A geospatial dataset representing potentially suitable land cover on serpentine soils, used to modify a resistance surface for coastal marten connectivity modeling. The data was developed by clipping serpentine soil polygons to 30 km from the coast and extracting relevant ecosystem categories from GAP/LANDFIRE data. It was published by the Department of the Interior and last updated in March 2026.
Use Cases
- Modifying resistance surfaces for landscape connectivity models based on serpentine soil land cover.
- Identifying sub-optimal but usable habitat corridors for coastal martens based on shrub-dominated serpentine areas.
- Assessing the influence of coastal fog-influenced serpentine habitats on species movement pathways.
- Comparing habitat value and connectivity potential between serpentine shrublands and late seral forests.
Strengths
- Dataset is based on a specific 30 km coastal buffer for serpentine soils, providing a focused geographic scope.
- Incorporates multiple data layers including forested/non-forested land cover, waterbodies, rivers, roads, and serpentine soils.
- Development process references specific source datasets (USGS geology maps, STATSGO soils, GAP/LANDFIRE Terrestrial Ecosystems 2011).
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
Provenance
- Source
- Department of the Interior
- Collection Method
- Serpentine soil polygons were clipped to a 30 km coastal buffer and overlapped with GAP/LANDFIRE ecosystem categories.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-03-04 08:21:33.204776; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion within 30 km of the coast in Oregon and California.