Landscape condition in the conterminous United States. Spatial model summary

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Ecological condition commonly refers to the state of the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of natural ecosystems, as well as their interacting processes. Many human land uses affect ecological condition (e.g., through vegetation removal or alteration, stream diversion or altered natural hydrology, introduction of nonnative and invasive species, etc.). Landscape condition assessments commonly apply principles of landscape ecology with mapped information to characterize ecological condition for a given area (e.g., US-EPA 2001, Sanderson et al. 2002). Since human land uses—such as built infrastructure for transportation or urban/industry and altered land cover such as for agriculture or other reasons—are increasingly available in mapped form, they can be used to spatially model inferences about ecological condition. The NatureServe Landscape Condition Model integrates readily available spatial data in order to express common ecological stressors. The intent of the model is to enable spatial expression of common knowledge and experience regarding the relative effects of land uses on natural ecosystems and habitats. Expert knowledge forms the basis of stressor selection, as well as relative weighting in the model. This model has been calibrated westwide and continues to be evaluated with field samples.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology; ELECTRONIC FILE - Ecology

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation (but added to):
Comer PJ, Hak J. 2012. Landscape condition in the conterminous United States. Spatial model summary. Boulder (CO): NatureServe. [8 p.].