ACE Biodiversity (Rank 5)

Those pillars that make up this metric include terrestrial native species richness (diversity of all currently tracked species in the state), terrestrial rare species richness (diversity of special status species), and terrestrial irreplaceability (highlights unique endemic species).

As such, this dataset describes the relative biodiversity levels for birds, amphibians, plants, mammals and reptiles across each USDA ecoregion. Rank 5, the highest rank, is used as an exclusion in the biological planning priorities component of the Core and SB 100 Terrestrial Climate Resilience Study Screens. This ensures that areas of technical resource potential identified through screening avoid lands with higher conservation value for biodiversity.