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Cobblestone tiger beetle (Cicindela marginipennis): cobblestone tiger beetle_Kent McFarland.jpg

Appalachian LCC Subregions: Division of the Appalachian LCC into ecologically consistent subregions used for climate change vulnerability assessments

Guidelines for Using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index: Motivated by the need to rapidly assess the vulnerability of species to climate change, NatureServe developed a Climate Change Vulnerability Index. The Index uses a scoring system that integrates a species’ predicted exposure to climate change within an area and three sets of factors associated with climate change sensitivity, each supported by published studies: 1) indirect exposure to climate change, 2) species-specific sensitivity and adaptive capacity factors and 3) documented response to climate change. Our primary goal for the Index is to provide valuable input for key planning documents, such as revisions of state wildlife action plans, to allow consideration of climate change impacts together with other stressors. We also hope this tool will help land managers develop and prioritize strategies for climate change adaptation that lead to actions that increase the resilience of species to climate change.

County Distribution of Assessed Species: County distribution for the climate change vulnerability of 41 newly assessed species is available for download. The entire package is available at the link provided.

Previous Habitat Assessments within the Appalachian LCC: This spreadsheet provides the results of habitat assessments from five previous research projects. These include two projects in the Central Appalachian and Cumberland - Southern Appalachian portion of the LCC; habitat assessments completed in the North Carolina portion of the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion; habitat assessments in the northeastern portion of the Central Appalachian subregion; and a draft assessment for a habitat in the Interior Low Plateau.

Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry Mesic Oak Forest: This habitat of upland hardwood-dominated forests occurs in the Interior Low Plateau region of the southeastern United States along ridgetops and slopes of various aspects. The floristic expression of different stands included in this habitat varies considerably with aspect and soil type. Included here are a variety of associations ranging along a moisture gradient from submesic to drier ones. The submesic to dry-mesic expressions tend to be found on midslopes with northerly to easterly aspects, and the drier ones on southerly to westerly aspects and on broad ridges. Parent material can range from calcareous to acidic with very shallow, well- to excessively well-drained soils in the drier expressions and moderately well-drained soils in the submesic to dry-mesic ones. The canopy closure of this system ranges from closed to somewhat open in the drier examples. Historically, these examples may have been more open under conditions of more frequent fire.

Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens: This habitat is found primarily in the Interior Highlands of the Ozark, Ouachita, and Interior Low Plateau regions with scattered occurrences in northern Missouri. It occurs along moderate to steep slopes and steep valleys on primarily southerly to westerly facing slopes. Limestone and/or dolomite bedrock typify this system with shallow, moderately to well-drained soils interspersed with rocks. These soils often dry out during the summer and autumn, and then become saturated during the winter and spring. Fire is the primary natural dynamic, and prescribed fires help manage this system by restricting woody growth and maintaining the more open glade structure.

South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Habitat: This habitat was assessed in both the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion and the Interior Low Plateau subregion. Results are in the first two tabs of the spreadsheet. A description of the habitat, and a list of associated species, is included in the description tab. The remaining tabs describe the individual factors and their definitions. These results are in the review stage. Please send comments to lesley_sneddon@natureserve.org.

Habitat Vulnerability Assessments: This folder contains the results of climate change vulnerability assessments of three habitats characteristic of the Appalachian LCC region.

New Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments for 41 Species: This spreadsheet functions as a tool to determine climate change vulnerability of species. Information is entered in the calculator, and results are stored in the results tab. Explanations of climate change measures and species-specific attributes that contribute to adaptive capacity are in subsequent tabs. The documentation tab provides justification for ratings of each individual factor, with a complete list of references also provided in a separate tab. Also available for download below is the county distribution for 41 of the species evaluated.

Previous Climate Assessments on 700 Species: Find here Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments from previous research. Each excel file contains a subset of data from a compilation of climate change vulnerability scores for 700 species in the Appalachian LCC.

Final Report: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments in the Appalachian LCC: The Appalachian LCC tasked NatureServe with a two-phase project that explores the understanding of climate change in the Appalachian landscape. The first phase focused on assembling a panel of experts to provide guidance on a) prioritizing species and habitats to assess for vulnerability to climate change; b) selecting approaches to conduct vulnerability assessments, and c) identifying appropriate climate data to use in the assessments. Guided by the recommendations of the Panel, Phase II analyzes the results of 700 existing species assessments, and conducts vulnerability analyses on 41 additional species and 3 habitats. We used the recommendations of the Expert Panel, as well as the existing compilation to guide our recommended list of additional species and habitats to be assessed in Phase II. Criteria included a focus on the Interior Low Plateau and on plants, neither of which were well represented in existing assessments, as well as species of high conservation significance, keystone or species otherwise important to the habitat, and those of high value as indicators of climate change. This report summarizes Phase II of this effort.

Phase II: Vulnerability Assessments: The second phase of this project provides the results of a number of climate change vulnerability assessments along with a final report.

Climate Change Vulnerability in the Appalachians: New climate change vulnerability assessments for 41 species and 3 habitats in the Appalachians are now available. The conservation community can view and search each of these assessments by relative raking or vulnerability scores, conservation status ranks, state and subregion of assessment, and higher taxonomy. In addition, principle investigators NaturServe compiled the results of 700 species assessments previously completed by other researchers as well as assessments on several habitats.

A Race Against the Clock for Brook Trout Conservation: Are brook trout destined for extinction? That is a future that Shannon White, a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Tyler Wagner at the USGS Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State University, is working to avoid.