papilio joanae - Heritage data overview

Tue Jan 30 07:46:12 EST 2001

>
> Shuey recently posted an excellent essay that can only be taken as
> presenting joanae as a unique species of restricted range. This information
> is simply great. It is exactly the kind of info I was hoping to bring out
> about joanae to the leps-l readers the world over. However, he unwittingly
> gives us an amazing revelation. Concerning the USGS site and its info., he
> states.
>
>     "Keep in mind that that web site [USGS] is designed for public
> consumption     and participation, and while I can't claim to understand
> quality or decisions,     it does not play much of a role in the
> conservation community (in fact I
>     think it probably plays zero role). ..."

> Then concerning the natureserve web site he states.
>
>      "...this is the primary source of data for state conservation
>     programs, TNC (of course) and increasingly for EPA, US-FS, US-FWS, and
>     USGS.  Unlike the public USGS web site, data are tightly screened
> before
>     they are entered, and the data are linked to source, site, time and
>     environmental setting.  (hence the time lag in getting data into the
>     system that can frustrate many contributors)."
>
> If the professionals pay "zero" attention to the USGS site why should the
> rest of us?  The USGS site is the politically correct site not the
> scientifically correct site. It is for the "public." It is exactly what I
> have been saying it is for a long time - dumbed down taxonomy for the
> masses. This is a GOVERNMENT site. Why is the government involved in
> setting taxonomy in any way shape or form? I'll quit here on this thread.
>
> Hurray for NABA as it is listed as a species there. GO NABA! Get involved
> with Papilio joanae NABA people as it is North America's P. hospiton.
> Sorry, P. a. ponceanus does not count - it is only a subspecies - which
> according to some should not ever have names assigned to them.

Again, this is an "as best as I can tell" analysis - but the USGS site is
simply a compilation of dot maps.  It is designed to document the national
distribution at the county level of butterflies.  "As best as I can tell, the
only data tracked is species by county, and perhaps the source of the data.

Heritage data is very different in nature and intent.  First you could never
build the type of "dot map" that the USGS site provides. (you could but it
would be woefully incomplete for most species - but for the really rare ones it
would actually be better than anything available in published form).  Heritage
data is used to track only species of conservation concern, and the data
provide insights into specific sites where such species occur (and hence could
be conserved).  So while the USGS site provides a distributional overview of a
rare species, heritage data provides the user with a set of specific sites
where that species is known to occur, and comments about the site, the health
of the population in question, and the conservation status of the site...  In
short, this database is designed by conservationists to provide information for
conservation.

So... in that spirit, here is a partial heritage data dump (with my
explanations in parenthesizes) for a single occurrence of the scarce swamp
skipper from Indiana.  This is a well tracked species in the state, and I think
Shull's butterflies of Indiana lists a single site that is not in the heritage
database - otherwise all known indiana occurrences are in the database.  If
someone more familiar with some of the more obscure data code than I am wants
to correct my interpretations, jump in.

John Shuey

GELCODE - IILEP77050 (This is a unique code that identifies this species)
COUNTRY -U.S.A.
STATE -IN
EOCODE -IILEP77050*003*IN  (this is a unique identifier for this particular
record - the code is Invertebrate, Insect, LEPidoptera taxon 77050 record 003
for Indiana)
SNAME -EUPHYES DUKESI (Latin name)
OWNERCODE OWN -PNC (don't know what this is)
MRO SREC -CON 9844 (this one either)
LASTOBS -1995-08-15  (this is the most recent observation date of this
population - so if I were to tell heritage that I saw this population last year
and it wa doing fine, this date would change)
FIRSTOBS -1995-08-15 (this is the first time this population was observed)
YEAR -1995
GRANK - G3 (this species is thought to occur at between 21 and 100 sites in the
world - it is pretty rare)
SRANK -S2 (this species probably occurs at between 6 and 20 sites in Indiana)
EORANK - 9 (missing because we have no criteria with which to judge the health
of the population)
SPROT  -SR (state protected status = listed in Indiana as "state rare")
SITE -SECTION SIX SOUTHERN FLATWOODS SITE (the name of the site for this
record)
SURVEY - (additioanl site information - missing)
SIZE- (size of the site - missing)
MACODE1-M.USINHP*1382 (mapping information)
MACODE2 - (additional info if needed)
MANAME1 - SECTION SIX SOUTHERN FLATWOODS (the exact name of the managed area
the population is found in)
MANAME2 - (a chance to enter a synonym name for the site)
MATYPE1 - PNCNA ( the type of managed area - in this case a natural area -
undedicated)
MATYPE2 - (often more than one management type applies)
CONTN1-Y (who knows??)
CONTN2   (again who knows - and its missing)
COUNTY-Posey  (county)
WATERSHED - BG (watershed code for the site location)
LAT_DD 37.85472222  (the next 8 data lines provide coordinates for the site in
4 different mapping systems - so that the data can be linked to GIS)
LONG_DD -88.02833333
LATMH 375117
LONGMH 0880142
Y_ALBERS 1675607.022
X_ALBERS 693954.9991
Y_ILPUTM 489989.2425
X_ILPUTM 409533.7986
PRECISION - M (the precision of the mapping point - in this case Medium because
the population occupies a few acres - and the point is an infinitesimally small
point in space)
EXPIR_DATE - 04/17/1999 - the data afterwhich you should start viewing this
record with suspicion)
FIPS 18129  (don't know)
ECO_TNC - 44  (TNC's ecoregional designation that the record fall into)
ECO_FSESS - 222Db (the US-forest service ecoregional code for this site)
HUC - 5120113 7366 (the hydrological drainage unit that the record falls in)
DATASENS - N (the sensitivity of the data)
MINELEV -335 (minimum elevation of the site)
TAXGROUP - II (Invertebrate - Insect)
EODATA - OBSERVED 1995 BEING THE STRONGEST POPULATION SEEN BY SHUEY (1996).
(notes that I provided to heritage when I gave

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