An ecological characterization of the greater Yellowstone area (report)

Nesser, John; Maynard, C; Lund, Duane

The goals of this project include the presentation of natural resource data and the development of appropriate applications of those data in an ecological context, at different scales for selected demonstration areas. The intent is also to demonstrate the use of, and present results for, previously developed ecological characterization and analysis tools. The characterization of ecological units at the Section, Subsection and Landtype Association levels, along with the presentation and demonstration of appropriate applications for these units is a major objective of this project. Attributes of Sections and Subsections include geomorphic settings and landform morphometry, lithology, classified vegetation, land cover, mean annual precipitation ranges, soil moisture and temperature regimes. Constraints placed on this project included using only existing data sets that were readily available, at no cost, for all locations in the contiguous Greater Yellowstone Area. The effort also required using methods that could be easily duplicated for any landscape area within the United States. The methods used in producing this information are designed to be portable and easily modified for the incorporation of additional data sets, and for use by others needing this level of ecological characterization. All geo-spatial products include, or provide references to Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata for source map themes and project-generated themes, along with documentation of sources for data acquisition and methods of data assembly.

An ecological characterization of the greater Yellowstone area (report)

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