{"id":409822,"date":"2021-02-22T20:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T04:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=409822"},"modified":"2021-11-01T20:58:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T03:58:11","slug":"resilient-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/resilient-biodiversity","title":{"rendered":"Conserving a Network of Climate-Resilient Lands"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[422802,24962],"tags":[1301,26512,961,108492],"arcuser_issues":[473092],"class_list":["post-409822","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","category-focus","tag-biodiversity","tag-climate-change","tag-spatial-analysis","tag-wildlife-corridors","arcuser_issues-arcuser-winter-2021"],"acf":{"short_description":"The Resilient and Connected Network, an ambitious GIS mapping tool developed by The Nature Conservancy helps conservationists save biodiversity.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":409832,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"The Resilient and Connected Network, an ambitious GIS mapping tool developed over the past 10 years by more than 270 scientists led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), gives conservationists a way to save biodiversity for the future. It is now available for land trusts, government agencies, and scientists for conservation planning throughout the contiguous lower 48\u00a0US states."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The Resilient and Connected Network, an ambitious GIS mapping tool developed over the past 10 years by more than 270 scientists led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), gives conservationists a way to save biodiversity for the future. It is now available for land trusts, government agencies, and scientists for conservation planning throughout the contiguous lower 48\u00a0US states.\r\n\r\nGIS has long been one of conservationists\u2019 main go-to tools to identify and protect land, water, plants, fish, wildlife, and habitat across the globe. Using GIS to identify places with high levels of biodiversity has often played a leading role in those efforts.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":409872,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Now, climate change is altering biodiversity and habitats. As warmer temperatures, increased flooding, and other climate impacts alter and destroy habitat, species are being forced to find new places to live. Diverse plants and animals that thrive in one landscape today may end up living in a very different landscape in the future.\r\n\r\nScientists have found that globally, species are moving an average of 11 miles north and 36 feet higher in elevation each decade to find more hospitable places to live.\r\n\r\nHow can conservationists continue to protect biodiversity if the cast of plant and animal species keeps moving to escape growing climate impacts?\r\n

Natural Neighborhoods and Highways<\/h2>\r\nThe answer, according to Dr. Mark Anderson, is to focus on the future. Anderson is director of science for TNC\u2019s Eastern US Division and, for many years, has been studying the connections between climate change and shifting biodiversity. Anderson is also a GIS junkie who knows well the crucial role that GIS plays for land trusts, state agencies, and other entities planning conservation projects. Conservationists have limited funding and face huge challenges in their work preserving biodiversity and clean water and protecting the health of landscapes. They need GIS to help identify and focus on high-priority projects.\r\n\r\nRich data from scientists, universities, and state and federal agencies provides great insight into current biodiversity, habitat, and other natural features. But Anderson sought to see how GIS could identify places that would have long-term resilience as the climate changes.\r\n\r\nAnderson and his team found that landscapes with diverse physical characteristics\u2014such as steep slopes, tall mountains, deep ravines, and diverse soil types\u2014create numerous microclimates that offer plants and animals the opportunity to move around their local neighborhood to find suitable habitat where they can escape rising temperatures, increased floods, or drought.\r\n\r\nAnderson and his colleague Melissa Clark also mapped natural highways across the country\u2014connecting corridors that allow species to move safely within and between these climate-resilient neighborhoods.\r\n\r\nWhile studies show that species are moving to cooler places, nearly 60 percent of US lands and waters are fragmented by human development, blocking species\u2019 movement and preventing them from finding new homes.\r\n\r\n\u201cNature is on the move,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to have isolated and disconnected landscapes that are resilient to climate impacts. Species also need a way to reach these resilient sites. While some species will be able to relocate to new homes within their local resilient neighborhoods, others will need to move great distances to entirely new landscapes. If these pathways are destroyed, many species could disappear forever.\u201d\r\n

A Ton of Data and Essential Esri Tools<\/h2>\r\nTo create the Resilient and Connected Network mapping tool, Anderson and his team had to \u201ccompress 200 gigabytes of data into a useful tool and make it look and work seamlessly,\u201d said Erik Martin, a TNC spatial ecologist who helped lead the GIS work. \u201cThe map reflects a ton of data, pulling from hundreds of datasets from all around the country.\u201d\r\n\r\nUsing Esri\u2019s advanced spatial analysis and modeling tools and working many long nights over the past 10 years, TNC scientists Clark, Arlene Olivero Sheldon, and Analie Barnett developed, tested, and retested methods to map and measure characteristics of resilient lands. Their analytical and problem-solving skills, coupled with their determination and passion for conservation, took the idea of a network of resilient lands from concept to reality.\r\n\r\nOne of the big challenges, according to Anderson, was persisting over the 10-year life-span of the project. During that time, the project grew organically region by region, starting with the Northeast. To ensure accuracy as the map was being built, the team had reviews by some 270 scientists, who were looking at localized geography or geography at a nationwide scale, depending on their expertise. Aiding in that process was the ability to share regional versions via ArcGIS StoryMaps.\r\n\r\nMany other Esri products and apps were essential for the job. These included ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online for hosting tiled map services, ArcGIS Server for hosting dynamic map services and geoprocessing services that run custom ArcPy-based scripts, and the ArcGIS API for JavaScript to develop the front end of the tool. All those components came together, making the map fast and responsive for users.\r\n\r\nThe team relied heavily on ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro, using 30-meter scale raster data of the entire country for analysis and mapping. The ArcGIS Spatial Analyst toolsets<\/a> contained the team\u2019s go-to tools. Python and ModelBuilder were used to test analysis and iterate steps in each region. Getting feedback from regional scientists helped shape the final product. The team used the quick publishing capabilities of ArcGIS Online. ArcGIS StoryMaps stories were key in explaining analysis results and showcasing resilient places across the US.\r\n\r\n\u201cEach of these components is like a building block of a house. We used the ArcGIS API for JavaScript to build the frame of the house\u2014the structure of the app. Then [we]<\/em> connected together all of the electrical and plumbing\u2014the map and geoprocessing services that feed into the app,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThe Esri tools integrate all of the parts of this data into one useful app.\u201d\r\n

A Paradigm Shift for Large Landscape Conservation<\/h2>\r\nWhen the nationwide map was completed, one of the big surprises for Anderson was the large number of areas around the country that are resilient to climate change. \u201cWhen I first envisioned this, I thought there would be a bunch of big, broad areas. It\u2019s really like a web, or a network of connected places.\u201d\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":409892,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Among the many large and small resilient and connected lands in the map are:\r\n