A Database of Tools for Measuring Habitat in Conservation Markets

U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2018–3039, prepared with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Environmental Markets. By Scott J. Chiavacci and Emily J. Pindilli.

Market-based conservation uses economic incentives to make restoring, enhancing and preserving species and habitats more efficient. It depends on biodiversity and habitat quantification tools, which measure the quality and functionality of land that has been — or is proposed to be — preserved, improved or developed (for energy, transport or housing, for example).

The USGS Science and Decisions Center and the USDA Office of Environmental Markets have built a database of these tools for biodiversity and habitat markets in the contiguous United States: one place where landowners, regulators, tool developers and the public can find the tools for a particular species, habitat or place. It summarises what each tool is for and how it works, and will be updated as new tools appear.

How conservation markets work

These markets buy and sell "goods" such as better environmental conditions, protected or restored species and habitats, and responsibly produced products:

• Compensatory mitigation, such as conservation banking, requires that harm to protected species — threatened, endangered or at-risk under local, state or federal law — be offset by buying species or habitat credits tied to land permanently protected and managed for them.
• Voluntary programmes pay landowners, or give them technical help, for the ecosystem services their land provides, such as cleaner water and wildlife habitat.
• Eco-label certification lets manufacturers appeal to customers who care how things are made.
• Habitat exchanges, for trading credits, can use both compensatory and voluntary mechanisms.

All of them rely on quantification tools to measure the benefit of preserving, restoring or improving habitat.

Many tools assess wetlands and other aquatic habitats, often by how they support the plants and animals that use them. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The problem

Existing tools are not widely available, hard to find, and cover few species and regions, and details of how they work — what they measure, their features and requirements, whom to ask — are often hard to get. That limits their use, invites duplicate tools, and creates doubt about their usefulness.

What the database offers

• Easier to find tools — one central, searchable place.
• Less duplication — users can check whether a suitable tool exists before building one, and developers can borrow useful features.
• More standard metrics — using the same tool for the same species or habitat makes results more consistent and comparable.
• Better tools — open information lets anyone check that a tool is understandable, scientifically defensible and accurate, and where it needs fixing.
• Filling gaps — developers can see which species and habitats still lack tools and markets.
• Less red tape — tools already approved by regulators can speed up project reviews, where long approvals deter participation.

What it contains

The database describes 69 tools that together assess at least 34 species and 39 habitat types across the contiguous United States. For each tool it records:

The information came from user guides, credit calculators and scientific method documents, and, where those were missing, from experts and other sources.

How many tools apply to species (A) and habitats (B) in each state. California, Oregon and Washington have the most — most likely because of their unique, vulnerable ecosystems, the variety of threats to them, and regulatory and consumer incentives for habitat markets. USGS.

Getting the database

It can be downloaded free at https://doi.org/10.5066/F79G5M3X, as .csv files or a single Excel file.

Sources

• Chiavacci, S.J., and Pindilli, E.J., 2018, A database of biodiversity and habitat quantification tools used in market-based conservation: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2018–3039. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20183039
• Chiavacci, S.J., and Pindilli, E.J., 2018, database: USGS data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F79G5M3X · Pindilli, E., and Casey, F., 2015, Biodiversity and habitat markets: USGS Circular 1414, https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1414
• The maps, the table of tool information and the wetland photograph come from the fact sheet's PDF; its monarch butterfly photograph is by a private photographer and is not reproduced here.
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.