Data Management Plan

This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for sea turtles and other federally and/or state endangered, threatened, or rare reptiles and amphibians in Northwest Peninsular Florida. Vector polygons and points in this data set represent federally and state protected reptile and amphibian concentration areas, nesting areas, vulnerable occurrences, and general use areas. Species-specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information are stored in associated data tables (described below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. This data set is a portion of the ESI data for Northwest Peninsular Florida. As a whole, the ESI data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil, and include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources.

Process Steps:

• 2016-12-01 00:00:00 - Overview: A large portion of the data for herpetofauna were received and mapped as point locations. These point locations represent the most accurate spatial data available, but do not represent the full extent of species' ranges. Seasonality information presented with point locations is meant to represent all life stages potentially present within the full (unmapped) species range. Several species mapped in this atlas were masked for data sensitivity purposes. These species are mapped as "Rare reptile/amphibian" and "Rare amphibian".
• 2016-12-01 00:00:00 - Sea Turtles: Five species of sea turtles use Florida beaches for nesting during the spring and summer months: loggerhead, hawksbill, leatherback, green, and Kemp's ridley. The loggerhead sea turtle (state and federally threatened) is the most numerous. A federally designated critical habitat area in nearshore waters west of Siesta and Long Boat Keys close to Sarasota has been designated to protect this species. This critical habitat was designated due to its importance as a nearshore reproductive habitat for this species. Mapped nesting locations for green, Kemp's ridley, and loggerhead sea turtles were based on a data from FWRI. The FWRI coordinates the collection of sea turtle nesting data through the annual Statewide Nesting Beach Survey Program. Nest density and locational information are summarized as a vector digital data set ranking the nesting locations under the density classes "low", "medium", or "high". These density classes were determined based on the average nest densities in relation to the number of nests per kilometer of surveyed nesting beach habitat. The range of density values are broken at 25% and 75. Density classes were created where "low" corresponds with a density that is less than or equal to the lower 25%, "medium" corresponds with a density that is greater than 25% but less than or equal to 75%, and "high" corresponds to nest density values greater than 75%. Only nesting beaches with density classes of "low" and "medium" were encountered in this region, and these values are included in the concentration field. The following narrative was provided by Robert Hardy and Anne Meylan of the FWC/FWRI on sea turtle nesting, seasonality, and in-water distribution.
• 2016-12-01 00:00:00 - Sea Turtles Nesting: FWRI coordinates the data collection for Florida's sea turtle nesting beaches. Beaches are surveyed annually as part of the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey Program. We provide data on nest density for the most recent five years and nest occurrence, since 1979. Sea turtle nest density and occurrence data are summarized and provided by FWRI at the following website: http://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/sea-turtles/nesting/nesting-atlas/. These data may be downloaded from FWRI's GIS data catalog at the following website: http://geodata.myfwc.com/ (enter "sea turtle nesting" as the search term). Please refer to these data for detailed nesting information. A brief summary of sea turtle nesting is provided below. Within the west-peninsular Florida (WPFL) plan area, sea turtle nesting beach habitat ranges from Anclote Key to Casey Key (from north to south). Sea turtle nesting within this region typically begins during mid-April and extends through the end of October. Mapped nesting locations for hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles were included based on documentation in Eaton et al. 2008, Hardy et al. 2014, and Witherington et al. 2012. These species less commonly nest in the region, so "rare" was added to the concentration values. Loggerhead: Loggerhead sea turtle nesting occurs on all seaward-facing sandy beaches throughout the WPFL ESI region. The highest loggerhead nest density occurs in the southern portion of the plan area. Green: Green sea turtle nesting has been documented on most seaward-facing sandy beaches throughout the WPFL ESI region with the highest nesting density occurring in the southern portion of the plan area. Leatherback: Leatherback sea turtle nesting is rare within the WPFL ESI region. Leatherback nesting has been observed on Longboat Key. Hawksbill: Hawksbill sea turtle nesting is rare within the WPFL ESI region. Hawksbill nesting has been observed on Longboat Key. Kemp's ridley: Kemp's ridley sea turtle nesting is rare within the WPFL ESI region. Kemp's ridley nesting has been observed on beaches of Anclote Key State Park, Caladesi Island State Park, Middle and Northern Pinellas County, and Siesta Key.
• Sea Turtles In-water: The potential presence of sea turtles within south Florida waters was determined based on an examination of all available in-water sea turtle research information (Eaton et al. 2008). We evaluated the in-water presence of loggerhead, green, leatherback, hawksbill and Kemp's ridley sea turtles. We also incorporated occurrence information derived from Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network records from 1986 through present; these data may be downloaded from FWRI's GIS data catalog at the following website: http://geodata.myfwc.com/ (enter "sea turtle stranding" as the search term). Potential presence of sea turtles is described by species and life stage (adult or non-adult, categories described by Eaton et al., 2008). Loggerhead: Loggerhead sea turtles of all life stages may be present in nearshore and offshore waters of WPFL throughout the year. A major residence area exists within deep reef and hardbottom habitats of the West Florida Shelf, particularly from 35 - 70 m depth (Hardy et al. 2014). Surface-pelagic juvenile loggerheads occur in offshore waters of this area (Witherington et al. 2012). Green: Non-adult green sea turtles are present in inshore waters, particularly within seagrass habitats, throughout the year. Adult green sea turtles are not often documented but do occur during the nesting season. Surface-pelagic juvenile green sea turtles occur in offshore waters of this area (Witherington et al. 2012). Leatherback: Leatherback sea turtles may be encountered in offshore waters throughout the year. Hawksbill: Non-adult hawksbill sea turtles have been documented throughout the region in stranding records. Adult hawksbills are not often documented in WPFL although they may occur. Surface-pelagic juvenile hawksbills occur in offshore waters of this area (Witherington et al. 2012). Kemp's ridley: Kemp's ridley sea turtles may be present throughout the WPFL plan area during all months. Surface-pelagic juvenile Kemp's ridleys occur in offshore waters of this area (Witherington et al. 2012).
• 2016-12-01 00:00:00 - American alligator and American crocodile: The American alligator is federally listed as threatened due to its similarity in appearance to the American crocodile. The data presented in this atlas show some occurrences and a known nesting area for American alligator, but this species is likely more widespread throughout the region. In contrast, the range of the American crocodile does not typically extend to this region, although there was one documented observation of this species near Tampa.

Data can be accessed by downloading the zipped ArcGIS geodatabase from the Download URL (see Distribution Information). Questions can be directed to the ESI Program Manager (Point Of Contact).