Great Lakes Straits of Mackinac 2019 ESI: Reptile and Amphibian Distributions

Vector polygon data representing reptile and amphibian distributions for the Great Lakes - Straits of Mackinac area of interest. The data set contains sensitive biological resource data, with species-specific attributes stored in associated tables. It was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of the 2019 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for characterizing sensitivity to oil spills.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill impact sensitivity based on reptile and amphibian distributions.
• Coastal zone management planning based on sensitive biological resource data.
• Analyzing species-specific abundance and seasonality for conservation efforts.
• Integrating biological resource data with shoreline habitat and human-use layers for environmental assessment.

Strengths

• Data is part of a structured Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill sensitivity.
• Includes associated tables with species-specific attributes like abundance and seasonality.
• Covers a defined study area including the Straits of Mackinac and portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Primary file format is PDF, which may complicate direct geospatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely gathered through field surveys and biological resource mapping for the Environmental Sensitivity Index.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026 03 13 22:22:58.329745; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Straits of Mackinac, nearby portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and adjacent lands and waters in northern Michigan.