws.com/Aquatic_Classification/FlowlinesData.zip
This spreadsheet provides the results of habitat assessments from five previous research projects. These include two projects in the Central Appalachian and Cumberland - Southern Appalachian portion of the LCC; habitat assessments completed in the North Carolina portion of the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion; habitat assessments in the northeastern portion of the Central Appalachian subregion; and a draft assessment for a habitat in the Interior Low Plateau.
This habitat of upland hardwood-dominated forests occurs in the Interior Low Plateau region of the southeastern United States along ridgetops and slopes of various aspects. The floristic expression of different stands included in this habitat varies considerably with aspect and soil type. Included here are a variety of associations ranging along a moisture gradient from submesic to drier ones. The submesic to dry-mesic expressions tend to be found on midslopes with northerly to easterly aspects, and the drier ones on southerly to westerly aspects and on broad ridges. Parent material can range from calcareous to acidic with very shallow, well- to excessively well-drained soils in the drier expressions and moderately well-drained soils in the submesic to dry-mesic ones. The canopy closure of this system ranges from closed to somewhat open in the drier examples. Historically, these examples may have been more open under conditions of more frequent fire.
This habitat is found primarily in the Interior Highlands of the Ozark, Ouachita, and Interior Low Plateau regions with scattered occurrences in northern Missouri. It occurs along moderate to steep slopes and steep valleys on primarily southerly to westerly facing slopes. Limestone and/or dolomite bedrock typify this system with shallow, moderately to well-drained soils interspersed with rocks. These soils often dry out during the summer and autumn, and then become saturated during the winter and spring. Fire is the primary natural dynamic, and prescribed fires help manage this system by restricting woody growth and maintaining the more open glade structure.
This visual guide documents 18 months of work gathering and analyzing data on caves and karst resources in the Appalachian LCC. The maps and files provide a comprehensive overview of data available for examining relationships between environmental factors and biological diversity and distribution within karst areas in the region. This visual survey is intended to be a guide to what the researchers have accomplished, and a guide to what new questions and results would be interesting to end-users.
This spreadsheet functions as a tool to determine climate change vulnerability of species. Information is entered in the calculator, and results are stored in the results tab. Explanations of climate change measures and species-specific attributes that contribute to adaptive capacity are in subsequent tabs. The documentation tab provides justification for ratings of each individual factor, with a complete list of references also provided in a separate tab. Also available for download below is the county distribution for 41 of the species evaluated.
Unifying state-based stream classifications into a single consistent system, principal investigators at The Nature Conservancy developed a hierarchical classification system and map for stream and river systems for the Appalachian LCC that represents the region’s natural flowing-water aquatic habitats. This river classification information is needed to develop and implement instream flow standards and management recommendations so that environmental flows can become integral to all water management decisions from the onset.
A Stream Classification System for the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative -
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Conservation planning is concerned with spatially identifying and prioritizing lands and waters important for functioning ecosystems and biodiversity. It is a science utilizing geographic information systems and large datasets to generate scenario-based maps of conservation potential. These scenarios can balance social, economic, and regulatory constraints with processes that occur over time and space. The planning process itself, as well as final products, helps practitioners prioritize where and when to take conservation action.
In 2012, the Appalachian LCC tasked NatureServe with a two-phase project that explores the understanding of climate change in the Appalachian landscape. The first phase focused on assembling a panel of experts to provide guidance on a) prioritizing species and habitats to assess vulnerability to climate change; b) selecting approaches to conduct vulnerability assessments, and c) identifying appropriate climate data to use in the assessments. Using the recommendations of the Panel, the second phase of the research conducted vulnerability analyses on selected species and habitats, and provided results within the context of other existing assessments. This report summarizes Phase I of this effort.
Historically, the cave fauna, and any biota for that matter, were largely studied from a taxonomic perspective. Papers focused on a lineage or a set of closely related lineages because of the strictures of taxonomic expertise, the difficulty in collating and summarizing information for a variety of taxonomic groups, and because, until relatively recently, there was no research agenda that emphasized patterns of species richness. With the advent of interest in species diversity per se in the late 1960’s and especially with the interest in biodiversity and biodiversity hotspots in the late 1980’s, the focus changed. Studies of cave fauna reflected the changing research agendas. In this bibliographic review, we examine five areas of interest:
A classification system and map was developed for stream and river systems in the Appalachian LCC region, encompassing parts of 17 states. The product is intended to complement state-based stream classifications by unifying them into a single consistent system that represents the region’s natural flowing-water aquatic habitats. The results can be used to understand ecological flow relationships and inform conservation planning for aquatic biodiversity in the region.
The Data Needs Assessment research project was undertaken to review the variety of resources on conservation planning to provide packages of products, data, and identified data gaps to improve conservation planning in the Appalachian LCC. A suite of core conservation planning products and data from principal investigators at Clemson University are now available to the Cooperative.
Data Needs Assessment -
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This document presents map images and text that describes the data that can be posted to the AppLCC web portal. The arrangement follows the layout of the Appalachain Landscape Conservation Cooperative GIS Datasets.
We have provided some interpretation material and text for conservation planning tools. These programs have been grouped into broad, sometime overlapping purposes. These brief descriptions of the various conservation planning tools can be put up on the AppLCC web portal, for users to get an idea about the tools available and what purposes they could serve. We have alo provided other links, where users can get detailed information about the tool.
