Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Basin CESU

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The goal of this project is to promote cooperation between the USGS and CESU members to use remote sensing of landscape features to develop spatial models for up to 30 species in the Mojave Desert. Collectively these predictive models will be used to evaluate the potential impacts of proposed alternative energy development, and responses of climate change, using distributional and genetic information to identify key areas of biological and genetic diversity for multiple spatially overlapping species. This spatial modeling effort will be used to evaluate species distributions and habitat connectivity in light of increasing human impacts and potentially changing climate in the Mojave Desert. These analyses will be critical in informing planning decisions regarding sensitive species management, recreation, law enforcement, travel management, and other programs in the Mojave Desert. This project will provide research, technical assistance and education to federal land managers and their partners to model potential habitat for a variety of species in the Mojave Desert. The modeling will require GIS information that is geospatially rectified portraying biological, physical, and social data layers. Quality assurance and control (QA/QC) will be an important part of preparing data layers for use in these analyses and for comparison with current work. Together, we will acquire and use these data layers to explore interdisciplinary problem-solving at multiple scales in an ecosystem context regionally in the Mojave Desert. This project will require collaboration between government scientists and the academic community for the benefit of resource managers.

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