National Aquatic Biodiversity Assessment Dashboard
The U.S. Forest Service plays a critical role in conserving freshwater biodiversity across the United States. The agency stewards a vast landscape, and the array of aquatic habitats found within it. The agency also connects those lands and waters with the people who rely on them. Understanding the role of national forests and grasslands in sustaining aquatic biodiversity at national and regional scales is essential to effective, ongoing stewardship. Until now, the data and tools to do that have been lacking. This National Aquatic Biodiversity Assessment is an important first step to address this need.
An inventory of native aquatic taxa provides a starting point for conservation planning on the forests and grasslands managed by the USDA Forest Service. The data in this dashboard were developed by NatureServe and have been summarized here at multiple levels of spatial organization to facilitate planning at the forest, region, and national level.
Click here or on the image below to view the dashboard in full-screen.
Data and Tools
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Tool
https://research.fs.usda.gov/pnw/products/dataandtools/national-aquatic-biodiversity-assessment-storymap
Publications
- Brooke Penaluna, Deanna H. Olson, Rebecca Flitcroft, Matthew A. Weber, J. Ryan Bellmore, Steve Wondzell, Jason B. Dunham, Sherri Johnson, Gordon Reeves. 2017. Aquatic biodiversity in forests: a weak link in ecosystem services resilience
- Gwendolynn W. Bury, Rebecca Flitcroft, Mark D. D. Nelson, Ivan Arismendi, Evan B. Brooks. 2021. Forest-associated fishes of the conterminous United States
External Publications
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Flitcroft R, Bury G, Joyce L, Kay S, Knowles M, Nelson M, O’Dea C, and Warziniack T. Wildlife, Fish and Aquatic Resources. 2023 In. 2020 Resource Planning Act Assessment. US Forest Service, WO Gen. Tech. Rept. WO-GTR-102. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington Office.
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Flitcroft, R.L.; Bury, G.W.; Nelson, M.; Brooks, E.B. 2022. Indicator 1.04.1: biodiversity of forest-associated fishes. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Research and Development. 4 p.