Presentation slides - Great Northern LCC

Steve Buttrick and Ken Popper
The Nature Conservancy
Conserving Nature’s Stage
Identifying Climate Resilient
Terrestrial Landscapes in the
Pacific Northwest
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Climate Change Resilience Project
Steve Buttrick
Dir of Conservation Science
October 14, 2015
Ken Popper
Senior Conservation Planner
Core Team
Ken Popper: Senior Conservation Planner - OR
Michael Schindel: Dir. Information Mgmt. - OR
Aaron Jones: GIS Analyst - OR
Brad McRae: Spatial Ecologist – NA Science
Jim Platt: GIS Analyst – NA Science
Bob Unnasch: Dir of Science – ID
Steve Buttrick: Dir of Cons. Science - OR
Project
Area
Agenda
• Concept and Methods
• Use in Conservation Planning
Resilience: Definition
The capacity for renewal in a dynamic environment
- Gunderson 2000
Highly Vulnerable
Limited capacity to adapt
Disrupted function, low diversity
Highly Resilient
Large capacity to adapt
Sustain function and diversity
Resilient site: Has characteristics that maintain ecological functions and will likely
sustain a diversity of species even as the composition and ecological processes
change.
Vulnerable site: A place where processes are disrupted and fragmented, and
diversity is likely to decrease. The site may still perform many natural services
Central Concept
By mapping key geophysical features and
evaluating all occurrences of these
features for characteristics that buffer
against climate effects, we can identify
representative examples of geophysical
features that are most resilient to climate
change.
Premise # 1
Geophysical features underlie the spatial
distribution of biodiversity and a region’s
biological richness is due, in part, to this
geophysical diversity.
Diversity and Land Facets
The higher the number of land
facets the higher the number
of species
Anderson and Ferree. 2010.Conserving the Stage
Climate change and the geophysical underpinnings of species
diversity, PlosOne
Conserving Nature’s Stage
Land Facet Development
Three geophysical factors and breaks were used to create land facets.
(The number of classes defined for each factor is indicated in parentheses,
along with a description of how they were defined)
Soil Order
(11)
Elevation
(7 with 600m breaks)
Slope
(3 breaks)
Alfisols
Andisols
Aridisols
Entisols
Histosols
Inceptisols
Mollisols
Spodosols
Ultisols
Vertisols
Rock
0-600
600-1,200
1,200-1,800
1,800-2,400
2,400-3,000
3000-3,600
3,600-4,200
0-6
6-18
Over 18
Premise # 2
Geophysical features underlie the spatial
distribution of biodiversity and a region’s
biological richness is due, in part, to this
geophysical diversity.
Topoclimate diversity and local permeability
convey a level of resilience to a landscape
or site.
Topoclimate Diversity
Landforms control the distribution of moisture, nutrients and
climatic effects.
N
More Heterogeneity =
more options for
species to move and
rearrange at a given
site.
Mt. Mansfield
Landforms
Topoclimate Diversity
Heat Load Index: HLI
Topoclimate Diversity
Compound Topographic Index: CTI
Topoclimatic Diversity Index
Local Terrestrial Permeability
Permeability
Terrestrial
Permeability
Terrestrial
Resilience
Terrestrial
Resilience
Density
Use in Conservation Planning
•
Assess existing conservation sites for terrestrial
resilience.
Ecoregional Assessments
Portfolio sites intersected
and ranked by proportion
of Resilient Land Facets
Use in Conservation Planning
•
•
Assess conservation status of resilient land facets in
existing conservation portfolios.
Use Resilience to update ecoregional assessments
Land Facet– based Portfolio
32% of project area
Target
Land Facet
Targets:
Above Average
Resilience
And
All Land Facets
# of targets
% Goals Met
Biodiversity
549
44%
Land Facets
90
100%
Biodiversity– based Portfolio
39% of project area
Target
Biodiversity
Targets:
Systems
and Species
# of targets
% Goals Met
Biodiversity
549
100%
Land Facets
90
79%
Combined Land Facet and Biodiversity–
based Portfolio
41% of project area
Target
All Targets
Met all goals
# of targets
% Goals Met
Biodiversity
549
100%
Land Facets
90
100%
Use in Conservation Planning
•
•
•
Assess conservation status of resilient land facets in
existing conservation portfolios.
Use Resilience to update ecoregional assessments
Use Resilience to inform conservation/management
actions on public land.
Use in Conservation Planning
•
•
•
•
Assess conservation status of resilient land facets in
existing conservation portfolios.
Use Resilience to update ecoregional assessments
Use Resilience to inform conservation/management
actions on public land.
Leverage results so that new projects are put through a
resilience filter
Use in Conservation Planning
•
Assess conservation status of resilient land facets in
existing conservation portfolios.
• Use Resilience to update ecoregional assessments
• Use Resilience to inform conservation/management
actions on public land.
• Leverage results so that new projects are identified
using a resilience filter
 DDCF Protection Grant: Prioritize underprotected and
overconverted land facets based on
1. Resilience
2. Ownership
3. Conservation Risk
Terrestrial
Resilience
Steve Buttrick:
[email protected]
Ken Popper:
[email protected]
The Nature Conservancy in
Oregon
http://nature.ly/resilienceNW
http://nature.ly/resilienceNW
Steve Buttrick:
[email protected]
Ken Popper:
[email protected]
The Nature Conservancy in
Oregon
http://nature.ly/resilienceNW