Shell Island East Barrier Island Restoration (BA-0110): 2016 habitat classification

Publication Date

2021-06-30

Start

2016-10-30

End

2016-10-31

Beck, H.J., Thurman, H.R., Enwright, N.M., SooHoo, W.M., Dugas, J.L., Mouton, K., and Lee, D.M., 2021, Shell Island East Barrier Island Restoration (BA-0110): 2016 habitat classification: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9J3K9OE.

Type: Online Link

Barrier islands provide numerous invaluable ecosystem services including storm protection and erosion control for the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, salinity regulation in estuaries, carbon sequestration in marsh, recreation, and tourism (Barbier and others, 2011). These islands are very dynamic environments due to their position at the land-sea interface. Storms, wave energy, tides, currents, and relative sea-level rise are powerful forces that shape barrier island geomorphology and habitats. The BICM habitat products developed through this effort will provide a powerful tool for tracking changes to barrier island habitats over time. As previously mentioned, the BICM program has developed two habitat classification schemes which include a detailed 15-class habitat scheme and a general eight-class habitat scheme. The detailed scheme was developed specifically for this habitat mapping effort and builds off the general scheme used in previous BICM habitat mapping efforts (Fearnley and others, 2009). The additional classes developed in the detailed scheme are primarily used to further delineate various dune habitats, separate marsh and mangrove, and distinguish between beach and unvegetated barrier flat habitats. To enhance comparability between this effort and previous BICM map products, we have crosswalked the detailed classes produced in this effort to the general habitat classes previously used by Fearnley and others (2009). In other words, the general habitat classes included in these products were not directly interpreted using aerial imagery and lidar elevation data. Thus, we recommend only using these general habitat classes for analyses that include previous BICM habitat maps (1996-2005). For more information about the BICM program, see Kindinger and others (2013). For more details on BICM habitat classes, see the Entity and Attribute Information section of the metadata. Please consult the accompanying readME.txt file for information and recommendations on the contents of this dataset (i.e., dataset and recommended symbology). For more information about the BICM program, see Kindinger and others (2013).

ScienceBase WMS

ScienceBase WFS

• USGS Data Release Products
• USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center