Conservation Regions

Bird Conservation Regions
[Image: Bird Mapping Applications, USGS]

Conservation regions are landscape units of similar ecological communities, habitats or resource issues, used to plan and manage conservation actions.

Global Perspectives

Ring-billed Gull distribution map
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Distribution Map
[Image: Avibase]

Global maps and global information sites offer a broad picture of bird conservation. The following are good places to start:

  • Avibase, with links to taxonomy, maps, and more for the world's birds.
  • BirdLife International Data Zone, with information on species, Important Bird Areas and Endemic Bird Areas throughout the world.
  • OBIS-SEAMAP, with information on seabirds and other marine life aggrerated in a global, spatially referenced database.

Maps & GIS Data

Magnolia Warbler Distribution
Magnolia Warbler Distribution
[Map: Allison Sussman; Photograph: Gerhard Hofmann, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center,
Breeding Bird Atlas Explorer]

These resources represent bird and other datasets using maps as a visualization tool, or provide a way for you to download and use data in a spatial context for analyses.

Bird Distributions

Large-scale spatial resources developed for bird distribution.

State and Regional Mapping Tools

Often spatial data is collected or indexed by region to facilitate regional partnerships. These are examples of collections of data by region, displayed in interactive mapping tools.

Bird-related resources:

General resources:

Ecoregional Geospatial Data Clearinghouses

Henslow
Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii)
[Photograph: John Cassady]

These projects provide access through a central location to geospatial data resources needed to support research, management and conservation of specific ecosystems or ecoregions in North America.

Interactive Biodiversity Information System - an information resource on fish, wildlife, and habitats of the Columbia River Basin and the Pacific Northwest.

PrairieMap - a geospatial data clearinghouse for prairie grassland ecosystems in western North America.

SAGEMAP - a geospatial data portal for sage-grouse and sagebrush steppe habitats in the western United States.

Base Maps

Searching for map data - political, hydrological, meteorological, or other? Download, preview, print, or use "web map services" directly in your desktop GIS using these online resources:

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