Southeast Priority Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs)

More Information The Southeast United States is a global biodiversity hotspot that supports many rare and endemic reptile and amphibian species (Barrett et al. 2014, EPA 2014). These species are experiencing dramatic population declines driven by habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, and disease (Sutherland and deMaynadier 2012, EPA 2014, CI et al. 2004). Amphibians provide an early signal of environmental change because they rely on both terrestrial and aquatic habitats, are sensitive to pollutants, and are often narrowly adapted to specific geographic areas and climatic conditions. As a result, they serve as effective indicators of ecosystem health (CI et al. 2004, EPA 2014). Their association with particular microhabitats and microclimates makes amphibians vulnerable to climate change, and Southeast amphibians are predicted to lose significant amounts of climatically suitable habitat in the future (Barrett et al. 2014). PARCAs also represent the condition and arrangement of embedded isolated wetlands. Many amphibians breed in temporary (i.e., ephemeral) wetlands surrounded by upland habitat, which are not well-captured by existing indicators in the Blueprint (Erwin et al. 2016). Input Data * [Southeast Blueprint 2024 extent] * [2023 U.S. Census TIGER/Line state boundaries], accessed 4-5-2024: [download the data] Southeast Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) * PARCAs for all Southeast states except for Mississippi, Virginia, and Kentucky, shared by José Garrido with the [Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy] (ARC) on 3-5-2024 * PARCAs for Mississippi, shared by Luis Tirado with ARC on 4-26-2024 (these PARCAs were identified more recently and were not yet captured in ARC’s Southeast PARCAs dataset) * [South Atlantic PARCAs]: Neuse Tar River PARCA (this PARCA was identified through a project funded by the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative and is not yet captured in ARC’s Southeast PARCAs dataset; we added this PARCA after consultation with ARC staff) To view a map depicting some of the PARCAs provided, scroll to the bottom of the [work page of the ARC website] under the heading “PARCAs Nationwide”; to access the data, email [info@ARCProtects.org]. PARCA is a nonregulatory designation established to raise public awareness and spark voluntary action by landowners and conservation partners to benefit amphibians and/or reptiles. Areas are nominated using scientific criteria and expert review, drawing on the concepts of species rarity, richness, regional responsibility, and landscape integrity. Modeled in part after the Important Bird Areas program developed by BirdLife International, PARCAs are intended to be nationally coordinated but locally implemented at state or regional scales. Importantly, PARCAs are not designed to compete with existing landscape biodiversity initiatives, but to complement them, providing an additional spatially explicit layer for conservation consideration. PARCAs are intended to be established in areas: * capable of supporting viable amphibian and reptile populations, * occupied by rare, imperiled, or at-risk species, and * rich in species diversity or endemism. For example, species used in identifying the PARCAs in the Southeast include: alligator snapping turtle, Barbour’s map turtle, one-toed amphiuma, Savannah slimy salamander, Mabee’s salamander, dwarf waterdog, Neuse river waterdog, chicken turtle, spotted turtle, tiger salamander, rainbow snake, lesser siren, gopher frog, Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, Southern hognose snake, pine snake, flatwoods salamander, gopher tortoise, striped newt, pine barrens tree frog, indigo snake, and others. There are four major implementation steps: * Regional PARC task teams or state experts can use the criteria and modify them when appropriate to designate potential PARCAs in their area of interest. * Following the identification of all potential PARCAs, the group then reduces these to a final set of exceptional sites that best represent the area of interest. * Experts and stakeholders in the area of interest collaborate to produce a map that identifies these peer-reviewed PARCAs. * Final PARCAs are shared with the community to encourage the implementation of voluntary habitat management and conservation efforts. PARCA boundaries can be updated as needed. Mapping Steps * Merge the three PARCA polygon datasets and convert from vector to a 30 m pixel raster using the ArcPy Feature to Raster function. Give all PARCAs a value of 1. * Add zero values to represent the extent of the source data and to make it perform better in online tools. Convert to raster the TIGER/Line state boundaries for all SEAFWA states except for Virginia and Kentucky and assign them a value of 0. We excluded Virginia and Kentucky because PARCAs have not yet been identified for these states. * Use the Cell Statistics “MAX” function to combine the two above rasters. * As a final step, clip to the spatial extent of Southeast Blueprint 2024. Note: For more details on the mapping steps, code used to create this layer is available in the [Southeast Blueprint Data Download] under > 6_Code. Final values Legend values are assigned as follows: 1 = Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area (PARCA) 0 = Not a PARCA (excluding Kentucky and Virginia) Known Issues * The mapping of this layer is relatively coarse and doesn’t always capture differences in pixel-level quality in the outer edge of PARCAs. For example, some PARCAs include developed areas. * This layer is binary and doesn’t capture the full continuum of value across the Southeast. * The methods of combining expert knowledge and data in this layer may have caused some poorly known and/or under-surveyed areas to be scored too low. * This layer underprioritizes important reptile and amphibian habitat in Kentucky and Virginia because PARCAs have not yet been identified for these areas. ARC is working to expand PARCAs to more states in the future. * Because of the state-by-state PARCA development and review process, sometimes PARCA boundaries stop at the state line, though suitable habitat for reptiles and amphibians does not always follow jurisdictional boundaries. * This layer excludes “protected” PARCAs maintained by ARC that are too small and spatially explicit to share publicly due to concerns about poaching. As a result, it underprioritizes some important reptile and amphibian habitat. However, these areas are, with a few exceptions in northwest Arkansas and Tennessee, generally well-represented in the Blueprint due to their value in current indicators. * This layer contains small gaps 1-2 pixels wide between some adjoining PARCAs that likely should be continuous, often on either side of a state line. These are represented in the source data as separate polygons with tiny gaps between them, and these translate into gaps in the resulting raster. This results from the PARCA digitizing process and does not reflect meaningful differences in priority. Disclaimer: Comparing with Older Indicator Versions This layer was used as in indicator in the Southeast Blueprint for a time, but has now been replaced. There are numerous problems with using Southeast Blueprint indicators for change analysis. Please consult Blueprint staff if you would like to do this (email [hilary_morris@fws.gov]). Literature Cited Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy. Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs). Revised February 7, 2024. Apodaca, Joseph. 2013. Determining Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) in the South Atlantic landscape, and assessing their efficacy for cross-taxa conservation: Geographic Dataset. [[https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/59e105a1e4b05fe04cd000df]]. Barrett, Kyle, Nathan P. Nibbelink, John C. Maerz; Identifying Priority Species and Conservation Opportunities Under Future Climate Scenarios: Amphibians in a Biodiversity Hotspot. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 1 December 2014; 5 (2): 282–297. [[https://doi.org/10.3996/022014-JFWM-015]]. Conservation International, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, NatureServe. 2004. Global Amphibian Assessment Factsheet. [[https://www.natureserve.org/sites/default/files/amphibian_fact_sheet.pdf]]. Environmental Protection Agency. 2014. Mean Amphibian Species Richness: Southeast. EnviroAtlas Factsheet. [[https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/enviroatlas/DataFactSheets/pdf/ESN/MeanAmphibianSpeciesRichness.pdf]]. Erwin, K. J., Chandler, H. C., Palis, J. G., Gorman, T. A., & Haas, C. A. (2016). Herpetofaunal Communities in Ephemeral Wetlands Embedded within Longleaf Pine Flatwoods of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Southeastern Naturalist, 15(3), 431–447. [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/26454722]]. Sutherland and deMaynadier. 2012. Model Criteria and Implementation Guidance for a Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area (PARCA) System in the USA. Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Technical Publication PARCA-1. 28 pp. [[https://parcplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PARCA_System_Criteria_and_Implementation_Guidance_FINAL.pdf]]. U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, Spatial Data Collection and Products Branch. TIGER/Line Shapefile, 2023, U.S. Current State and Equivalent National. 2023. [[https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html]].