Species and Habitat Vulnerability Assessments of Appalachian Species and Habitats

Future climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies will be dependent on the best available projections of how the regional climate will change and the impacts those changes will have on the region’s natural and cultural resources. Understanding the vulnerability of various species and habitats to climate change within the Appalachian LCC is of critical importance for making effective conservation decisions. The AppLCC funded a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment research project that addresses several factors: 1) how the Cooperative should acquire information about the climate vulnerability of Appalachian species and habitats to develop vulnerability assessments for a suite of key species and habitats to share with partners; 2) compilation of known vulnerability assessments of species and habitats, and 3) new climate change vulnerability assessments of selected species and habitats in the AppLCC region.

Abstract:

In 2012, the Appalachian LCC tasked NatureServe with a two-phase project that to explore understanding of climate change in the Appalachian landscape. The first phase focused on assembling a panel of experts to provide guidance on a) selecting approaches to conduct vulnerability assessments; b) identifying appropriate climate data to use in the assessments, and c) prioritizing species and habitats to assess for vulnerability to climate change. The panel assessed the climate change literature to assist NatureServe in discerning the most appropriate methodologies for use in the region, and provided a set of recommendations to guide the Appalachian LCC and its partners in conducting additional vulnerability assessments. In order to prioritize species and habitats to assess in the second phase, we compiled known existing vulnerability assessments of approximately 650 species and 30 habitats completed in the AppLCC region. We divided the large land mass making up the LCC into three subregions for analysis: the Central Appalachian subregion (northern portion of the LCC from New York to northern Virginia and West Virginia), the Cumberland and Southern Appalachian subregion (the southern portion of the LCC from southern Virginia to Georgia) and the western "triangle" of the LCC, the Interior Low Plateau, ranging from Ohio west to Illinois and south to Alabama. We found that the least amount of existing information occurs in the Interior Low Plateau, an area that receives the highest exposure to projected climate change. We then identified data gaps and developed a list of additional species and habitats to be assessed anew.The final list was finalized in partnership with the AppLCC staff, and analyses were conducted on 41 species and three habitats.

Other Investigators:

Other Organizations:

Project Status:

This project is nearing completion, with the last edits to the final synthesis in progress. We completed a stand-alone paper reporting the results and recommendations of Phase I, compiled three spreadsheets of existing assessments, and incorporated the results of an additional 41 species and three habitat assessments into searchable spreadsheets by subregion.

Funding:

Appalachian LCC FY 2011-12 Project Funding

Location Description: Throughout Appalachian LCC Boundary

Links to Products:

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments Research Video Update

Progress Report for 2nd Quarter, 2013

Quarter 2, 2013 Reviews by Technical Oversight Team

Progress Report for 1st Quarter, 2013

Quarter 1, 2013 Reviews by Technical Oversight Team

Progress Report for 4th Quarter, 2012

Quarter 4, 2012 Reviews by Technical Oversight Team

Abstract and Progress Report for 3rd Quarter, 2012

Quarter 3, 2012 Reviews by Technical Oversight Team with Attachments

Quarter 2, 2012 Reviews by Technical Oversight Team with Attachments

Species and Habitat Vulnerability Assessments of Appalachian Species and Habitats

Project ID	applcc-005
Project URL	link
Start Date:	May 01, 2012
End Date:	April 27, 2014
Project Leader:	Young, Bruce
Organization:	NatureServe
Other Investigators:	Sneddon, Lesley Galbraith, Hector