Ecological Archives A024-214-A1

Enric Batllori, Carol Miller, Marc-André Parisien, Sean A. Parks, Max A. Moritz. 2014. Is U.S. climatic diversity well represented within the existing federal protection network?. Ecological Applications 24:1898–1907. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/14-0227.1

Appendix A. A table showing showing climatic variables used to define the climate space of the conterminous United States (CONUS) and factor loadings of each variable on the first three principal component analysis axes; a table showing geographic extent, protection network coverage, land cover fraction, and land ownership of each climate domain; and figures showing maps of climatic variables for the CONUS; optimal partitioning of the climate space of the CONUS; size-elevation relationship of the climate domains and elevation of protected and unprotected areas; and distribution of climate conservation gaps and federal lands and representation of the climate domains by Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Parks Service.

Table A1. Climatic variables used to define climate domains of the conterminous United States (CONUS) and factor loadings of each variable on the first three Principal Component Analysis axes PC1, PC2, and PC3 Monthly data for the period 1981–2010 were aggregated into long-term averages (climate normals). Moisture index variables were computed on the basis of monthly precipitation normals. See Fig. 1 for maps of the loading of each PC.

Variable

Factor loadings

 

PC1

PC2

PC3

Mean annual temperature [ºC]

0.13

-0.42

0.08

Minimum temperature coldest month [ºC]

0.17

-0.39

-0.13

Maximum temperature warmest month [ºC]

-0.06

-0.40

0.11

Temperature range [ºC]

-0.27

0.20

0.25

Annual precipitation [mm·year-1]

0.40

0.04

-0.02

*Summer precipitation [mm·3month-1]

0.30

0.01

0.40

*Winter precipitation [mm·3month-1]

0.35

0.00

-0.30

+Precipitation seasonality [mm·6month-1]

0.11

-0.06

-0.55

Annual moisture index [mm·year-1]

0.35

0.23

-0.05

*Summer moisture index [mm·3month-1]

0.30

0.16

0.33

*Winter moisture index [mm·3month-1]

0.31

0.17

-0.31

*Summer relative humidity

0.31

0.08

0.34

*Winter relative humidity

0.21

0.25

0.08

Growing degree days >5°C

0.12

-0.40

0.17

°Growing season length

0.19

-0.37

0.05

* Summer from July through September; winter from January to March

+ Precipitation from November to April

° The growing season was determined using temperature-based rules, starting when the mean daily temperature was greater than or equal to 5 degrees Celsius for 5 consecutive days beginning March 1. The growing season ends when the average minimum temperature is less than -2 degrees Celsius beginning August 1.

 

Table A2. Geographic extent (Area) of each of the 116 climate domains (CDs) of the CONUS sorted by decreasing size. The fraction of each CD that falls within protected areas (% Proportion), as well as the fraction of each CD covered by human-modified (% Altered) or natural (% Natural) land cover types is presented. Human-modified cover types include areas classified as developed areas (low, medium, and high intensity), pasture/hay and cultivated crops. Natural cover types include water, ice/snow, barren, forest, shrublands, grasslands and wetlands. Land cover categories were obtained from the National Land Cover Database 2006. FedLand corresponds to the proportion of each CD that is federally owned (data from the Surface Management Agency database from (http://www.geocommunicator.gov/GeoComm/). ** Note, in addition to the primary natural resource management agencies (BLM, USFS, FWS, and NPS), FedLand in this table includes Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Affairs.

CD

Area (Km²)

Protected (%)

Altered (%)

Natural (%)

FedLand (%)

 

CD

Area (Km²)

Protected (%)

Altered (%)

Natural (%)

FedLand (%)

1

1008777

0.30

56.80

43.20

3.53

 

30

39129

5.21

7.72

92.28

34.76

2

759915

0.40

49.93

50.07

5.40

 

31

38765

57.04

0

100

97.21

3

582403

6.57

7.35

92.65

49.57

 

32

31776

44.96

0.12

99.88

85.72

4

551259

0.40

41.92

58.08

8.55

 

33

30861

13.53

5.85

94.15

54.61

5

520926

0.64

36.00

64.00

7.24

 

34

26022

26.08

31.86

68.14

27.06

6

514815

0.17

38.72

61.28

5.48

 

35

24823

10.12

6.90

93.10

46.98

7

383208

10.94

3.81

96.19

61.89

 

36

19555

5.63

31.23

68.77

21.21

8

335535

4.45

7.08

92.92

52.97

 

37

19060

3.08

2.68

97.32

27.86

9

325332

1.73

9.47

90.53

4.85

 

38

14655

61.63

0

100

96.45

10

271521

0.32

26.77

73.23

9.04

 

39

13825

2.14

12.47

87.53

14.70

11

226660

0.80

24.57

75.43

8.50

 

40

12365

21.69

0.01

99.99

87.75

12

208760

10.18

19.62

80.38

36.09

 

41

11921

50.26

0

100

99.45

13

197353

1.73

21.84

78.16

21.00

 

42

9981

11.97

0.28

99.72

48.29

14

186609

3.58

34.92

65.08

15.18

 

43

8789

26.53

5.62

94.38

53.93

15

185676

1.67

19.72

80.28

17.45

 

44

8647

24.65

0.33

99.67

61.72

16

118146

0.71

3.87

96.13

9.93

 

45

7137

52.62

0

100

86.90

17

98520

13.43

0.64

99.36

80.38

 

46

5615

47.53

0

100

96.91

18

96554

0.01

45.89

54.11

3.71

 

47

5251

24.92

0

100

61.39

19

95464

28.64

1.71

98.29

78.00

 

48

5069

14.90

3.80

96.20

53.20

20

94694

4.62

35.06

64.94

16.32

 

49

4633

15.76

0.28

99.72

49.83

21

94387

25.97

8.62

91.38

69.16

 

50

3732

15.38

3.79

96.21

50.41

22

93020

1.38

41.25

58.75

6.87

 

51

3686

29.58

0

100

58.00

23

92935

36.16

0.25

99.75

92.43

 

52

3530

35.34

0

100

91.88

24

81837

1.32

12.44

87.56

20.78

 

53

3430

14.24

2.00

98.00

41.24

25

75040

0.04

48.31

51.69

4.75

 

54

3374

4.31

0.76

99.24

8.04

26

74237

6.25

21.92

78.08

33.96

 

55

3348

0.02

12.60

87.40

55.71

27

68688

4.25

2.84

97.16

33.50

 

56

3148

22.16

0.08

99.92

81.03

28

68655

16.01

15.20

84.80

45.96

 

57

2834

97.11

0

100

100

29

56142

17.36

1.52

98.48

76.47

 

58

2252

34.88

4.41

95.59

85.22

Table A2 continued

CD

Area (Km²)

Protected (%)

Altered (%)

Natural (%)

FedLand (%)

 

CD

Area (Km²)

Protected (%)

Altered (%)

Natural (%)

FedLand (%)

59

2045

24.19

0.03

99.97

59.07

 

88

46

0

100

0

0.00

60

1571

0

1.22

98.78

13.65

 

89

44

1.45

7.25

92.75

7.25

61

908

77.93

0

100

99.86

 

90

41

6.25

0

100

57.81

62

822

27.42

0

100

63.71

 

91

38

67.80

0

100

100

63

666

9.90

0

100

96.15

 

92

32

98.00

0

100

100

64

496

0.52

0

100

0.13

 

93

32

20

0

100

42.00

65

473

27.74

2.03

97.97

99.73

 

94

31

0

0

100

0.00

66

461

71.39

0

100

90.69

 

95

22

40

0

100

100

67

396

13.75

3.56

96.44

86.08

 

96

17

44.44

0

100

100

68

340

0

1.13

98.87

3.76

 

97

17

26.92

0

100

100

69

311

92.59

0

100

97.94

 

98

15

100

0

100

100

70

310

98.14

0

100

100

 

99

15

100

0

100

100

71

306

17.36

0

100

82.43

 

100

15

4.35

0

100

91.30

72

279

10.09

0

100

26.61

 

101

13

85.71

0

100

95.24

73

198

96.76

0

100

99.03

 

102

13

25.00

0

100

100

74

173

52.59

0

100

98.52

 

103

10

81.25

0

100

100

75

168

27.00

0

100

92.40

 

104

10

40

0

100

100

76

149

89.27

0

100

97.00

 

105

7.7

100

0

100

100

77

148

68.40

0

100

99.13

 

106

6.4

100

0

100

100

78

148

29.00

0

100

91.77

 

107

6.4

0

0

100

80.00

79

145

19.03

0

100

77.88

 

108

4.5

0

0

100

0.00

80

132

100

0

100

100

 

109

3.8

0

0

100

100

81

120

0

98.40

1.60

0.00

 

110

2.6

100

0

100

100

82

116

98.35

0

100

98.35

 

111

1.9

0

0

100

100

83

90

36.17

0

100

97.16

 

112

1.9

100

0

100

100

84

63

98.98

0

100

100

 

113

1.9

100

0

100

100

85

61

71.88

0

100

100

 

114

1.3

100

0

100

100

86

55

0

0

100

11.63

 

115

1.3

100

0

100

100

87

50

12.82

0

100

100

 

116

0.7

100

0

100

100

 

FigA1

Fig. A1. Long-term averages (period 1981–2010) of the 15 climate variables used to define the climate space of the conterminous United States. See Table A1 for a description of each variable. Note that the scale in the map for each variable is adjusted to its own range to maximize the visualization of spatial variation.


 

FigA2

Fig. A2. Exploratory analysis to determine the optimal partitioning of the climate space of the CONUS into climate domains (CDs). The variance within and among CDs in relation to the three Principal Component Analysis axes (PC1, PC2, and PC3) was evaluated in partitions with an increasing number of CDs across each axis. We selected a stratification level representing a compromise of within- and among-variance. We stratified each axis into 12 equally spaced units encompassing the entire range of PC1, PC2, and PC3 to uniformly partition variability within the climate space. The among-domain variance reaches highest values for PC1 and PC3 when the climate space is partitioned into 12×12×12 equally spaced CDs; within-domain variance also stabilizes when the number of classes in each axis of variation is larger than 12-16.


 

FigA3

Fig. A3. Top – Relationship between the size (gray dots) and median elevation (crosses) of the climate domains of the CONUS. There is a significant correlation between rarity and elevation (r = 0.353, p value < 0.001;Spearman correlation). Bottom – Frequency distribution of the elevation of un-protected (left) and federal protected areas (right). Boxplots above each frequency distribution represent the altitude of areas by management agency: BLM – Bureau of Land Management, FS –Forest Service, FWS – Fish and Wildlife Service, and NPS – National Parks Service. There are significant differences in the elevation outside and within the protected areas network (Kolmogorov Smirnov test, p value<0.0001), having mean ± SD elevations of 736 ± 694 m and 1619 ± 872 m, respectively. Elevation data was obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey.


 

FigA4

Fig. A4. Map of the underrepresented climates of the CONUS (a); gray correspond to climate domains (CDs) with less than 10% of their geographic extent protected. In (b) map light gray corresponds to state and private lands, whereas federally owned lands are shown by the four primary land management agencies: BLM – Bureau of Land Management, USFS – US Forest Service, FWS – Fish and Wildlife Service, and NPS – National Park Service (data from www.geocomunicator.gov). In (c), representation of the CDs by agency is depicted. Gray indicates a lack of protection: unrepresented CDs are those areas where the gray color reaches the x-axis, and underrepresented CDs are those where the gray color drops below the orange line, which indicates a 10% conservation target. In (d), protected areas are depicted in black, gray correspond to state and privately owned lands, and yellow, green, blue, and purple indicate federal lands managed by the four primary agencies that are outside the existing protection network that can be regarded as feasible conservation opportunities to extend the current network. Note that in (b) and (c) domains are sorted from common to rare (x-axis) and the logarithmic scale in the y-axes.


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