For more details on the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre (SKCDC), the rare and endangered species layer, and definitions of conservation ranks, see the SKCDC Training Manual and Data Sharing Agreement: http://www.biodiversity.sk.ca/Docs/SKCDCWildlife-manual.pdf.
The Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre collects and distributes data on wild species of concern in Saskatchewan. The database contains records of mapped Element Occurrences for tracked elements in Saskatchewan. “Elements of Biodiversity” is the term coined by The Nature Conservancy used to refer to a species, subspecies, vegetative community, or a special feature.
An Element Occurrence (EO) is an area of land and/or water in which a species or natural community is, or was, present. An EO should have practical conservation value for the Element as evidenced by potential continued (or historical) presence and/or regular recurrence at a given location. An Element Occurrence record has both spatial and tabular components including a mappable feature (i.e., an Element Occurrence Representation) and its supporting database attributes.
The definition of what constitutes an EO is specific to the particular element. For species Elements, the EO often corresponds with the local population, but when appropriate may be a portion of a population (e.g., long distance dispersers) or a group of nearby populations (e.g., metapopulation). As an example, an EO of a Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) is defined as one nesting pair, whereas an EO of most plant species is any natural population separated from other such populations by at least 1.6 kilometers. For community Elements, the EO may represent a stand or patch of a natural community, or a cluster of stands or patches of a natural community.
NatureServe(www.natureserve.org) provides the SKCDC with the EO definitions and quality ranks for each species. This information is stored electronically in the SKCDC Biotics database along with other details about the conservation ranks and ecology of the species. Examples of information stored in the EO database include: detailed location information (latitude and longitude coordinates, quarter-section, etc.), a list of all observations that make up the Element Occurrence (over time and over space), description of the habitat, population size, quality of occurrence, the name of the observer and references to available literature documenting the occurrence.
Element occurrences consist of two components. This first is the observed (source) feature. Depending on the type of occurrence, an observed feature can be a point, a line or a polygon. Examples might include a ferruginous hawk nest (point), a stream segment containing bigmouth buffalo spawning beds (line), or a lake or bay used by staging shorebirds (polygon). The location of an observed feature is determined on the basis of information that is often incomplete or imperfect. The quality of the information may vary due to a number of factors. Consequently, the recorded location may vary from the true location reflecting a measure of spatial uncertainty.
The second component is the representational polygon, the polygon you see. This polygon incorporates the spatial uncertainty and the observed feature to build a polygon representing the area within which the element occurrence is known to occur. The occurrence is somewhere within the representational polygon rather than everywhere within the polygon, and not necessarily in the centre of the polygon.
This is the general Rare and Endangered Species map layer and therefore detailed species information in the attributes is not provided.The Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre also provides access to detailed information for the Rare and Endangered Species map layer for those with a demonstrated need to know. Such needs may include project planning with respect to developments on the landscape, conservation planning, independent confirmation of presence or other uses that do not compromise the likelihood of long-term persistence at a given site. Users may request detailed access by emailing a short explanation of their needs and attaching a sign Data Sharing Agreement (http://www.biodiversity.sk.ca/Docs/SKCDCWildlife-manual.pdf). The SKCDC reserves the right to decline such requests if it believes the need does not warrant such access. The SKCDC will work with the user to provide the best information possible in a timely and suitable manner.