Chapter 2 Sources of Information
The Nature Conservancy's Conservation Gateway
http://conservationgateway.org
TNC's web portal contains a
diversity of information on conservation
planning at the project, landscape,
eco-regional, and major habitat scales.
tnc's Conservation Action Planning
software package is available for
download. The gateway also provides
access to several thousand documents
on a diversity of conservation topics.
Patuxent Site and Software
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/software.html.
The U.S. Geological Survey's
Patuxent Wildlife Research
Center maintains a software library
for resources managers. The majority
of the titles are for wildlife research
and monitoring, but some (e.g. “Distance”)
can be utilized for estimating
abundance of plants or physical phenomenon.
Data Analysis
http://www.utexas.edu/its/rc/world/stat/Freeware.html
This web page, provided by the University
of Texas, includes a listing of
a wide variety of free statistical packages.
Ecological Modeling
- Vensim (http://www.vensim.com) is
a powerful, free software package that
enables the development of state-transition
and other stock/flow models.
- Stella (http://www.iseesystems.com/softwares/Education/StellaSoftware.aspx) is the state-of-the-art software for
developing complex ecological models—
the current model of the Chesapeake
Bay ecosystem was developed
using Stella.
- The Conservation Measures Partnership
(http://fosonline.org/CMP/) site
provides access to Miradi, an open
source conservation planning software.
It also provides a “Rosetta
stone” document that compares the
conservation planning protocols developed
by all the large conservation
organizations.
NatureServe Explorer
(www.natureserve.org/explorer).
This
website, a searchable database maintained
by NatureServe, provides authoritative
information on more than
70,000 plants, animals, and ecosystems
of the United States and Canada.
Explorer includes particularly in-depth
coverage for rare and endangered
species.
NatureServe Vista
(http://www.natureserve.org/vista).
NatureServe Vista is a
decision support system developed by
NatureServe that integrates conservation
information with land use patterns
and policies, providing planners, resource
managers, and communities
with tools to help manage their natural
resources. It enables users to create,
evaluate, implement, and monitor land
use and resource management plans
that operate within the existing economic,
social, and political context to
achieve conservation goals.
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Bob Unnasch is Senior Conservation Scientist, The Nature Conservancy |
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to view literature cited in this chapter. |
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to download Chapter 2 as a PDF. |
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