Abstract:
Originally created for the Pennsylvania Gap Project (Myers et al., 2000) land cover classification and interpretation was completed specifically for Pennsylvania to facilitate potential habitat modeling for all vertebrate species reported to breed within Pennsylvania following a modified Anderson Level 2 system (Anderson et al., 1976). The “Stratification” was our attempt to further classify suburban and urban areas by delineating based on urban reflectance from satellite imagery and road pattern from PennDOT roads (1994). The result allowed us to identify modified land covers such as forested or herbaceous suburban and forested or herbaceous urban hoping to use these to better capture areas as wildlife habitat for more generalist species.
Supplemental_Information:
Land Cover Code
11 Water
12 Coniferous Forest
13 Mixed Forest
14 Deciduous Forest
15 Barren
16 Perennial Herbaceous
17 Annual Herbaceous
18 Transitional
21 Water - Suburban
22 Coniferous Forest - Suburban
23 Mixed Forest - Suburban
24 Deciduous Forest - Suburban
25 Barren - Suburban
26 Perennial Herbaceous - Suburban
27 Annual Herbaceous - Suburban
28 Transitional - Suburban
31 Water - Urban
32 Coniferous Forest - Urban
33 Mixed Forest - Urban
34 Deciduous Forest - Urban
35 Barren - Urban
36 Perennial Herbaceous - Urban
37 Annual Herbaceous - Urban
38 Transitional - Urban
Citations
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Brooks, R.P., D.H. Wardrop, and J.A. Bishop. 2002. Watershed-Based Protection for Wetlands in Pennsylvania. Final Report to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Report No. 2002-2, Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center. 64 pp.
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Mahan, C.G., J.A. Bishop, M.A. Steele, G. Turner, and W.L. Myers. 2010. Habitat characteristics and revised Gap landscape analysis for the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), a state endangered species in Pennsylvania. The American Midland Naturalist 164(2): 283-295.
McGarigal, K., and B. Marks. 1995. FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for quantifying landscape structure. General Technical Report. PNW-GTR-351. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Pp. 122.
Myers, W., J. Bishop, R. Brooks, T. O'Connell, D. Argent, G. Storm, J. Stauffer, and R. Carline. 2000. Pennsylvania Gap Analysis Project: Leading Landscapes for Collaborative Conservation. School of Forest Resources & Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Environmental Resources Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Gap Analysis Program.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). 1995. Digital Roads Data. Prepared and maintained by PennDOT, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Online at: http://www.pasda.psu.edu.
Robbins, C.S., D.K. Dawson, and B.A. Dowell. 1989. Habitat area requirements of breeding forest birds of the middle Atlantic states. Wildlife Monographs 103:1-34.