Data release for Predicting the impacts of future sea level rise on specialist snake species in the imperiled pine rockland ecosystem of South Florida
Dates
Publication Date
2021-09-24
Time Period
2019
Citation
Barichivich, W.J., and Walls, S., 2021, Data release for Predicting the impacts of future sea level rise on specialist snake species in the imperiled pine rockland ecosystem of South Florida: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9TRHCLU.
Summary
Approximately 90% of pine rockland habitat in South Florida and the Florida Keys, USA, has been lost, fragmented, and degraded due to urbanization and other anthropogenic disturbances. Low-lying islands and coastal areas are also becoming increasingly vulnerable to sea-level rise and high tide flooding, which is rapidly increasing in frequency, depth, and extent, putting these areas and the pine rockland habitat they contain at particular risk to these threats. We evaluated changes in habitat under future sea level rise conditions and human development for two species of snakes that are endemic to the pine rocklands, Rim Rock Crowned snake (Tantilla oolitica) and Key Ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus acrinus), both of which are state-listed [...]
Summary
Approximately 90% of pine rockland habitat in South Florida and the Florida Keys, USA, has been lost, fragmented, and degraded due to urbanization and other anthropogenic disturbances. Low-lying islands and coastal areas are also becoming increasingly vulnerable to sea-level rise and high tide flooding, which is rapidly increasing in frequency, depth, and extent, putting these areas and the pine rockland habitat they contain at particular risk to these threats. We evaluated changes in habitat under future sea level rise conditions and human development for two species of snakes that are endemic to the pine rocklands, Rim Rock Crowned snake (Tantilla oolitica) and Key Ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus acrinus), both of which are state-listed endangered species and are under consideration for federal listing. We used recent and historical species records to determine the current extent of available habitat in South Florida. We then predicted: 1) how much (area and percentage) of habitat currently available to these species will be lost due to sea level rise/development, and (2) how does the quality of remaining rockland habitat change in future due to SLR and habitat degradation? We also asked whether threats differ between species and regions. Our results predict that salt water intrusion will negatively affect upland habitat by 2050 with 80% of the existing pine rockland habitat degraded with 42 cm of sea level rise. Moreover, short-term stochastic events, such as storm surge and king tides, will increasingly inundate the root zone of pine and other terrestrial vegetation before complete inundation. Our results further predict that most of the terrestrial habitat used by these species will be underwater by 2080, indicating that sea level rise will likely change current pine rockland habitat into more halophytic habitat (mangrove or salt marsh wetland) in about 50 to 60 years.
Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.
snakeproject_datarelease(WJB).xml Original FGDC Metadata
View
64.22 KB
application/fgdc+xml
data_release_file1(WJBflat).txt
30.87 KB
text/plain
Related External Resources
Type: Related Primary Publication
Subedi, S.C., Walls, S.C., Barichivich, W.J., Boyles, R., Ross, M.S., Hogan, J.A., and Tupy, J.A., 2022, Future changes in habitat availability for two specialist snake species in the imperiled rocklands of South Florida, USA: Conservation Science and Practice, Early View, art. e12802, https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12802.
To aid the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with Species Status Assesments (SSA) of Key Ringneck and Rim Rock Crown snakes. This study will increase knowledge of potential future impacts on pine rockland habitat for these two species and inform conservation and management decisions.
