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Using BioFinder - LEARN

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Learn: Getting more out of BioFinder

  • Explore - Click anywhere on the map to see what's there! Our MapTips will show you which components are present.

  • Learn - For a deeper dive into the biological diversity of a particular area, we'll show you how to maximize BioFinder skills and knowledge

  • Plan - Using BioFinder for land use planning at the statewide, regional, town and even parcel scales is a great way to get up-to-date information and ecological context.

 

Here are a few key concepts to help you get the most out of learning from BioFinder.

1. BioFinder Themes: Inventory and Prioritization

BioFinder categorizes all information into two "themes:" Inventory and Prioritization. Each theme includes a separate list of map information that can be displayed or turned off as desired. The default theme, entitled Prioritization, appears when you first open the map tool, but an Inventory theme is also available. Change the theme through the pulldown menu at the top, left corner of the screen, under the word "Layers."

2. Inventory Theme

This theme answers the question, "What's here?"

The "Inventory" theme presents basic information about the location of features often used in conservation planning. "Inventory" information has not been interpreted in any way. It represents the raw data upon which the Prioritization Theme is based. This allows a user to explore the breadth of ecological components at play on a local or regional landscape.

If you explore the maps in the order presented, you will find yourself beginning with broad, landscape patterns in Maps 1 and 2, then zooming in to see increasing detail. For more information about any of the maps, please see Mapping Vermont's Natural Heritage (available Spring 2017), a guide to using maps for Land Use Planning. This guide provides detailed information about how each map and map layer in the Inventory theme can be appropriately interpreted for use at a municipal level.

The maps include:

>> Conservation Base Map

Conservation Base MapThis map provides a snapshot of the landscape, frozen in time. It's not intended to be studied in detail; instead, its goal is to provide background information. The most prominent dataset outlines conserved land—land on which development has been permanently restricted through either a conservation easement or purchase by a conservation entity. Also depicted are waterways, roads, and town boundaries. In some communities, parcel boundaries are available.

These layers can be left on as you view other Inventory maps, thereby allowing you to see roads and political boundaries along with any other dataset, or to determine which inventory features are located on conserved land.

>> Land Cover

Land CoverThis map is useful at a broad scale for seeing patterns of natural land cover and land use. At a statewide scale, it is beneficial for picking out large urban areas, agricultural areas, wetland complexes, and forested areas. More locally, these data can be used to locate forested blocks, predict where wildlife with wide home ranges may be able to travel through the landscape, and see where patterns of development may hinder wildlife movement. They can also be used to distinguish hardwood forests from softwood and mixed forests, which can be helpful in predicting locations of natural communities and wildlife species.

Like Map 1, land cover information isn't intended to capture individual processes or species; it tells, very simply, what covers the ground at the present time.

>> Forest Pattern

Forest PatternWhen considering wildlife on the local landscape, broad-scale vegetation patterns can be quite revealing. The degree to which forests are connected or separated has implications both for where wildlife will be and which wildlife are present. This concept of connectivity is particularly important in the face of climate change; maintaining connected pathways of natural vegetation across the landscape is considered a critical strategy for adapting to a changing climate, allowing animals and plants to disperse to locations that provide favorable conditions.

This map shows where blocks of undeveloped land are located, organized by size. It shows where the vegetated banks of streams, rivers, and lakes form continuous pathways in which wildlife can move. Finally, it shows grasslands and shrublands. These may be contained within larger habitat blocks, or they may appear isolated. Either way, there is an important assemblage of species that rely on these open fields or young stands for their survival.

>> Physical Features

Physical FeaturesPhysical landscapes are the parts of the landscape that resist change. They are the hills and valleys, the underlying bedrock, and the deposits left behind by glaciers or ancient lakes. They remain largely static when natural or human-induced changes in land cover and wildlife occur, as plants and animals expand or contract their ranges, and even as the climate changes.

Because of the strong influence of the physical landscape on which plants, animals, and natural communities appear and thrive, understanding the physical landscape can help us predict habitat conditions and species presence. Physically diverse landscapes support diverse natural communities and species, and so one way to ensure that biological diversity persists on our landscape is to conserve a variety of physical landscapes.

>> Water

WaterWater is an important resource for both wildlife and human communities. While not particularly scarce in the Northeast, water-based ecosystems can be both highly valued and highly vulnerable. In addition to the surface water information included on other maps, this map includes wetlands, vernal pools, riparian areas, representative lakes, and exemplary surface waters. Additionally, you can see the locations of bridges, culverts, and other stream crossing areas. This information has ecological implications but can also be helpful in determining safe and effective locations for human activities.

With the exception of confirmed vernal pools, the information on this map is not intended to be accurate at a fine scale. However, it gives an excellent overall picture of where water appears on the landscape.

>> Species & Natural Communities

species and natural communitiesThis map includes many important datasets that represent the habitats and locations of individual species or natural communities (groups of species that tend to co-occur and interact). This includes both individual occurrences, such as with rare species or significant natural communities, and also more general habitat features such as wildlife crossings—the locations where bear, bobcat, and other wide-ranging species are most likely to crossroads as they travel to meet daily or seasonal dietary needs, disperse to find mates, or fulfill other requirements.

As you look at this map, you can imagine zooming in from the other Inventory maps to examine details of the landscape. With the exception of Habitat Blocks, all layers can be analyzed down to the level of an individual parcel. While the boundaries of the Habitat Blocks layer are not accurate at this scale, these data provide an element of statewide perspective.

Please keep in mind that while appropriate at a local scale, these datasets aren't comprehensive. For example, a mark depicting a rare species is spatially accurate, but the absence of a rare species marker is not a definite sign that there are no rare species present, because the entire state has never been inventoried for all rare species. Local inventory information could greatly enhance a community's knowledge of local resources.

3. Prioritization Theme

This theme helps you find and highlight the locations of highest ecological importance.

The "Prioritization" theme identifies ecological priorities based on their contribution to regional ecological function—the ability of habitats, plants and animals to interact as needed in order to thrive, reproduce, migrate, and move, even as the climate changes. This theme considers important components at two scales—the Landscape-scale (large blocks of forest, water networks, etc.) and the "Species and Community" scale (individual wetlands, wildlife road crossings, vernal pools, etc.).

Landscape-scale data are also referred to as Vermont Conservation Design. All the components in this theme are significant to the State's biological diversity and represent the most important subset of the ecological elements included in "Inventory.

4. Component Layers

While the Vermont Conservation Design and Species and Community Scale maps compile and prioritize numerous datasets, this section allows you to see each component individually. These components have been divided into two groups, to mirror the prioritized datasets above. Species and Community Scale Components were those prioritized to create the Species and Community Scale layer, and Vermont Conservation Design—Landscape Scale Components were compiled in the creation of the prioritized layer of the same name.

Components LayersBy exploring the component layers, you can discover why different locations received the priority ranking they did and get a better understanding of the suite of important ecological activities at play across the landscape.