The Species Reintroduction Toolbox
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The Species Reintroduction Toolbox contains three tools to help identify suitable locations for reintroducing endangered species back into the wild. The geoprocessing tool uses inputs like city buffers, ecoregion layers, and elevation data to find intersecting areas that meet defined needs and requirements. The analyze results tool summarizes the output fragments. Finally, the mapbook tool creates a PDF of all possible reintroduction areas with their attributes. An example application identifies over 500 square kilometers of potential habitat for reintroducing Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep based on a 25km city buffer and restricting to the Sierra Nevada ecoregion.
The Species Reintroduction Toolbox
- 1. The Species Reintroduction Toolbox ESTHER CHOE SIMONE DVOSKIN KATHRYN KEELEY UCLA GEOG 173
- 2. Over 200 species are threatened/ endangered
- 3. California Endangered Species Act Recovery “conserve, protect, restore, and enhance any endangered species or any threatened species and its habitat”
- 4. Reintroducing species “Deliberate release of species into the wild, from captivity or relocated from other areas” Powerful tool to protect endangered/ threatened species California Condor is huge success story ◦ 1982: only 23 existed in wild ◦ Today: almost 200 exist in wild
- 5. How to Reintroduce 1. Identify species to reintroduce 2. Manage self-sustaining captive population 3. Identify species needs & requirements 4. Identify locations that meet defined needs & requirements 5. Release captively-bred species into locations
- 6. How to Reintroduce 1. Identify species to reintroduce 2. Manage self-sustaining captive population 3. Identify species needs & requirements 4. Identify locations that meet defined needs & requirements 5. Release captively-bred species into locations
- 8. The Species Reintroduction Toolbox: Three tools: End: 3 scripts; 1 toolbox; 1 summary table; 1 mapbook
- 9. The Geoprocessing Tool: Identify possible locations based on: ◦ Proximity to major cities ◦ Ecoregion (distinct biodiversity habitat) ◦ Elevation (optional*) ◦ Slope (optional*) Uses 4 Inputs Uses buffer, erase, SQL query, & intersect applications Generates 4 Outputs *Why optional?
- 10. Geoprocessing Tool: 1) Inputs: Major Cities
- 11. Geoprocessing Tool: 2) Inputs: State Border
- 12. Geoprocessing Tool: 3) Inputs: Ecoregions
- 13. Geoprocessing Tool 4) Inputs: Digital Elevation Models (DEM)
- 14. Geoprocessing Tool: Final Output Intersection of all inputs Creates multipart layer All possible reintroduction locations
- 15. The Analyze Results Tool: Summarize possible location fragments: ◦ Total Area, Perimeter ◦ Mean Area, Perimeter ◦ Max Area, Perimeter Input is final intersected layer from Tool 1 Creates singlepart from multipart
- 16. Multipart vs. Singlepart Analyze Results Tool Geoprocessing Tool
- 17. The Mapbook Tool: Create PDF of all possible reintroduction fragments with information on fragment area and perimeter
- 18. How It Works
- 19. 1. Identify major cities
- 20. 2. Create desired buffer around city
- 21. 3. Erase buffer from whole state layer 4. Select desired ecoregion (optional: select desired slope/ elevation)
- 22. 5. Find intersection between erased buffer layer & ecoregion
- 23. End of Geoprocessing Tool: 1 multipart layer of potential reintroduction locations
- 24. End of Analyze Results Tool: 1 singlepart layer of potential reintroduction locations, broken into fragments; 1 summary table
- 25. End of Mapbook Tool: 1 PDF of possible locations, their area, and their perimeter
- 26. An Example
- 27. The Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep • Endangered • 500 left in wild • Native habitat: Sierra Nevada Mountain range (5,000 – 14,000 ft, steep slopes)
- 28. To the Toolbox! NEEDS: FAIRLY LARGE BUFFER (25 KM) NO ELEVATION/SLOPE – TAKES TOO LONG ECOREGION: SIERRA NEVADA