Ecosystem Vulnerability Tools

Here is a collection of select tools that can help us to better understand the vulnerability of ecosystems and make decisions that will make ecosystems more resilient to climate change.

Biodiversity Conservation

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS): A database with reliable information on species names and their hierarchical classifications.
• National Gap Analysis Project (GAP): Provides access to data on vegetation and land use patterns, federal and state conservation lands, and species ranges.
• USFS Climate Change Atlas: Documents the current and possible future distribution for several tree and bird species in the eastern United States.

Carbon Sequestration

• COMET-Farm: A tool to help with auditing management activities (field management, livestock and/or energy use).
• ROE Carbon Storage in Forests: A tool to explore the data and trends related to carbon storage in forests, an indicator of environmental and human health.
• LandCarbon: A suite of data products and visualization tools that were developed as part of a national ecosystem assessment of biological carbon sequestration. The assessment focused on changes in carbon stocks and fluxes in all the major ecosystems, and on the major natural and anthropogenic processes that control carbon cycling (such as climate change, land use, and wildland fires). The greenhouse gases considered in this assessment were carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide (CO, from wildland fires only), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O).

Invasive Species

• USFS Forest Health Mapping & Reporting: Provides various state, county, and local level forest insect and disease conditions data.

Land Cover and Ecosystem Services

• EnviroAtlas Web Applications: A collection of interactive tools and resources that allows users to explore the many benefits people receive from nature, often referred to as ecosystem services.
• National Land Cover Database Evaluation, Visualization, and Analysis (EVA) Tool: Provides user-friendly access to national and state land cover and land cover change information developed through the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. NLCD EVA eliminates the need for desktop geographic information system software, or advanced technical expertise, by processing NLCD data for the user and providing easy access to that distilled information. In addition to displaying land cover information, the tool also summarizes general land change trends as well as provides users with the option to specify and explore specific land change classes of interest.
• USFS Climate Change Atlas: Documents the current and possible future distribution for several tree and bird species in the eastern United States.

Oceans and Coasts

• Coastal Change Analysis Project (C-CAP) Land Cover Atlas: Provides data from the C-CAP nationally standardized database of land cover information (developed using remotely sensed imagery) for the coastal regions of the U.S. C-CAP products provide inventories of coastal intertidal areas, wetlands, and adjacent uplands.
• Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) Maps and Data: Provide information on at-risk coastal resources, sensitive shorelines, and human-use resources (i.e., public beaches and parks) to assist in the aftermath of oil spills.
• NOAA’s Coral Reef Information System (CoRIS): A web-based information portal that provides access to NOAA coral reef information and data products with emphasis on the U.S. states, territories and remote island areas.
• Ocean Biodiversity Information System USA (OBIS-USA): A repository of data related to marine species.

Water Resources and Drought

• National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Drought Portal: Provides a series of tools and maps that show real-time or near-time information about drought across the U.S.
• Paleoclimatology Software Tools: A collection of paleoclimatological datasets and suggestions for software packages that can be used to analyze the data.
• Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN): SCAN integrates information from soil-climate data stations around the United States, focusing on the agricultural areas.

Wildfires

• LANDFIRE: A program that provides over 25 national geo-spatial layers (e.g. vegetation, fuel, disturbance, etc.), databases, and ecological models that are available to the public for the U.S. and insular areas.