Multi-Stressor Refugia

This raster dataset represents sites that may provide protection for natural communities from multiple threats including climate, fire, altered river channels, and density of recreational activities. This data layer currently exists only for the Southern California region.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Version Version 5.0
Last Updated March 28, 2025, 08:35 (UTC)
Created March 7, 2025, 07:51 (UTC)
category /Forest and Shrubland Resilience/Disturbance
collection_name California Landscape Metrics
creation_method Domains of Refugia: To consider how refugial conditions from a range of stressors can inform conservation planning and management, we integrated metrics of refugial capacity across different domains, which we define as social, ecological, or physical drivers, processes, or cycles that influence landscape structure, function, or composition. To persist in the Southern California landscape, species and ecosystems may need refugia from shifting climatic conditions, including extremely hot summers and prolonged droughts, but non-climate stressors can also affect conservation outcomes. In this landscape, changes in fire frequency can be a significant stressor affecting plant community structure and persistence. Anthropogenic features that modify hydrologic flows alter the ability of watersheds to sustain functional habitats. And finally, protected areas are often designed to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic activities; however, recreational activities may alter the refugial capacity of the protected land, affecting the ability of the landscape to sustain species and their habitats. We combined these individual metrics to assess landscape level refugial capacity. Sites with high refugial capacity (super-refugia sites) have, on average, 30% fewer extremely warm summers, 20% fewer fire events, 10% less exposure to altered river channels and riparian areas, and 50% fewer recreational trails than the surrounding landscape. Our results suggest that super-refugia sites ('ˆ1⁄48,200 km2) for some natural communities are underrepresented in the existing protected area network, a finding that can inform efforts to expand protected areas.
data_units This is a dimensionless index that ranges from 1.91 to 3.68 Low values indicate lower resilience to threats. High values indicate significant protection from threats.
data_vintage 2021
date_updated August 2024
element Disturbance
encoding utf8
file_name SoCal_MultistressorRefugia_2021_202312_T3_v5
format GeoTiff
harvest_object_id a6521237-8359-42ec-a044-b1d3768656e9
harvest_source_id a2637971-af12-457f-ae4a-831d2202a539
harvest_source_title WIFIRE Commons
maximum_value 3.7
metric_definition_and_relevance This raster dataset represents sites that may provide protection for natural communities from multiple threats including climate, fire, altered river channels, and density of recreational activities. This data layer currently exists only for the Southern California region.
minimum_value 1.9
pillar Forest and Shrubland Resilience
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-120.67706739598721, 32.497392021155406], [-115.77460546520076, 32.497392021155406], [-115.77460546520076, 35.287756305833], [-120.67706739598721, 35.287756305833], [-120.67706739598721, 32.497392021155406]]]}
tier 3