Mapping Threats to Florida Freshwater Habitats (2008)

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS) is an action plan for conserving the state’s wildlife and natural areas. In 2005 the CWCS identified 27 threats to Florida’s freshwater habitats. Creating a comprehensive database of threats is an essential step toward achieving the overall goals of improving strategic habitat conservation planning and addressing causes of low abundance and decline of species in aquatic habitats. This project assembled statewide geographic datasets representing 15 out the 27 threats. These data were used to determine the relative level of individual threats to each subwatershed (HUC 12 unit) within Florida. Ten uncorrelated data layers depicting unique threat categories were combined to create a composite Freshwater Threats Index. Based on the composite index map a distinct gradient of increasing threat level is evident progressing from Northwest Florida to the east and south. At a regional scale road density dominates as the most common reason for high threat values in northern Florida, while agriculture dominates in the west-central region and waterway modification dominates in east-central and southern Florida. This multi-scale assessment is effective at both highlighting local conditions which may instigate further investigations and illustrating regional trends.