Species Location Types

Transect pulls species data from federal, state, and proprietary sources to show where species may occur on or near your project. Understanding each location type helps you gauge how much weight to give a finding and when further investigation is worth it.

In this article, we'll review:

• Locating Species Data in a Report
• Species Location Definitions
• How Transect Uses Species Location Data

Locating Species Data in a Report

Once you’ve run a Transect Report, you can view species locations in a few steps:

1. Select Environmental > Species from the left-side menu.
2. Select Federal Locations or State Locations (if available).
3. Click a row in the table to view that location on the report map.

Species Location Definitions

Your report may include any of the following location types.

Critical Habitat

Critical habitat is designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) [and NOAA Fisheries — confirm] as areas essential to a species’ conservation that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may trigger additional regulatory review when a project has a federal nexus, such as federal permitting, funding, or land. Because critical habitat often coincides with species presence, further investigation is strongly recommended.

Element Occurrence (EO) - Official

Element occurrences (EO) include locations of known species occurrences, buffered by the estimated geographic precision of the source data. Species occur (past or present) within EO area, but may not always occur throughout the entire EO area (due to the precision buffer). Data is created and maintained by a state agency or institution and may be generalized per the agency’s terms of distribution.

Element Occurrence (EO) - Transect

Transect EOs are locations of known species occurrences compiled by Transect from [source — confirm, e.g., published surveys and open data], buffered to reflect the geographic precision of the source data. As with official EOs, a species has occurred within the EO area but not necessarily throughout it.

Element Occurrence (EO) - Anonymized

Anonymized EOs come from sources that require some data to be obscured before sharing with third parties. For example, a source may withhold an EO’s exact location or species name. In most cases, you can request the full data directly from the source entity.

Zone

A zone is delineated by, or on behalf of, an environmental agency or land management entity. It indicates that a species or its habitat may occur in an area, based on habitat modeling and/or occurrence data. Additional investigation may be warranted if the zone suggests potential species presence.

Range - Official

A species range is the geographic area where a species is found or thought to occur. Official ranges are delineated by, or on behalf of, USFWS or a regional or institutional organization.

Range - Transect

Where an official sub-county range isn’t available, Transect uses a proprietary range dataset built from federal species documents, scientific research, and other open sources on species populations and current ranges.

Range - USFWS ECOS

Range data alone does not indicate the potential presence of a species but should be considered in combination with known occurrences, critical habitat, probability zones, and sub-county range data to determine if a species may occur in an area.

How Transect Uses Species Location Data

Here’s how species location data shapes your report:

• What’s included: Your report includes any species location that intersects your AOI or report buffer.
• Official EO coverage: Transect doesn’t have official EO data for every state. When official EOs appear in your report, Transect has partnered with the agency or organization that maintains that data in your project’s state.
• Concern levels: Transect’s automated analysis and expert review combine several factors to set a concern level for each species:
  • High-quality location data: Where Transect has definitive, high-quality location data in your state, it checks whether your project intersects those known locations. [If customer-facing: These records have the primary attribute set to true.]
  • Exclusion areas: If only exclusion areas (where a species is known not to occur) overlap your AOI, the species’ concern level is lowered. [If customer-facing: These records have the exclusion_area attribute set to true.]
  • Habitat characteristics: Transect’s environmental team has assigned habitat characteristics to each species profile. Transect analyzes waters, land cover, aerial imagery, and other datasets to check whether those characteristics are present on or near your project.

Need More Support?

Have questions about species data in your report? Book a meeting with our Environmental Specialists to review it. For other questions, including requests about anonymized EO data, submit a ticket and our team will be happy to help.