Biodiversity - Gap Analysis

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Gap Analysis is a procedure designed to identify "gaps" in current efforts to preserve plant and animal species and habitat areas of the world. GAP (National Gap Analysis Program) is a U.S. national program to apply the principles of gap analysis to all of the United States. Although you will find different definitions of gap analysis as you read through some of the web sites linked to below, the basic principle of gap analysis is moderately simple. Suppose you have three different types of maps printed on transparent acetate sheets; a map of the different types of vegetation in a particular area, a map of the distribution of some plant or animal species of some interest from a conservation standpoint, and a map of land ownership in this region. The ownership map will be a mosaic of publicly owned land and land under private ownership.

Take the three acetate maps and lay them on top of each other and look to see if the distribution of the plant or animal species is primarily contained within conservation lands or in lands under private ownership and not protected. If the species' distribution falls primarily in non-protected, private lands, a "gap" exists in the protection afforded the species. One solution would be to try to buy some of the critical land parcels to form protected areas for the species.

Many species occur primarily in particular vegetation types. If the distribution of a plant or animal species falls in a particular vegetation site, one could say that vegetation type is a critical component in any conservation plan to protect that species. A conservation plan would be to try to buy private parcels of that vegetation type for the conservation of the designated species.

Of course, things rapidly become more complex than this simple example because many species are involved in any realistic conservation effort. Currently most emphasis is on vertebrate species, although the principle applies equally to any group of plants and animals.

Although the simple example given above uses acetate sheets, gap analysis is typically done with computer programs called "Geographical Information Systems" allowing the scientist to overlay two or more maps simultaneously on the computer screen.

National Gap Analysis Program. U.S. Geological Survey. This is probably the most inclusive web site on gap analysis available. Among the many resources you will find here are articles and a handbook on gap analysis, current projects and research efforts on North American Gap analyses, tools, and other information for professionals in the field. The only drawback to this site is that much of the explanatory material is thoroughly larded with jargon and obtuseness. Highly recommended.

Maine Gap Analysis. Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Reserach Unit. This site is useful in seeing how one state agency is using Gap Analysis to examine the state of species protection in their state. At this site you will find a short introduction to Gap Analysis, the types of mapping data they are collecting, and links to other Gap Analysis projects on the web.

California Gap Analysis Project: Data Disclaimer. University of California at Santa Barbara. A large compendium of metadata on vegetation and habitat cover for California is available from this web site.

Southern New England Gap Analysis Project. Jack Finn. An archive of data sets for Gap Analysis in New England.

Wyoming Gap Analysis. Wyoming Bioinformation Node. A tremendous archive of data sets, information, and maps on biodiversity in Wyoming. Of particular note are the maps illustrating vegetation and habitat types, hydrology, land ownership, species distributions, and more. Recommended.

Arkansas Gap Analysis. Center of Advanced Spatial Technologies. This web site contains the final report (in Adobe Acrobat format) for the Arkansas Gap Analysis Program. The report in broken down into a number of segments and is very extensive.

The Washington Gap Analysis Home Page. Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. This project web site contains a wealth of maps for landcover, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians in Washington.

Florida Biological Diversity Program. This web site on Gap Analysis in Florida contains a wealth of information and maps including detailed landcover maps for Florida and information on a number of animal groups including mammals, birds, herps, ants, and butterflies.

Kentucky Gap Analysis. This web site outlines the current status of the Gap Analysis Project in Kentucky. The most interesting feature of the site is a slide show presenting basic information about Gap Analysis and the Gap Analysis Project in Kentucky.

Application of Gap Analysis to Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation. New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. An example of the application of Gap Analysis to aquatic habitats in New York.

Vegetation Classification and Information Standards. National Biological Service. Much of Gap Analysis depends on vegetation mapping. Anytime the government is involved in a project, standards are proposed. This web site contains information about the federal standards for data sets on vegetation mapping.