Of the approximately 1,800 listed species in the U.S., nearly 660 terrestrials and 140 aquatics are without federally-declared Critical Habitat (spring 2017) suitable for use in assessing the potential impact that pesticides may have on a species or its habitat. To provide information important in filling this data gap, scientifically-defensible approaches for defining spatially-explicit, sub-county habitat locations were assessed. Thirty aquatic and terrestrial species from within each of the taxonomic groups, some inhabiting wide ranges and others with more specific habitat requirements, were chosen as case studies. The intent was to develop a scalable workflow informed by any number of scenarios that may be faced when mapping the habitats of listed species. Both deductive and inductive mapping approaches were used to identify locations potentially suitable for a species. Inductive habitat mapping was performed via the Maxent© maximum entropy model which requires a set of input habitat variables determined a priori relevant to the species, in conjunction with species occurrence records, to generate a continuous occurrence prediction map within the defined species range. Deductive mapping, on the other hand, does not require species occurrence data, but rather expert knowledge of a species’ habitat requirements. The modeler must interpret textual habitat descriptors and extract quantitative thresholds specific to the species. This presentation will discuss the organizational challenges faced when generating spatial habitat data for a large number of species. While the habitat generated in this study does not represent “Critical Habitat”, it is representative of the physical and biological features required by a species and is of appropriate accuracy and resolution for use with the potential pesticide use sites in pesticide risk assessments. Look for a companion poster in this session that elaborates on the technical approaches taken to map the habitats of aquatic species without Critical Habitat.

Approaches for defining spatially explicit habitat in the absence of federally declared critical habitat

254th National Meeting (2017)

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