Rare Plants and High Quality Ecosystems Mapped in Washington State

 The new HDMS mapper from WNHP shows rare plants as well as Ecological Integrity Assessments (EIAs) for a wide range of ecosystems.

For example, here are the rare plant areas East of Renton:

And here are the natural ecosystems with an "A" rating:

Do endemic taxa correlate?

One of the main assumptions of many biodiversity assessments and conservation efforts is that biodiversity correlates across taxa. In other words, an ecosystem with high plant diversity might be expected to also harbor high lichen diversity, high arthropod diversity, and a great many birds, bees, and bloomin' confusion. 

If this assumption is true, than scientists could study one taxa, say lichen, and use the results as a surrogate for studying all of the other possible taxa. But a new study by Dr. Che-Castaldo questions this "surrogacy" assumption:

"Testing Surrogacy Assumptions: Can Threatened and Endangered Plants Be 
Grouped by Biological Similarity and Abundances?"

Abstract:

"There is renewed interest in implementing surrogate species approaches in 
conservation planning due to the large number of species in need of 
management but limited resources and data. One type of surrogate approach 
involves selection of one or a few species to represent a larger group of 
species requiring similar management actions, so that protection and 
persistence of the selected species would result in conservation of the 
group of species. However, among the criticisms of surrogate approaches is 
the need to test underlying assumptions, which remain rarely examined. In 
this study, we tested one of the fundamental assumptions underlying use of 
surrogate species in recovery planning: that there exist groups of 
threatened and endangered species that are sufficiently similar to warrant 
similar management or recovery criteria. Using a comprehensive database of 
all plant species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and 
tree-based random forest analysis, we found no evidence of species groups 
based on a set of distributional and biological traits or by abundances 
and patterns of decline. Our results suggested that application of 
surrogate approaches for endangered species recovery would be unjustified. 
Thus, conservation planning focused on individual species and their 
patterns of decline will likely be required to recover listed species."

Similar conclusions have been reached by a other studies. For example, Erhlich et. al. 2002 found that in subalpine meadows in Colorado, indicator taxa show no skill in predicting diversity of other taxa, even among phylogenetically related species (in this case, butterflies and moths).

Conceptual Alternatives in Classifying Ecosystems

Different descriptors used to classify ecosystems can be thought of as Venn Diagrams within a conceptual field, with e.g. playas and closed basins overlapping for those sites that are both, while acknowledging that not all closed basins are playas and not all playas are in closed basins. Under this framework, playas could be thought of as a subset of "Herbacious Vegetation" (although some playas may not be vegetated at all)

From Rio Puerco

Another way of thinking about ecosystem classifiers is as a rainbow of alternative systems. Each system, such as that developed by the Nature Conservancy, Roccio, or HGM, entails a complete and comprehensive analysis of any given field site. In other words, choosing to describe ecosystems using HGM entails that each ecosystem will be given an HGM classifier. The strength of this perspective is that it acknowledges the classifier is system-dependent, while the weakness is that it does not conceptually relate one system to another.

From Rio Puerco

Proposal to the Nature Conservancy, San Pedro River Preserve, AZ

I owe the San Pedro river a special debt of gratitude and would enjoy taking responsibility for its protection. I have also been impressed by the scope and professionalism of The Nature Conservancy, and surely your work on the San Pedro should count among its most important.

As you know, the future of your preserves on the San Pedro is far from certain. Congratulations on diverting AZDOT's attention from the San Pedro valley: that kind of preemptive vigilance will have to be sustained and expanded to other threats such as climate change. Continued aquifer drawdown will decrease perennial flow and in turn decrease biotic integrity by weakening native riparian forest growth and establishment, while boosting nonnative invasives. Flooding from increasingly impermeable rangeland and urban sprawl could change hydrology, bringing 100-year floods every decade.

With preparations today, many of these challenges can be anticipated and mitigated. Ecological integrity assessments can be developed and used to plan and measure the performance of restoration work. Neither assessment nor restoration efforts should be limited to TNC's preserves; it takes a whole watershed to raise a river, and non-point interventions are a key part of any restoration strategy. Whether working to secure water rights or educate and motivate water conservation in Sierra Vista, TNC cannot manage its San Pedro preserves without engaging diverse local stakeholders.

I am inspired by a desire to find creative solutions to problems that society is just beginning to acknowledge, but which TNC's San Pedro Preserves immediately face. The San Pedro river, especially in contrast to the Santa Cruz river, served as my ecological "wake-up call," and, in 2007, I decided to leave my position as lab manager for Dr. Hildebrand's neuro-ecology lab at the University of Arizona to pursue a career that combines science with conservation. Since then I have worked on wetlands ecology and restoration projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. My restoration philosophy is inspired by principles I learned at DAWN/SW's Permaculture Design Course, by association with Brad Lancaster and his Rainwater Harvesting ideas, and by working closely on several restoration projects with Bill Zeedyk.

I am familiar with Natural Heritage methodology after working to develop an Ecological Integrity Assessment with Colorado Natural Heritage Program. I am on the Advisory Committee for NMNHP's EIA development, and would like to see AZ begin to take advantage of this EPA funding source. Since Arizona's Heritage Program isn't funded to take on work like this, perhaps TNC could step in. Just as TNC developed the Heritage Programs before spinning them off to state agencies, TNC AZ could develop an EPA-funded EIA program until the state can take it on. I argued in my final report to CNHP that EIAs, to address the kind of mitigation EPA is interested in, should be geared toward restoration objectives; another benefit of developing these metrics in-house would be increased specificity to San Pedro Preserve restoration and conservation needs.

My on-the-ground experience with restoration, as practiced in the SW, informs my appraisal of EIAs, and ecology and conservation biology in general. Restoration is also built into Heritage methodology where, in the scaling A-B-C-D, the line between C and D is crossed when an element occurrence is "no longer restorable". I believe that putting numbers on B and C occurences based on the monetary cost and time required to restore them to A will help managers more efficiently prioritize conservation and restoration work. A-occurences could be informed by the work of Dr. Betancourt at UA and Dr. Van Devender at the Sonoran desert museum, among others, whose paleoecology is helping redefine natural ranges of variation. Historic research, such as that by Diana Hadley, Arizona State Museum, is also invaluable. A better understanding of both historic and prehistoric ranges of variation can guide restoration work to dampen stressors and strengthen natural integrity.