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South-Central Section - 42nd Annual Meeting (30 March - 1 April, 2008)

Paper No. 1
Presentation Time: 8:20 AM

CREATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL KARST ARCHIVE TO ADVANCE THE PROTECTION OF KARST SPECIES AND HABITATS WORLDWIDE


HOLLINGSWORTH, Emily1, BRAHANA, John Van1 and INLANDER, Ethan2, (1)Geosciences, University of Arkansas, 113 Ozark Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, (2)The Nature Conservancy, Ozark Highlands Office, 675 Lollar Lane, Fayetteville, AR 72701, ehollin@uark.edu

Historically, people dealing with caves and karst have tended to restrict information, protecting their property and resources by keeping details about karstlands secret. This has resulted in a general lack of understanding about the complexity and fragile nature of these unique settings, to the detriment of most stakeholders.

A new effort, involving the creation of an international karst archive, has been facilitated by The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas. The objectives of this project are to advance the protection of karst species and habitats globally by developing a digital karst map of worldwide karst distribution, using the best available data, and to create Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets encorporating karst species and habitat information, as well as other scientific and speleogenetic data that may be added later as needed. The creation of a digital karst map and archive will allow for ranking and delineation of areas of environmental and ecological sensitivity by blending of detailed data based on hydrology, land use, biodiversity, and distribution of endangered and threatened species.

The extent of karst landforms will be graphically represented in digital form, allowing for an interactive snapshot of karst information. The dataset will be developed in two layers. The first will represent the extent of karst landforms with emphasis on habitat for cave-limited species. The second will represent known species and habitat information. Both layers will be generated from existing maps and literature.

With the cooperation of the scientific community the archive will be updated as new information is collected.

Addressing karst conservation and identification is indispensable at a global scale, due to the importance of karst habitats for humans and global biodiversity. There is currently no global karst biodiversity dataset. The proposed global karst GIS dataset will fill this data gap and provide a starting point for future protection of karst habitats and species.

Session No. 11

T8. New Directions in Karst Science I
Tuesday, 1 April 2008: 8:00 AM-11:40 AM
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 40, No. 3, p.30
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