The Designing Sustainable Landscapes project is assessing the capability of current and potential future landscapes, currently within the extent of the Northeast (13 states), to support ecosystems and suitable habitat for a suite of representative wildlife species, and provide guidance for strategic habitat conservation. This gallery highlights some of the many spatial products of the project.
During the current phase of the project (2012-2014), habitat models are being developed for 30 wildlife species based on current conditions and scenarios of potential future conditions based on scenarios of climate change and urban growth. The species models are complemented by an analysis of ecological integrity. The species and ecosystems results are also being integrated into a landscape design tool, currently being tested in the Connecticut River Watershed. The species and ecosystem models are nested within a Landscape Change, Assessment and Design (LCAD) model that also includes a number of other spatial datasets.
The project is led by Professor Kevin McGarigal of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It is supported primarily by the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NALCC) with additional support from the Northeast Climate Science Center (NECSC) and the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. For more information see also:
http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/dsl/dsl.html and
http://northatlanticlcc.org/projects/designing-sustainable-landscapes-phase-2/designing-sustainable-landscapes-phase-2/