An updated range map for Plethodon shenandoah

Note: this data release has been deprecated. Please see new data release here: https://doi.org/10.5066/P1XSBIGZ

The Shenanadoah Salamander (Plethodon shenandoah) is an endangered salamander found only in the mountains of Shenandoah National Park. Field surveys of the salamander were conducted from 2007-2022 using daytime cover object surveys. In order to capture the totality of P. shendandoah’s range we sampled from low to high elevation across a broad geographic range. We created a spatial generalized additive model with aspect, latitude, longitude, and elevation and heat load index (HLI) to predict salamander occupancy and create a new range map based on our extended surveys. All spatial covariates were extracted from a 15m digital elevation model layer of Shenandoah National Park. Temperature and precipitaiton data were extracted at sampling locations from PRISM Climate Group datasets.