A high‐resolution bioclimate map of the world: a unifying framework for global biodiversity research and monitoring

Abstract

Aim To develop a novel global spatial framework for the integration and analysis of ecological and environmental data. Location The global land surface excluding Antarctica. Methods A broad set of climate‐related variables were considered for inclusion in a quantitative model, which partitions geographic space into bioclimate regions. Statistical screening produced a subset of relevant bioclimate variables, which were further compacted into fewer independent dimensions using principal components analysis (PCA). An ISODATA clustering routine was then used to classify the principal components into relatively homogeneous environmental strata. The strata were aggregated into global environmental zones based on the attribute distances between strata to provide structure and support a consistent nomenclature. Results The global environmental stratification (GEnS) consists of 125 strata, which have been aggregated into 18 global environmental zones. The stratification has a 30 arcsec resolution (equivalent to 0.86 km2 at the equator). Aggregations of the strata were compared with nine existing global, continental and national bioclimate and ecosystem classifications using the Kappa statistic. Values range between 0.54 and 0.72, indicating good agreement in bioclimate and ecosystem patterns between existing maps and the GEnS. Main conclusions The GEnS provides a robust spatial analytical framework for the aggregation of local observations, identification of gaps in current monitoring efforts and systematic design of complementary and new monitoring and research. The dataset is available for non‐commercial use through the GEO portal (http://www.geoportal.org).

Bioclimate of Italy: application of the worldwide bioclimatic classification system

“…Large negative errors (related to an overestimation of precipitation) are localized in the western Alps. These differences were not captured by WorldClim, because of the sparse density of meteorological stations, and they are probably due to locally important climate drivers, such as those caused by local barrier effects (Hijmans et al, 2005;Metzger et al, 2013). Thus, the WorldClim precipitation datasets show greater uncertainty than temperatures at the Italian national level, and this also affects the bioclimatic indices.…”

“…The WorldClim bioclimatic dataset is one of the most widely used. Recently, a new bioclimatic map of the world was provided by performing cluster analysis on the principal components of the WorldClim data (Metzger et al, 2013).…”

Shifting relative importance of climatic constraints on land surface phenology

“…We stratified our results by environmental zone using the Global Environmental Stratification (GEnZ) dataset (Metzger et al 2013) aggregated at 0.5 degree spatial resolution. GEnZ classifies the global land area in environmental zones based on multi-variate clustering of bio-climatic data (Metzger et al 2013).…”

“…GEnZ classifies the global land area in environmental zones based on multi-variate clustering of bio-climatic data (Metzger et al 2013). Our study focused on the eight environmental zones for which our LSP extraction algorithm could obtain sufficiently reliable metrics.…”

Global Terrestrial Ecosystem Observations: Why, Where, What and How?

“…The GEnS consists of 125 strata, which have been aggregated into 18 global environmental zones. The stratification has a 30 Arcsec resolution (equivalent to 0.86 km cooperation of its kind among China, India, and Nepal seeking to conserve the area through application of transboundary ecosystem management and enhanced regional cooperation (Metzger et al 2013b). A comparable ecoregion based approach has been used in the USA to identify the NEON monitoring sites.…”