Patrick J. Comer,^1,*,** Jon C. Hak,^1,*** Kelly Kindscher,^2,**** Esteban Muldavin,^3,***** Jason Singhurst<sup>4,******

1</sup>1Ecology Department NatureServe 1680 38th Street Suite 120 Boulder, CO 80301
²2Kansas Biological Survey University of Kansas 2101 Constant Avenue Lawrence, KS 66047
³3Natural Heritage New Mexico Biology Department MSC03 2020 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, N
⁴4Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744

^*Corresponding author: pat_comer@natureserve.org; (703) 797-4802
^**Patrick Comer is Chief Ecologist for NatureServe. Pat helped pioneer the use of standardized terrestrial ecosystem classifications for national mapping in the United States and continental-scale efforts across the Americas. Since the mid-1990s, Pat has been advancing methods for ecoregion-scale assessment and conservation design, developing methods applied by The Nature Conservancy, and for US federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management.
^***Jon Hak is Senior Ecologist/GIS Analyst for NatureServe. He develops and applies analytical tools for species and ecosystem mapping, landscape condition and connectivity modeling, planning, and monitoring for biodiversity conservation.
^****Kelly Kindscher is a Professor in Environmental Studies and Senior Scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey, both at the University of Kansas. His work has focused on prairie and wetland identification, assessment, and restoration, and he is well known for his work as an ethnobotanist and publications on edible and medicinal plants of the Great Plains and Midwest.
^*****Esteban Muldavin has been with Natural Heritage NM since 1991 and as the Senior Ecologist and the Director since 2007. He is an expert in arid-lands ecological assessment, vegetation dynamics, and climate change modelling, and the maintenance of a statewide database for holding vegetation classification and monitoring data.
^******Jason Singhurst has conducted field research on rare plant communities and rare plants across Texas as a Botanist/Ecologist for the past 22 years for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In 2008, he co-authored a book on Rare Plants of Texas.