Patrick Comer

Comer, P., P. Crist, M. Reid, J. Hak, H. Hamilton, D. Braun, G. Kittel, I. Varley, B. Unnasch, S. Auer, M. Creutzburg, D. Theobald, and L. Kutner. Mojave Basin and Range Rapid Ecoregional Assessment Report. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Executive Summary attached Working with agency partners, BLM is conducting rapid ecoregional assessments (REAs) covering approximately 450 million acres of public and non-public lands in ten ecoregions and combinations of ecoregions in the American West. The goal of the REAs is to identify ecological resource status, potential to change from a landscape viewpoint, and potential priority areas for conservation, restoration, and development. REAs are intended to serve BLM’s developing Ecoregional direction that links REAs and the BLM’s Resource Management Plans and other on-the-ground decision making processes. Ecoregional direction establishes a regional roadmap for reviewing and updating Resource Managem...

Three biodiversity reserve scenarios were created using the Spatial Portfolio Optimization Tool. Targeted biodiversity elements included freshwater habitats, coastal marine habitats, terrestrial ecological systems, coastal marine species, and rare upland and wetland plant and animal species. Two layers reflecting conservation 'cost,' or suitability, were computed using a series of weighting factors applied to land use data. One cost layer influenced reserve selection for the all the marine areas and the terrestrial ecological systems. The other cost layer was develop using a flow accumulation model and influenced selection of the freshwater habitats only. Spatial analysis units of 14,993 100-hectare hexagons were used (9,377 Terrestrial and 5,616 Marine). Representation goals were set as 10% and 30% of historic terrestrial systems and 30% to 60% of marine habitats, coastal marine densities and freshwater habitats. Final results ranged from 26% to 48% of the study area select...

... Citation: Comer , PJ, B . Young , K . Schulz , G . Kittel, B . Unnasch, D. Braun, G . Hammerson, L. Smart, H. Hamilton, S. Auer, R. Smyth, and J . Hak.. 2012. Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Strategies for Natural Communities : Piloting methods in the Mojave and Sonoran ...

Background/Question/Methods The United States currently has a scientifically defensible, national system for tracking wetland acreage and loss – the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Status and Trends reports - but lacks a comparable system for documenting trends in wetland condition. EPA will complement the work of FWS by working in partnership with state, tribal, local, and federal partners, to design and implement a National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). The NWCA requires a method for identifying a set of candidate reference sites to guide the assessment. Results/Conclusions NatureServe, working with EPA and partners, has developed recommendations for establishing reference conditions for all wetlands across the lower 48 states. Reference wetlands provide a basis for defining what constitutes a characteristic and sustainable level of integrity across a suite of ecological attributes selected for a type. Establishing reference condition of wetlands requires characterizing the...

Background/Question/Methods Initiating a new landscape approach to natural resource management, the Bureau of Land Management has embarked on a series of rapid ecoregional assessments. These regional assessments intend to document and forecast ecosystem conditions within current and mid-21st century time frames, setting the stage for revision of land management plans. Each assessment is scheduled to be conducted within an 18 month time frame, largely building on existing information. Within these constraints, NatureServe ecologists are leading technical teams to develop and apply new methods for gauging ecological integrity for several forms of ‘conservation elements’ (i.e., ecosystem types, species assemblages, at-risk species habitat) applicable to these rapid, regional-scaled assessments. Results/Conclusions Here we report on emerging methods and results for assessment of upland and wetland ecosystems with examples drawn from the Mojave Desert and Great Basin ecoregions of the Am...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), with support from NatureServe, has modeled the potential distribution of 419 terrestrial ecosystems for the conterminous United States using a comprehensive biophysical stratification approach which identifies distinct biophysical environments and associates them with known vegetation distributions (Sayre and others, 2009). This standardized ecosystem mapping effort used an ecosystems classification developed by NatureServe (Comer and others, 2003). The ecosystem mapping methodology was developed for South America (Sayre and others, 2008) and is now being implemented globally (Sayre and others, 2007). The biophysical stratification approach is based on mapping the major structural components of ecosystems (land surface forms, topographic moisture potential, surficial lithology, isobioclimates and biogeographic regions) and then spatially combining them to produce a set of unique biophysical environments. These physically distinct areas are consider...

Se han identificado 84 sistemas ecológicos distintos, lo cual se explica por el extenso gradiente latitudinal y la gran diversidad de ambientes o regiones ecológicas incluidos en esta geografía, tales como: laderas montañosas andinas húmedas y nubladas, valles interandinos xéricos, mesetas sedimentarias y colinas del subandino, la penillanura amazónica con sus llanuras aluviales inundables, afloramientos rocosos de diverso origen y el complejo mosaico de sabanas drenadas, anegables y bosques de galería, propios de la enorme llanura aluvial de la cuenca de los ríos Mamore y Beni. En conjunto estos ambientes cubren la mayoría de bioclimas tropicales, y se encuentran sobre las mas variadas geomorfologías y geologías. Vale la pena remarcar en este contexto algunas de las características mas sobresalientes de esta sección de los Andes y la Amazonia.

Newsletter brief: Providing decision makers with good information on wetland health across spatial scales is a challenging endeavor. The authors discuss a multi-leveled model that provides remote, rapid, and intensive site assessment data as a complementary element to ongoing probability-based sampling efforts nationally.

Reprint available by request Methods for selecting places at regional scales to conserve biodiversity have advanced in recent decades. However, with a rapidly changing climate, new methods will be required to adapt as ecosystems change. Ecoregional planning steps are reviewed and potential alternatives are identified for adapting to climate change. Common planning steps include defining the planning region, selecting focal targets, mapping target distributions, assessing current conditions, establishing representation objectives, designing regional scenarios, identifying conservation strategies, and measuring success of regional plans. Since decisions that are implemented today will be revisited into the future, an iterative approach of increasing frequency is required. Key Words: biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, conservation strategies, ecological condition, ecoregion, ecoregional planning, focal conservation target, scenario design, site selection, target dist...

ABSTRACT Geodiversity has been used as a surrogate for biodiversity when species locations are unknown, and this utility can be extended to situations where species locations are in flux. Recently, scientists have designed conservation networks that aim to explicitly represent the range of geophysical environments, identifying a network of physical stages that could sustain biodiversity while allowing for change in species composition in response to climate change. Because there is no standard approach to designing such networks, we compiled 8 case studies illustrating a variety of ways scientists have approached the challenge. These studies show how geodiversity has been partitioned and used to develop site portfolios and connectivity designs; how geodiversity-based portfolios compare with those derived from species and communities; and how the selection and combination of variables influences the results. Collectively, they suggest 4 key steps when using geodiversity to augment traditional biodiversity-based conservation planning: create land units from species-relevant variables combined in an ecologically meaningful way; represent land units in a logical spatial configuration and integrate with species locations when possible; apply selection criteria to individual sites to ensure they are appropriate for conservation; and develop connectivity among sites to maintain movements and processes. With these considerations, conservationists can design more effective site portfolios to ensure the lasting conservation of biodiversity under a changing climate. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Background/Question/Methods Standardized ecological classification units should form the foundation for effective data collection, assessment, and reporting. However, many conservation and resource assessments often lack comprehensive, consistent and detailed classification systems to guide mapping and other applications. Over the past decade, the partners engaged in national and regional land cover mapping have gained much practical experience integrating ecological classification into mapping efforts at thematic and spatial resolutions relevant to resource management. Since the early 1990s, NatureServe has collaborated with partners to classify existing vegetation using the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (US-NVC). The US-NVC is a conceptual taxonomy of existing vegetation, and it's units are arranged within a nested organizational structure. Criteria at each level of the hierarchy determine how types are defined, and how finer-level types arrange within. The US-NVC is...

ABSTRACT Current economic growth models encourage natural resource-rich countries to become suppliers of raw materials for growing capital markets which severely affect conditions of large natural areas such as the western Amazon Basin, one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. The process will accelerate as this region becomes more accessible with the development of transportation infrastructure as well as the extraction of non-renewable resources. Ameliorating these pressures in order to safeguard biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides to humanity will require that decision-making processes are informed by relevant and up-to-date datasets. Here, we capitalize on newly available data for several species groups, aquatic and terrestrial ecological systems, and the distribution of threats and ecosystem services, to measure and map biodiversity state and pressure, and conservation response and benefits for sub-basins across a >2 million-km2 area. This information, organized according to the Pressure-State-Response-Benefits framework, should support for decisions on conservation and sustainable development investments, and monitoring their impact over the long term.

Under Sustainable Forestry certification programs, such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), industry must take appropriate steps to protect at-risk biodiversity on fiber-producing lands (specifically, globally imperiled [G1-G2] species and communities). These private ...

ABSTRACT Egyptian agriculture is vulnerable to potential climate change due to its dependence on irrigated crops, a climate that is too dry to support crops, and increasing water demands. This study analyzes the agricultural implications of climate change and population growth plus possible adaptations strategies. A partial equilibrium model that simulates crop and livestock production along with water flows and non-agricultural water use is used to analyze the impact of climate change. The study examines the implications of climate change effects on crop yields, livestock performance, non-agricultural water use, water supply, irrigation water use, sea level rise and a growing population. Results indicate that climate change damages the Egyptian agricultural sector and the damages increase over time (2030–2060). Prices for agricultural commodities increase and this has a negative effect on consumers but a positive effect on producers. Egypt may reduce these damages by adapting through lower demand growth, raised agricultural technological progress, sea rise protection and water conservation strategies.