Biological Objectives for the Gulf Coast: Biological Planning Units & Target Species Population Objectives Completed
The USGS partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its conservation partners to develop 16 Biological Planning Units (BPU) and six Aquatic Extensions and compile population objectives for 166 species that are representative of habitats within each BPU.
The Science Issue and Relevance: The success of Gulf Coast restoration efforts hinge on partners sharing a common vision that is framed by explicit biological objectives for conservation targets. However, explicit biological objectives that quantify what it means to share a common vision remain undefined. Despite numerous conservation partnerships along the Gulf of Mexico, the ability to collectively inform restoration activities at the Gulf-wide scale is hampered by their focus on different selection criteria and spatial scales. The Biological Objectives for the Gulf Coast (BOGC) working group’s goal is to establish explicit objectives to help guide strategic habitat conservation across the Gulf.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: The USGS partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and its conservation partners to develop 16 Biological Planning Units (BPU) and six Aquatic Extensions (Fig. 1) and compile population objectives for 166 species that are representative of habitats within each BPU.
Future Steps: These products can be used to spatially evaluate strategic conservation decisions related to the target species. The BPUs and population objectives are used by the USFWS to communicate its vision for Gulf restoration to its partners across the Gulf Coast. They are also used to inform quantitative, spatial models that the BOGC developed for beach mice, Gulf sturgeon, Brown Pelican, Black Skimmers, and Gull-billed Terns (see Related Products).
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Gulf Sturgeon
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Brown Pelican
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Black Skimmer and Gull-billed Tern
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Beach Mice (Peromyscus polionotus ssp.)
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Data for Gulf Sturgeon Bayesian Network Model
Data for Beach Mice Bayesian Network Model
Biological planning units and aquatic extensions for the Gulf Coast
Below are publications associated with this project.
Identifying information gaps in predicting winter foraging habitat for juvenile Gulf Sturgeon
Strategic habitat conservation for beach mice: Estimating management scenario efficiencies
- Overview
The USGS partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its conservation partners to develop 16 Biological Planning Units (BPU) and six Aquatic Extensions and compile population objectives for 166 species that are representative of habitats within each BPU.
The Science Issue and Relevance: The success of Gulf Coast restoration efforts hinge on partners sharing a common vision that is framed by explicit biological objectives for conservation targets. However, explicit biological objectives that quantify what it means to share a common vision remain undefined. Despite numerous conservation partnerships along the Gulf of Mexico, the ability to collectively inform restoration activities at the Gulf-wide scale is hampered by their focus on different selection criteria and spatial scales. The Biological Objectives for the Gulf Coast (BOGC) working group’s goal is to establish explicit objectives to help guide strategic habitat conservation across the Gulf.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: The USGS partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and its conservation partners to develop 16 Biological Planning Units (BPU) and six Aquatic Extensions (Fig. 1) and compile population objectives for 166 species that are representative of habitats within each BPU.
Future Steps: These products can be used to spatially evaluate strategic conservation decisions related to the target species. The BPUs and population objectives are used by the USFWS to communicate its vision for Gulf restoration to its partners across the Gulf Coast. They are also used to inform quantitative, spatial models that the BOGC developed for beach mice, Gulf sturgeon, Brown Pelican, Black Skimmers, and Gull-billed Terns (see Related Products).
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Gulf Sturgeon
WARC researchers partnered with Gulf Sturgeon decision makers and biologists to develop a Bayesian network model that uses habitat characteristics to predict the quantity of juvenile winter foraging habitat under alternative river discharge and timing of juvenile arrival scenarios.Strategic Habitat Conservation for Brown Pelican
WARC researchers partnered with managers and species experts to develop a Bayesian network model and a geospatial habitat characteristics dataset to predict the number of Brown Pelican breeding pairs on islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico.Strategic Habitat Conservation for Black Skimmer and Gull-billed Tern
WARC researchers partnered with managers and species experts to develop a Bayesian network model and a geospatial habitat characteristics dataset to predict the number of breeding pairs of Black Skimmer and Gull-billed Tern along the northern Gulf of Mexico.Strategic Habitat Conservation for Beach Mice (Peromyscus polionotus ssp.)
WARC researchers partnered with beach mice managers and biologists to estimate habitat objectives and the amount of effort needed to achieve the habitat objective (i.e., management efficiency) for three beach mice subspecies in Florida’s panhandle. - Data
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Data for Gulf Sturgeon Bayesian Network Model
This USGS Data Release represents tabular and geospatial data for the Gulf Sturgeon Bayesian Network Model. The Gulf Sturgeon is a federally listed, anadromous species, inhabiting Gulf Coast rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters from Louisiana to Florida. The data release was produced in compliance with the new 'open data' requirements as way to make the scientific products associated with USGS reData for Beach Mice Bayesian Network Model
This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release represents tabular and geospatial data for the Biological Objectives for the Gulf Coast Projects Beach Mice Bayesian network model. The data release was produced in compliance with 'open data' requirements as a way to make the scientific products associated with USGS research efforts and publications available to the public. The release consists of sBiological planning units and aquatic extensions for the Gulf Coast
The success of Gulf Coast restoration efforts hinge on partners sharing a common vision for conservation framed by explicit biological objectives for specific conservation targets. However, specific and explicit biological objectives that quantify what it means to actually share a common vision remain undefined. Therefore, this project's goal is to develop explicit biological objectives for a comm - Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Identifying information gaps in predicting winter foraging habitat for juvenile Gulf Sturgeon
The Gulf Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi is an anadromous species that inhabits Gulf of Mexico coastal waters from Louisiana to Florida and is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Seasonal cues (e.g., freshwater discharge) determine the timing of spawning and migration and may influence the availability of critical habitat during winter months in six estuaries. Large iAuthorsLeah L Dale, James P. Cronin, Virginia Brink, Blair Tirpak, John M. Tirpak, William E. PineStrategic habitat conservation for beach mice: Estimating management scenario efficiencies
The Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis), Choctawhatchee beach mouse (P. p. allophrys), and St. Andrew beach mouse (P. p. peninsularis) are 3 federally endangered subspecies that inhabit coastal dunes of Alabama and Florida, USA. Conservation opportunities for these subspecies are limited and costly. Consequently, well‐targeted efforts are required to achieve their downlisAuthorsJames P. Cronin, Blair Tirpak, Leah L Dale, Virginia E Robenski, John M. Tirpak, Bruce G. Marcot