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Communities of species are the result of a wide array of environmental
factors, and these assemblages interact, are interdependent to different
degrees, and perform a range of critical ecosystem functions and services.
This element reflects community conditions pertaining to species composition
and co-occurrence and the implications for performing and maintaining
ecosystem functions and services.

Twelve metrics are described in the community integrity element: nine
functional group richness metrics, habitat connectivity, present day
connectivity in California, and full climate connectivity network. Functional
group richness was used to represent community integrity (indicated by
asterisks); the habitat connectivity metric was not included because it could
not meaningfully be translated to a condition score.

* Metric Name: Element Representation: Community Integrity   

* Type and distribution of data: -1 to +1 condition score  

* Translation: Where is community integrity greatest?  

* Translation method and outcome: Raw data values translated to range from +1 to -1 representing more favorable to less favorable conditions, respectively. **** The proposition of more favorable is based on the objective of supporting higher community integrity. The conditions scores for the six functional groups are averaged to derive the condition score for the community integrity element. More favorable (translated to +1) represents locations where functional group richness is high across most or all functional groups (positive linear slope), less favorable (translated to -1) represents locations where functional group richness is low across most or all functional groups.