Motivated by declines in biodiversity exacerbated by climate change, we identified a network of conservation sites designed to provide resilient habitat for species, while supporting dynamic shifts in ranges and changes in ecosystem composition. Our 12-y study involved 289 scientists in 14 study regions across the conterminous United States (CONUS), and our intent was to support local-, regional-, and national-scale conservation decisions. To ensure that the network represented all species and ecosystems, we stratified CONUS into 68 ecoregions, and, within each, we comprehensively mapped the geophysical settings associated with current ecosystem and species distributions. To identify sites most resilient to climate change, we identified the portion of each geophysical setting with the most topoclimate variability (high landscape diversity) likely to be accessible to dispersers (high local connectedness). These “resilient sites” were overlaid with conservation priority maps from 104 independent assessments to indicate current value in supporting recognized biodiversity. To identify key connectivity areas for sustaining species movement in response to climate change, we codeveloped a fine-scale representation of human modification and ran a circuit-theory-based analysis that emphasized movement potential along geographic climate gradients. Integrating areas with high values for two or more factors, we identified a representative, resilient, and connected network of biodiverse lands covering 35% of CONUS. Because the network connects climatic gradients across 250,000 biodiversity elements and multiple resilient examples of all geophysical settings in every ecoregion, it could form the spatial foundation for targeted land protection and other conservation strategies to sustain a diverse, dynamic, and adaptive world.

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The Nature Conservancy is participating in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research project is "Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration".The objectives of the project are to: 1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; 2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and 3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects, providing new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Technical Progress Report discusses preliminary results of the six specific tasks that The Nature Conservancy is undertaking to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas reductions. The research described in this report occurred between April 1 st , 2005 and June 30th, 2005. The specific tasks discussed include:• Research has carried on steadily to make progress and complete the baseline studies. The baseline study in northwest Florida was finished, and data analysis continues for the Chile and Peru work. Plans for the third-party technical advisory panel in early 2006 are being made. The focus of the meeting will be on methodologies needed to quantify land use and forestry offsets to qualify for different carbon markets and voluntary registration regimes. This topic will allow for consideration of the approaches we are taking within emerging climate mitigation regimes, to assess compatibility and make adjustments in approaches as appropriate.The Feasibility study for longleaf pine Restoration in northwest Florida has been completed and submitted. Work on the Northeast Feasibility study has been underway. Neil Sampson has completed a draft of part 1 of the work which is under review by the project team. Work on part 2 is also progressing, with some data still being assembled for a completion of a first draft. Project team members also held a meeting in Connecticut with key stakeholder to brief them on the project. 5 EXPERIMENTAL Task 1 Carbon Inventory AdvancementsCarbon Inventories can be increased and costs lowered through improved techniques. Forest Inventories have been carried out for a number of reasons; to use for M3DADI calibration (task 2), for use in carbon baseline development (task 3) and for development of new regression equations and improved estimates of biomass for different terrestrial systems. Some calibration of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) calibration has also been carried out using soils collected during TNC research in Indiana and in association with a workshop in Brazil. Task 2 Emerging technologies for remote sensing of terrestrial carbonEmerging remote sensing technolog...

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