Modeling Terrestrial Ecosystem Distribution, Mapping Threats and Updating Protected Area Information Leonardo Sotomayor South America Conservation Region

Terrestrial Ecosystems A layer of contiguous vegetation-based ecological systems as conservation targets Contracted NatureServe to develop the classification (Josse et al 2003), but had no map Project lead by Roger Sayre (now at USGS) Data now being used for various applications including preliminary biodiversity assessments and effective conservation measures Data is undergoing final updates and revisions prior to distribution

Ecosystem Classification Elevation Unique Gridcodes Landform Geology Landcover Bioclimate Terrestrial Ecosystems ModelingNS Classification

Elevation 450 Meter Digital Elevation Model Data (DEM) produced by WWF from 90 meter SRTM DEM data. Classification is based primarily on floristics: – m: corresponds to lowlands – m: transitional mixed flora of the piedmont, in the case of massive ridges like the Andes; or is already montane, with a different set of species, in the case of low ridges – m: two life zones in the mountains, mostly forest covered –Over 3300m: treelines for the Andes

General Landform Landforms were developed using a neighborhood analysis using DEM General Landform ClassDescription Plains0 – 25 meters relative relief Rolling Plains meters relative relief Hills25 – 300 meters relative relief Mountainsover 300 meters relative relief PlateausDetailed description in report River Valleys / Mountain PlateausDetailed description in report FloodplainsDetailed description in report Coastal PlainsPlains adjacent to the coast on alluvial type geology

General Geology Detailed geology data was purchased from Geologic Data Systems Inc. (GDS). Compiled geological information from over 50 published maps to create a digital geology map of South America. Data for Brazil was compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale with the remainder of South America at 1:500,000 scale.

Subset of Detailed Geology (Amazon River) Subset of General Geology with Detailed Geology Linework

General Land Cover South America GLC 2000 (Global Land Cover 2000) 1 km resolution at the equator, resampled to 450 meters Generalized from 57 classes to 18 classes to reduce the natural complexity of the data

General Land Cover SACR GLC CodeSouth America GLC codes represented in ESA 10 Tree Cover, Broadleaf Evergreen10Closed evergreen tropical forest 11 Open evergreen tropical forest 12 Bamboo dominated forest 13 Closed semi-humid forest 14 Open semi-humid forest 110 Montane forests m – dense evergreen 111Montane forests m – open evergreen 112Montane forests m – bamboo 113Montane forests m – closed semi-humid 114Montane forests m – open semi-humid 160Montane forests >1000m – dense evergreen 161 Montane forests >1000m – open evergreen 164 Montane forests >1000m – open semi humid

Subset of Detailed GLC Land Cover Subset of General GLC Land Cover

General Bioclimate WORDCLIM Global climate grid data (30 second resolution) from the University of California, Berkley –monthly precipitation (prec) –monthly mean temperature (tmean) Bioclimate ZoneIo Tropical pluvial>= 3.6 Tropical pluvialseasonal>= 3.6 Tropical xeric1.0 – 3.6 Tropical desertic0.1 – 1.0 Tropical hyperdesertic< 0.1 Ombrothermic Index (Io): Io =Pp (Tp/100) x 12 Where: Pp = Total Annual Precipitation, and Tp = Total Annual Temperature

Gridcodes Each unique gridcode represents a combination of the 5 input data layers numeric codes For example, the unique gridcode for one polygon might be , which represents: – 500 meters Floodplains Alluvium 2000 Tropical Pluvial-seasonal 20Tree Cover, Broadleaf Deciduous

NatureServe Ecologist (C. Josse) attributed the gridcodes into Ecosystems 659 Ecological Systems mapped Continuous updates and reviews Approximately 285,000 unique ecosystem polygons Terrestrial Ecosystems Map

1:1,000,000

Current Human Activity South America Threat to Biodiversity Assesment

Threats to Biodiversity Conversion to pasture Conversion to agriculture Infrastructure Invasive species Conversion by forestry activities Fire (in ecosystems without fire regimes) Pollution Mining Oil and gas exploration

Accessibility Calculate km/hr to cross 1km cells of roads, rivers, railroads, borders, landcover (glc2000), urban areas (nightlights) Merge above and represent the time in minutes Factor in elevation, slope Divide by 60 to convert to hours, then by 1000 to convert meters to km

Time to Market

TOOLS Comissioned to CIAT

Protected Areas Data Collection using WDPA as the Standard and improving the database

Effective Conservation We use the Protected Areas information, Biodiversity information and Threats Analysis Estimating how well conservation is doing as a measure Monitor conservation efforts Find conservation gaps