Mapping Biodiversity

Visit the following biodiversity website, maintained by a university in Bonn, Germany: www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/system/phytodiv.htm

This site has excellent information on the nature of biodiversity worldwide. Look at the colored map of plant diversity as you answer the following questions. Note that you can also access a high-resolution image of the same map (click above the map or go to www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/system/globbiod.gif).

1. How many species/unit area are represented by the red color on the map? How many areas have this red color?

2. Look at the vegetation map in your text (p. 372). What kinds of vegetation regions occur in these zones of greatest diversity? Now look at a human population density map in your text (p. 374). In what ways do physiographic features or population density help explain regions of greatest biodiversity? Regions of least biodiversity?

3. What is the farthest north and south latitude range of the red regions? What is the range of species diversity north of 60° latitude?

Mapping Threatened Species: Marine Turtles

The World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) monitors ecosystem health in key threatened environments. Go to the WCMC website http://ims.wcmc.org.uk, and click on IMAPS to find the link to Marine turtle distribution in the Indian Ocean. This link produces an interactive map of sea turtles, of protected areas, and of critical coastal habitat--coral reefs and mangroves in the Indian and western Pacific oceans.

1. With the map at its full extent, click on the "draw" squares to draw Flatback turtles, then add Green turtles. What is the extent of the Flatback’s range (in yellow)? Which of the two species is more widespread? Now click on the protected areas (polygons). This shows all types of protected areas, inland as well as coastal. In which areas do turtle distributions and protected areas coincide best?

2. Check that the "Zoom in" button above the map is selected, then click on Indonesia on the map. Zoom in a second time in the eastern Indonesia/northern Australia region. At this closer scale, do conservation areas appear to cover turtle distributions better or worse than at the original scale? (You can move around the map and zoom in further to see more detail.)

3. With the map zoomed in to eastern Indonesia and northern Australia, add mangroves by clicking on the square in the list of drawing features. Mangroves are flooded coastal forests that support many coastal marine ecosystems by sheltering young fish and crabs. Which countries in this area have the most mangroves? (Check the world political map in your text, p. 369, to help identify countries.) How much mangrove area is protected? Biodiversity is essential for the ecological services on which we all depend.