The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

The online maps are based on maps displayed in:

Hoekstra, J. M., J. L. Molnar, M. Jennings, C. Revenga, M. D. Spalding, T. M. Boucher, J. C. Robertson, T. J. Heibel, with K. Ellison. 2010. The Atlas of Global Conservation: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities to Make a Difference. Ed. J. L. Molnar. Berkeley: University of California Press.

The following were the sources for the ecoregion boundaries shown in the maps:

Abell, R., M.L. Thieme, C. Revenga, M. Bryer, M. Kottelat, N. Bogutskaya, B. Coad, N. Mandrak, S. Contreras Balderas, W. Bussing, M.L.J. Stiassny, P. Skelton, G. R. Allen, P. Unmack, A. Naseka, R. Ng, N. Sindorf, J. Robertson, E. Armijo, J.V. Higgins, T.J. Heibel, E. Wikramanayake, D. Olson, H.L. López, R.E. Reis, J.G. Lundberg, M.H. Sabaj Pérez, and P. Petry. 2008. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation. BioScience 58: 403-414. Digital media at: www.feow.org.

Olson, D. M., E. Dinerstein, E. D. Wikramanayake, N. D. Burgess, G. V. N. Powell, E. C. Underwood, J. A. D’Amico, et al. 2001. Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: A new map of life on earth. BioScience 51: 933–938. More information at: www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/item1267.html.

Spalding, M. D., H. E. Fox, G. R. Allen, N. Davidson, Z. A. Ferdaña, M. Finlayson, B. S. Halpern, M.A. Jorge, A. Lombana, S.A. Lourie, K.D. Martin, E. McManus, J. Molnar, C.A. Recchia , J. Robertson. 2007. Marine ecoregions of the world: A bioregionalization of coast and shelf areas. BioScience 57: 573–583. More information at: www.nature.org/meow.

The following data sources were used to create the maps (see map legends for individual map citations):

Abell, R., M.L. Thieme, C. Revenga, M. Bryer, M. Kottelat, N. Bogutskaya, B. Coad, N. Mandrak, S. Contreras Balderas, W. Bussing, M.L.J. Stiassny, P. Skelton, G. R. Allen, P. Unmack, A. Naseka, R. Ng, N. Sindorf, J. Robertson, E. Armijo, J.V. Higgins, T.J. Heibel, E. Wikramanayake, D. Olson, H.L. López, R.E. Reis, J.G. Lundberg, M.H. Sabaj Pérez, and P. Petry. 2008. “Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation.” BioScience 58:403-414. Digital media at: www.feow.org

Adam, J. C., A. F. Hamlet, and D. P. Lettenmaier. 2008. Implications of global climate change for snowmelt hydrology in the twenty-first century. Hydrological Processes (doi: 10.1002.hyp.7201).

Alcamo, J., P. Döll, T. Henrichs, F. Kaspar, B. Lehner, T. Rösch, and S. Siebert. 2003. Development and testing of the WaterGAP 2 global model of water use and availability. Hydrological Sciences Journal 48(3):317–338.

BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Barcelona: Lynx; and Cambridge: BirdLife International.

BirdLife International. 2004. Threatened Birds of the World [CD]. Cambridge: BirdLife International.

Britton, A. 2007. Information on crocodilian species distributions. Available at www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/csl.html.

Bryant, D., L. Burke, J. McManus, and M. Spalding. 1998. Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute, International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and United Nations Environment Programme.

Buhlmann, K. A., T. B. Akre, J. B. Iverson, D. Karapatakis, R. A. Mittermeier, A. Georges, G. J. Rhodin, P. P. van Dijk, and J. W. Gibbons. 2007. A global analysis of tortoise and freshwater turtle distributions. Data from the preliminary results of the Global Reptile Assessment. International Union for Conservation of Nature–Species Survival Commission (IUCN-SSC), Conservation International/Center for Applied Biological Science (CI/CABS), and Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina, USA.

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the World Bank, and Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT). 2004. Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP): Urban Extents, Columbia University Palisades, New York, USA. Available at sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/. Digital media.

Chang, A. 1995. Nimbus-7 SMMR global monthly snow cover and snow depth. National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Digital media.

CIESIN (Center for International Earth Science Information Network), IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute), the World Bank; and CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical). 2004. Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP): Urban extents, Columbia University Palisades, New York, USA. Available at sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/. Digital media.

Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD). 2006. Available on request from the Australian Government, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts at www.environment.gov.au/parks/nrs/science/capad/2006/. Digital media.

Conservation Biology Institute (CBI). 2006. Protected Areas Database (PAD), version 4. Conservation Biology Institute, Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Available at consbio.org/products/projects/pad-us-11-cbi-edition. Digital media.

Döll, P., F. Kaspar, and B. Lehner. 2003. A global hydrological model for deriving water availability indicators: Model tuning and validation. Journal of Hydrology 270: 105–134.

ESRI. 1992 and 2005. ESRI ArcWorld Database [CD] and ESRI Data & Maps [CD]. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute. Digital media.

Fischer, G., H. van Velthuizen, S. Medow, and F. Nachtergaele. 2002. Global Agro-ecological Assessment [CD]. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; and Laxenburg, Austria: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.

Green E. P., and F. T. Short. 2003. World Atlas of Seagrasses. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Green, P. A., C. J. Vörösmarty, M. Meybeck, J. N. Galloway, B. J. Peterson, and E. W. Boyer. 2004. Pre-industrial and contemporary fluxes of nitrogen through rivers: A global assessment based on typology. Biogeochemistry 68, no. 1: 71–105.

Hansen, M., R. DeFries, J. R. Townshend, M. Carroll, C. Dimiceli, and R. Sohlberg. 2006. Vegetation Continuous Fields MOD44B, 2001 Percent Tree Cover, Collection 4, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. Available at glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml. Digital media.

Harrison, P. 1983. Seabirds: An Identification Guide. London: Christopher Helm.

Hijmans, R. J., S. E. Cameron, J. L. Parra, P. G. Jones, and A. Jarvis. 2005. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 25: 1965–1978. Available at www.worldclim.org.

Imhoff, M. L., L. Bounoua, T. Ricketts, C. Loucks, R. Harriss, and W. T. Lawrence. 2004a. Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity (HANPP). Data distributed by the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Available at sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/es/hanpp.html.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Conservation International, and NatureServe. 2006. Global Amphibian Assessment. www.iucnredlist.org/amphibians. Digital media.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available at www.redlist.org.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)–SSC Crocodile Specialist Group Web site. 2008. Available at www.iucncsg.org.

Jefferson, T. A., S. Leatherwood, and M. A. Webber. 1993. Marine Mammals of the World. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme; Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC). 2003. GLC 2000: Global Land Cover Mapping for the Year 2000. Ispra, Italy: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability. Available at bioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu/products/glc2000/glc2000.php. Digital media.

Kottek, M., J. Grieser, C. Beck, B. Rudolf, and F. Rubel. 2006. World map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated. Meteorologische Zeitschrift 15: 259–263.

Lehner, B., and P. Döll. 2004. Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Journal of Hydrology 296: 1–22.

Molnar, J. L., R. Gamboa, C. Revenga, and M. Spalding. 2008. Assessing the global threat of invasive species to marine biodiversity: Framing the big picture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6(9): 485–492.

Oliver, J. K., R. Berkelmans, and C. M. Eakin. 2008. Coral bleaching in space and time. In M. van Oppen and J. M. Lough (eds), Coral Bleaching: Patterns, Processes, Causes and Consequences: 21-39. Berlin: Springer.

Olson, D. M., E. Dinerstein, E. D. Wikramanayake, N. D. Burgess, G. V. N. Powell, E. C. Underwood, J. A. D’Amico, et al. 2001. Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: A new map of life on earth. BioScience 51: 933–938.

Sea Around Us Project (SAUP). 2007. Global fisheries database. Available at www.seaaroundus.org. Vancouver: Fisheries Center, University of British Columbia.

Shlisky, A., J. Waugh, P. Gonzalez, M. Gonzalez, M. Manta, H. Santoso, E. Alvarado, et al. 2007. Fire, Ecosystems and People: Threats and Strategies for Global Biodiversity Conservation. GFI Technical Report 2007-2. Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy.

Spalding, M. D., C. Ravilious, and E. P. Green. 2001. World Atlas of Coral Reefs. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Spalding, M. D., F. Blasco, and C. D. Field. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. Okinawa, Japan: International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems.

Spalding, M. D., H. E. Fox, G. R. Allen, N. Davidson, Z. A. Ferdaña, M. Finlayson, B. S. Halpern, M.A. Jorge, A. Lombana, S.A. Lourie, K.D. Martin, E. McManus, J. Molnar, C.A. Recchia , J. Robertson. 2007. Marine ecoregions of the world: A bioregionalization of coast and shelf areas. BioScience 57: 573–583.

Spalding, M. D., M. Kainuma, L. Collins. Forthcoming. World Mangrove Atlas. London: Earthscan, with International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, UNEP-WCMC, The Nature Conservancy, United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation, United Nations University.

Spalding, M., L. Fish, and L. Wood. 2008. Towards representative protection of the world’s coasts and oceans: Progress, gaps and opportunities. Conservation Letters 1, no. 5: 217–226.

Struckmeir, W., and A. Richts. 2007. update of Struckmeir, W., A. Richts, et al. 2006. Groundwater Resources of the World. Hannover, Germany: BGR; Paris: UNESCO. Digital media.

Syvitski, J. P. M., C. J. Vörösmarty, A. J. Kettner, and P. Green. 2005. Impact of humans on the flux of terrestrial sediment to the global coastal ocean. Science 308, no. 5720: 376–380.

Tupper, M., A. Tewfik, M. K. Tan, S. L. Tan, L. H. Teh, M. J. Radius, and S. Abdullah. 2008. ReefBase: A global information system on coral reefs. Available at www.reefbase.org.

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 2007. Protected areas extracted from the 2007 World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). The WDPA is a joint product of UNEP and the IUCN, prepared by UNEP-WCMC and the IUCN WCPA working with Governments, the Secretariats of MEAs, and collaborating NGOs. For further information, contact protectedareas@unep-wcmc.org or go to www.WDPA.org.

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). 1997. Data on mangrove extent, v.3.0. Cambridge: Author. Digital media.

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). 2003. Global 1 km raster data on coral reef locations, v.7.0. Cambridge: Author. Digital media.

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). 2005. Data on extent and location of seagrass beds, v.2.0. Cambridge: Author. Digital media.

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). 2008. Data on marine mammal ranges, v.1.0. Cambridge: Author. Digital media.

United Nations Population Division (UNPD). 2007. Global population, largest urban agglomerations and cities of largest change. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision Population Database. Available at http://esa.un.org/unup/index.asp.

Veron, J. E. N. 2000. Corals of the World. Townsville: Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Watson, R., C. Revenga, and Y. Kura. 2006. Fishing gear associated with global marine catches I: Database development. Fisheries Research 79: 97–102.

Williams, P. W., and D. C. Ford. 2006. Global distribution of carbonate rocks. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Suppl. 147: 1–2.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 2006. WildFinder: Database of species distributions, ver. Jan-06. Available at http://gis.wwfus.org/wildfinder. Digital media.