A journal article by Dr. Roger Sayre of the Land Change Science Program was recently published in the journal Global Conservation and Ecology. The article, "An assessment of the representation of ecosystems in global protected areas using new maps of World Climate Regions and World Ecosystems", describes work done in a collaboration including the USGS. Esri, and The Nature Conservancy to produce a new 250 m resolution map of global terrestrial ecosystems -- https://www.journals.elsevier.com/global-ecology-and-conservation/editors-choice/an-assessment-of-the-representation-of-ecosystems-in-global .
The ecosystems were mapped based on an integration of the climate regime, landforms, and major vegetation assemblages/land cover, and their representation in global protected areas was assessed as a measure of their conservation status. The work is related to Dr. Sayre's leadership of a global ecosystem mapping task of the Group on Earth Observation's (GEO) Global Ecosystems (GEO ECO) initiative.
For more information contact Dr. Sayre (rsayre@usgs.gov or 703/648-4529).
