Ecological Settings

The ecological settings products include a broad suite of static as well as dynamic abiotic and biotic variables representing the natural and anthropogenic environment at each location (cell). Static variables are those that do not change over time (e.g., elevation, incident solar radiation). Dynamic settings are available for 2010 and 2080; static settings are available for 2010. Dynamic variables are those that change over time in response to succession and the drivers (e.g., growing season degree days, traffic rate). Most of the settings variables are continuous and thus represent landscape heterogeneity as continuous (e.g., slope, biomass), although some are categorical and thus represent heterogeneity as discrete (e.g., developed, hard development). Importantly, the settings variables include a broad but parsimonious suite of attributes that can be used to define the ecological system at any point in time; they are considered primary determinants of ecosystem composition, structure and function, and determine the ecological similarity between any two locations. As such, they play a key role in the ecological integrity assessment, they are used in species’ habitat models to represent important habitat components, as appropriate, and are sometimes used in other model components. The settings provide a rich, multivariate representation of important landscape attributes.

Version numbers used by DSL:
3.x represents our first regional dataset as used in Natures network
5.x represents the updates released starting in 2020, primarily in landcover which then affected most other products.

  1. Aquatic barriers [updated 10/14/2021]
    DSL_documentation_abarriers.pdf
    DSL_data_abarriers.zip
  2. Biomass [updated 4/24/2018]
    DSL_documentation_biomass.pdf
    DSL_data_biomass.zip
  3. CaCO3 (Calcium) content [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_calcium.pdf
    DSL_data_calcium.zip
  4. Development (includes development and hard development settings): [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_development_hard.pdf
    DSL_data_development_hard.zip
  5. Stream gradient [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_stream_gradient.pdf
    DSL_data_stream_gradient.zip
  6. Traffic rate [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_traffic.pdf
    DSL_data_traffic.zip
  7. Temperature (includes mean annual temperature, growing season degree days, heat index, minimum winter temperature, and maximum summer temperature settings) [updated 4/27/2022]
    DSL_documentation_temperature.pdf
    DSL_data_temperature.zip
  8. Precipitation (includes total annual precipitation and growing season precipitation settings) [updated 4/27/2022]
    DSL_documentation_precipitation.pdf
    DSL_data_precipitation.zip
  9. Incident solar radiation [updated 4/20/2018]
    DSL_documentation_sun.pdf
    DSL_data_sun.zip
  10. Percent imperviousness [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_impervious.pdf
    DSL_data_impervious.zip
  11. Potential dominant life form [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_structure.pdf
    DSL_data_structure.zip
  12. Slope [updated 4/20/2018]
    DSL_documentation_slope.pdf
    DSL_data_slope.zip
  13. Soils (includes depth to resistant layer, soil pH, and available water supply settings): [updated 4/20/2018]
    DSL_documentation_soils.pdf
    DSL_data_soils.zip
  14. Stream temperature [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_stream_temp.pdf
    DSL_data_stream_temp.zip
  15. Substrate mobility [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_substrate.pdf
    DSL_data_substrate.zip
  16. Terrestrial barriers [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_tbarriers.pdf
    DSL_data_tbarriers.zip
  17. Tides [updated 4/20/2018]
    DSL_documentation_tides.pdf
    DSL_data_tides.zip
  18. Topographic wetness and flow volume [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_wetness_volume.pdf
    DSL_data_wetness_volume.zip
  19. Water salinity [updated 3/18/2020]
    DSL_documentation_salinity.pdf
    DSL_data_salinity.zip
  20. Wind exposure [updated 4/20/2018]
    DSL_documentation_wind.pdf
    DSL_data_wind.zip