Setting a course for a sustainable landscape
Why are indicators needed?
South Atlantic Conservation Blueprint requires specific measures of what success will look like for natural and cultural resources. The ecosystems of the South Atlantic are complex and indicators help simplify the modeling and monitoring of those systems. We cannot measure everything all of the time. Indicators are designed to integrate many ecological functions and represent other components of the system that are either too expensive or time consuming to model and measure.
How were indicators selected?
Indicators are based on detailed input from 235 experts in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial resources in the South Atlantic region and 9 experts representing all 5 adjacent LCCs.
How are indicators being used?
Indicators are being used to design and evaluated the success of the South Atlantic Conservation Blueprint.
What are the current indicators?
All ecosystem indicators were tested and revised in 2014. Click on the link on the ecosystem name for more details and GIS layers.
Read more about the original South Atlantic Indicators (now revised)
How well do the indicators work?
The indicators were selected based on three different types of criteria: Ecological (How well it represents a variety of other organisms/ecological attributes and responds to landscape change), Practical (Can it be monitored and modeled based on current programs and resources), and Social (How well do they resonate with a variety of audiences). Further testing of all these criteria is now underway and will be complete by December 2014.
Read more about the project testing the terrestrial indicators
Read more about the project testing the freshwater indicators
Read the results of marine indicator testing (coming soon)
The staff of your cooperative have been working to synthesize monitoring information and model the past, present, and future condition of indicators. This effort is the test of the practical criteria.
Indicator testing is part of the Indicator Testing and Revision process approved by the Steering Committee in March 2013.
How can I help improve the indicators?
Starting May 2014, your cooperative will be focusing on revising the indicators for 1-2 ecosystems per month. Every month, you will be able to see the modeling of indicators (testing the practical criteria), results of testing the ecological selection criteria, and then be part of ecosystem specific teams that will recommend changes to the indicators.
Beaches and dunes
Pine woodlands, savannas, and prairies
Upland hardwood forests
Tidal and non-tidal freshwater marshes
Indicator selection team
Beth Stys FL FWC
Reggie Thackston GA DNR
Jan MacKinnon GA DNR
Jimmy Evans GA DNR
Jon Ambrose GA DNR
Joe DeVivo NPS
Tim Pinion NPS
Ryan Heise NC WRC
Scott Anderson NC WRC
Roger Pugliese SAMFC
David Whitaker SC DNR
Mark Scott SC DNR
Breck Carmichael SC DNR
Billy Dukes SC DNR
Maria Whitehead TNC
Lisa Perras Gordon US EPA
Wilson Laney US FWS
John Stanton US FWS
Duke Rankin US FS
Brian Watson VA DGIF