Seabeach amaranth presence-absence and barrier island geomorphology metrics as relates to shorebird habitat for Assateague Island National Seashore — 2008, 2010, and 2014

Understanding how sea-level rise will affect coastal landforms and the species and habitats they support is critical for developing approaches that balance the needs of humans and native species. Given the magnitude of the threat posed by sea-level rise, and the urgency to better understand it, there is an increasing need to forecast sea-level rise effects on barrier islands. To address this problem, scientists in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology program are developing Bayesian networks as a tool to evaluate and to forecast the effects of sea-level rise on shoreline change, barrier island geomorphology, and habitat availability for species such as the piping plover (Charadrius melodus) and seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus). The USGS uses publicly available data, such as lidar, orthophotography, and vegetation/substrate maps, to extract metrics of barrier-island characteristics for the Assateague Island National Seashore. The metrics are used to conduct statistical analyses and to train and test Bayesian networks, which are probabilistic models, developed for barrier-island systems. This USGS data release contains the extracted metrics of barrier-island geomorphology and field-collected species information (seabeach amaranth), which are input to Bayesian networks to evaluate the occurrence probabilities for a suite of barrier-island characteristics and, ultimately, the evaluation of habitat suitability. Whereas the data presented in this data release represent physical conditions at the Assateague Island National Seashore in 2008, 2010, and 2014. This work is one component of a large effort that seeks to understand the future states of barrier-island systems and the resulting affects to coastal habitat driven by sea-level rise.