GL StClair Detroit River 2019 ESI: Reptile and Amphibian Distributions

Southeastern Michigan's St. Clair/Detroit River System, including parts of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, and adjacent lands, is covered by this dataset. It contains vector polygon data representing the distributions of reptiles and amphibians, with associated tables for species-specific attributes. The data was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a 2019 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) study to characterize sensitivity to oil spills.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill impact sensitivity for reptiles and amphibians based on species distribution polygons.
• Analyzing habitat overlap and species co-occurrence based on the vector polygon representations.
• Integrating biological resource data with shoreline and human-use layers for coastal zone management, as described in the ESI framework.

Strengths

• Data is part of a structured Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework designed for oil spill response.
• Includes associated tables with species-specific attributes like abundance and seasonality, as mentioned in the description.
• Geographic scope is clearly defined, covering the St. Clair River, Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, and portions of Lakes Huron and Erie.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The primary file format is listed as PDF, which may limit direct geospatial analysis without data extraction.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely contains data gathered for environmental sensitivity mapping, as part of the ESI methodology.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:23:21.658768; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Clair/Detroit River System in southeastern Michigan, including parts of Lakes Huron, St. Clair, and Erie.