Spatial application of the Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCA) Guidance in the northeastern United States

Amphibian and reptile populations are facing rapid declines resulting from a variety of threats, including disease, overexploitation, invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.

Learn more about invasive species , and habitat loss. Conservation planning for amphibians and reptiles is complicated by incomplete information about their distributions and abundances, their relative rarity and complex life cycles, and variations in land management priorities that can create inconsistencies in conservation across the landscape. The Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area (PARCA) guidance combines information about species rarity, occurrence, population viability, species diversity, and landscape integrity with expert evaluation to identify potentially important areas for amphibian and reptile conservation. We used the Maximum Entropy algorithm to model potential habitat suitability based on reptile and amphibian species occurrence data and environmental variables in the northeastern United States and combined these models with information about species richness and landscape condition following the PARCA guidance. We invited experts to review the modeled PARCA polygons and revised the draft PARCAs to incorporate their feedback. Most modeled PARCAs were retained by the experts, and some experts added areas that were not modeled. Although most experts indicated they used some of the PARCA guidance criteria in amphibian and reptile conservation in their state, there were exceptions. We compared the distribution of the draft PARCAs with existing conservation areas and evaluated whether the draft PARCAs and lands in current conservation were representative of high-quality habitats (where highly suitable or “best” habitat was indicated by a modeled value > 0.50) for the modeled species. Although most existing conservation lands included habitats predicted to be highly suitable for priority reptiles and amphibians, most species were under-represented in these landscapes, and the model-predicted best habitats for some species were not captured in any conserved lands. Combining the PARCA guidance and maps developed in this project with knowledge shared by biologists, land managers, and conservation practitioners could provide a robust approach for amphibian and reptile conservation planning.