USGS PWRC - North American Amphibian Atlas

Latest version published by United States Geological Survey on Mar 14, 2019 United States Geological Survey
Publication date:
14 March 2019
License:
CC0 1.0

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Description

The North American Amphibian Atlas is hosted and maintained by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center of the United States Geological Survey. The dataset illustrates species distribution maps for all U.S. amphibian species. Most data associated with the Atlas are at the county level.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is United States Geological Survey. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has not been registered with GBIF

Keywords

Metadata; amphibians; frogs; toads; salamanders; amphibiotic species;

Contacts

Derek Masaki
  • Metadata Provider
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
  • Geographer
United States Geological Survey
  • 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Mail Stop 302
20192 Reston
Virginia
US
  • +1 703-648-4365
Elizabeth Sellers
  • Metadata Provider
  • Data Development Specialist
United States Geological Survey
  • 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Mail Stop 302
20192 Reston
Virginia
US
  • +1 (703) 648-4385
Linda Weir
  • Point Of Contact
  • North American Amphibian Atlas
United States Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
  • 12100 Beech Forest Road
20708 Laurel
Maryland
US
  • 301-497-5932

Geographic Coverage

United States of America (USA).

Bounding Coordinates South West [24.207, -170.156], North East [71.636, -72.773]

Taxonomic Coverage

The North American Amphibian Atlas follows the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) publications. The Hawaiian Islands are not covered by the SSAR and we use the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS - http://www.itis.gov) for determining valid taxonomy and nomenclature for amphibians introduced to those islands. Most maps are species level information. We provide distribution maps for the following subspecies: Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum (Santa Cruz long-toed salamander) Ambystoma tigrium stebbinsi (Sonoran tiger salamander) Batrachoseps major aridus (desert slender salamander) Batrachoseps major major (garden slender salamander) Rana aurora aurora (northern red-legged frog) Rana aurora draytonii (California red-legged frog) In addition, we provide species complex maps for the following: Bufo fowleri and Bufo woodhousii complex (Woodhouse’s and Fowler’s toad complex) Hyla chrysoscelis and Hyla versicolor complex (gray treefrog species complex) Pseudacris triseriata, P. maculata, and P. feriarum complex (chorus frog complex)

Order Anura (Frogs, perereca, rã, sapo, crapauds, grenouilles, Toads), Caudata (salamandres, salamandra, Salamanders)

Project Data

Origin of Dataset: This project began in 1999, when distribution maps and associated spreadsheets were first assembled for all amphibian species known to occur in the United States to accompany the book, "Amphibian Declines: the Status and Conservation of United States Species" (Lannoo, 2005; see Acknowledgements). In 2001 the dataset was purchased by USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and used to develop the former website (Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative's National Atlas for Amphibian Distributions, www.pwrc.usgs.gov/armiatlas). Website maps were last updated on September 2004. From 2002-2005 the USGS dataset was updated by Priya Nanjappa Mitchell. The maps in the Amphibian Declines book were based on the updated dataset circa January 2005. In 2006-2007 the dataset was converted to a relational database. After conversion the two formats were compared for quality assurance. Then maps from the book were compared to maps generated from the new relational database. Any differences were investigated to ensure the maps were properly converted and differences were intended updates. Additional new information was obtained from various sources, see Version Information section for more details. This dataset and associated maps will be periodically updated. Updates will be assigned a version number and the version information page will document what changes have occurred.

Title USGS PWRC - National Amphibian Atlas
Funding Development of the original dataset was supported in part by grants and/or matching funds from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, as background for the book Amphibian Declines: the Conservation Status of United States Species (Lannoo, 2005).

The personnel involved in the project:

Linda Weir
  • Principal Investigator

Additional Metadata