Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Maine
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Maine Project

Assessing Priority Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) and Vulnerability to Climate Change in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (Collaborators: C. Loftin, P. deMaynadier, K. Barrett, P.Nanjappa)

January 2012 - January 2019

Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • USFWS and Wildlife Management Institute

Amphibians and reptiles are experiencing severe habitat loss throughout North America; however, this threat to biodiversity can be mitigated by identifying and managing areas that serve a disproportionate role in sustaining herpetofauna. Identification of such areas must take into consideration the dynamic nature of habitat suitability. As climate rapidly changes it is possible that areas currently deemed suitable may no longer be so in the future. To address these needs, we will generate spatially-explicit data that will (1) identify Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) – those discrete areas most vital to maintaining reptile and amphibian diversity, (2) project regions of current and future climatic suitability for a number of priority reptiles and amphibians in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and (3) identify gaps in distributional data for these species that may prevent or inhibit the identification of species-level climatic suitability.

Research Publications Publication Date
Sutton, W.B., R. Barrett, A.T. Moody, C.S. Loftin, P. deMaynadier, and P. Nanjappa. 2015. Changes in climate niche and climate refugia of conservation priority salamander species: a case study from the northeastern United States. Forests 6:1-26. | Download January 2015
Presentations Presentation Date
Moody, A.T., C.S. Loftin, P.deMaynadier, B Sutton, K. Barrett, and P. Nanjappa. Assessing priority amphibian and reptile conservation areas in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative. Presentation at the 2013 Northeast Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation annual meeting, 24-26 July, Branchville, NJ. July 2013
Moody, A.T., B. Sutton, C. Loftin, P. deMaynadier, K. Barrett, and P. Nanjappa. 2013. Assessing priority amphibian and reptile conservation areas (PARCAs) in the NA-LCC and determining vulnerability of these areas to climate change. LCC Webinar, 29 August. August 2013
Moody, A.T., C.S. Loftin, P.deMaynadier, B Sutton, K. Barrett, and P. Nanjappa. Assessing priority amphibian and reptile conservation areas in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative. Presentation at the 2013 Northeast Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation annual meeting, 24-26 July, Branchville, NJ. July 2013
Sutton, W.B., K. Barrett, A.T.Moody, C.Loftin, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa. 2013. Framework for Determining Vulnerability of Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative to Climate Change. Presentation at the 2013 Northeast Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation annual meeting, 24-26 July, Branchville, NJ. July 2013
Sutton, W.B., K. Barrett, A.T.Moody, C.Loftin, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa. 2014. Determining Vulnerability of Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas in the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative to Climate Change. Presentation at the 70th Annual Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, April 13-15, Portland, ME. April 2014
Sutton, W.B., K. Barrett, A.T.Moody, C.Loftin, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa. 2014. Determining Vulnerability of Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas to Climate Change in the Northeastern United States. Presentation at The Wildlife Society Annual Conference, October 25-30, Pittsburgh, PA. October 2014
Loftin, C.S., W. Sutton, P. deMaynadier, K. Barrett, A.T. Moody, and P.Nanjappa. 2015. Identifying Proposed Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) in the Northeastern United States. Presentation at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, KS, 28 July-3 August. July 2015
Loftin, C.S., W. Sutton, K. Barrett, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2017. Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas: Navigating quantitative approaches and expert opinion to identify conservation areas and evaluate vulnerability. Annual Meeting of the Maine Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Bangor, ME. 9 March. March 2017
Loftin, C.S., W. Sutton, K. Barrett, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2017. Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas: Applying quantitative approaches and expert opinion to identify conservation areas and evaluate vulnerability. 73rd Annual Meeting of the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Norfolk, VA, 9-11 April. April 2017
Loftin, C.S., W. Sutton, K. Barrett, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2017. Combining quantitative approaches and expert opinion to identify Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) and evaluate vulnerability. Seminar Series, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine. Orono, ME. 13 February. February 2017
Loftin, C.S., W. Sutton, K. Barrett, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2016. Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas: Navigating quantitative approaches and expert opinion to identify conservation areas and evaluate vulnerability. Seminar Series, National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of Maine. Orono, ME, 19 November. November 2016
Loftin, C., W. Sutton, P.deMaynadier, K.Barrett, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2016. Modeling Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) in the Northeastern United States. Annual meeting of The Wildlife Society, Raleigh, NC, October 15-21. October 2016
Loftin, C., W. Sutton, P.deMaynadier, K.Barrett, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2016. Modeling Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) in the Northeastern United States. 2016 North American Congress for Conservation Biology, Madison, WI, 17-20 July 2016
Loftin, C., W. Sutton, P.deMaynadier, K.Barrett, P. Nanjappa, and A. Moody. 2016. Modeling Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) in the Northeastern United States. 2016 North American Congress for Conservation Biology, Madison, WI, 17-20 July 2016
Sutton, W.B., K. Barrett, C.Loftin, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa, A.T.Moody. 2016. Determining Vulnerability of Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas to Climate Change in the Northeastern United States. Presentation at Annual Meeting of the North American Congress of Conservation Biology, Madison, WI, 17-21 July. July 2016
Sutton, W.B., K. Barrett,C.Loftin, P. deMaynadier, P. Nanjappa, A. Moody. 2016. Determining Vulnerability of Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas to Climate Change in the Northeastern United States. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society, Raleigh, NC, 15-21 October. October 2016