Description: The seagrasses file is a compilation of multiple datasets to arrive at the most up to date data in TNC's database. Regional data was collected to cover as many countries in the CLME region as possible. For seagrasses, this included information from 3 separate datasets: (1.) For the insular Caribbean, the best available information was compiled by Brigham Young University students through a Nature Conservancy contract in 2011. This effort also began with a compilation of various datasets, supplemented with any original digitization efforts. This information was then checked against high resolution satellite imagery where available from Bing and Esri imagery basemaps. Errors and misrepresentations in the base information were modified through heads up digitization from the high resolution imagery. Omissions of coverage were corrected by creating new polygons to match visible seagrass patches. Outside of the insular Caribbean, (2.) the data from the Mesoamerican region was collected in 2007 as well as (3.) the seagrass dataset compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) in 2003 in collaboration with Dr. Frederick T. Short at the University of New Hampshire to show the global distribution of seagrass species. The dataset has been developed alongside the publication "World Atlas of Seagrasses" and reflects the opinions of the world's leading seagrass experts with regard to the global distribution of the ecosystem.The regional data was then replaced with sub-regional, national or site level information where this information was available (and wasn't already used in the starting regional file) to obtain a finer scale product. For seagrasses, the following separate datasets were included: (1.) Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were replaced with data collected from the At the Water’s Edge Project and the ECMMAN project led by the Nature Conservancy. Union Island was created through a contract with Robert Gardiner & Gwilym Rowlands, National Coral Reef Institute, Oceanographic Center, for the AWE project. All of SVG except Union Island was created through object-oriented mapping on 2010 WorldView2 imagery through a contract with Sam Purkins in 2015. Grenada was created through object-oriented mapping on WorldView2 and Pleiades imagery through a contract with Sam Purkins in 2017. (2.) Antigua was replaced with national level benthic habitat data created in 2016 using WorldView-3, Pleiades, and LandSAT8 satellite imagery through a contract with Sam Purkis. For Barbuda, IKONOS-2 satellite imagery collected by GeoEye (now DigitalGlobe) in 2012 is the basis for the layer. The product was created through object-oriented mapping using Definiens eCognition software. (3.) The Bahamas were replaced with data from the National Ecological GAP Assessment in 2008. This seagrass layer is a product of a contract between The Nature Conservancy and The University of South Florida (USF). USF grad students used imagery analysis of Landsat 7 and limited ground-truthing data to derive three classes of seagrass - sparse, medium and dense.(4.) The near-coast of Andros Island in the Bahamas was replaced with data created by The Nature Conservancy through a contract with the National Coral Reef Institute for the Global Environmental Facility-funded Integrating Watershed and Coastal Area Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF-IWCAM) Project.The habitat layer was derived from RapidEye multispectral satellite data (RapidEye 2010). (5.) Île à Vache, Haiti was replaced with data collected for the Haiti Southwest Sustainable Development Project in 2012. The project utilized well established image-based remote sensing techniques and used a more advanced high-resolution satellite sensor (Worldview-2) and object-based mapping techniques. (6.) Saint Lucia and Dominica were replaced with national level benthic habitat data created in 2016 using WorldView-3, Pleiades, and LandSAT8 satellite imagery through a contract with Sam Purkis. (7.) Pedro Bank in Jamaica was replaced with data created through object-oriented mapping on WorldView2 imagery through a contract with Sam Purkins in 2014.
Copyright Text: This file was originally created under a contract from UNESCO for the purposes of the CLME Project in 2013. Since then, the file has been updated by TNC as new benthic data becomes available.
Description: The mangrove map displays data from multiple sources, providing the most accurate and current information for this region to date. The first step towards this final product began with mapping regional data which covered as many countries in the CLME region as possible. This included information from 3 separate datasets: (1.) For the insular Caribbean, the best available information was compiled by Brigham Young University students through a TNC contract in 2011. This effort also began with a compilation of various datasets, supplemented with any original digitization efforts. This information was then checked against high resolution satellite imagery where available from Bing and Esri imagery basemaps. Errors and misrepresentations in the base information were modified through heads up digitization from the high resolution imagery. Omissions of coverage were corrected by creating new polygons to match visible coral structures. Outside of the insular Caribbean, (2.) the data from the Mesoamerican region was collected in 2007 as well as (3.) a "World Atlas of Mangroves" file collected from Mark Spalding in 2012. This dataset has been created as part of a collaboration between Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME), the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Man and the Biosphere Programme (UNESCO-MAB), the United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) to revise the 1997 World Alas of Mangroves. The regional data was then replaced with sub-regional, national or site level information where this information was available (and wasn't already used in the starting regional file) to obtain a finer scale product. For mangroves, the following separate datasets were included: (1.) Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were replaced with data collected from the At the Water’s Edge Project led by the Nature Conservancy. The spatial information comes from four different datasets. a.) Contract work by Matthew Jones where he used existing data from Landsat and improved upon these shapes using Bing and ESRI imagery base maps in 2011. b.) The Ph.D. work of Kim Baldwin at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill and the generation of the Marine Space-use Information System (MarSIS) in 2009 resulted in a benthic habitat file which she created by heads up digitizing effort using IKONOS imagery. c.) Brigham Young University students, under contract by the Nature Conservancy, digitized polygons for the country of Grenada using WorldView2 2010 orthophotos. Mangroves for St. Vincent and the Grenadines were digitized from 2007 aerial photos. d.) field verification of mangrove patches by Gregg Moore of the University of New Hampshire in 2012 (2.) Some of the USVI and Puerto Rico polygons were replaced with and some were added from data collected from NOAA's benthic habitat mapping effort in 1999. Twenty-one distinct benthic habitat types within eight zones were mapped using visual interpretation of orthorectified aerial photographs. (3.) St. Lucia was replaced with data collected for the 2009 National Ecological GAP Assessment. Mangrove locations were collected from Mr. Allan Smith and manually digitized from 2004 aerial photography. (4.) Barbuda was missing from the regional data. Polygons were added using a national level landcover file created from 2004 imagery. (5.) Andros Island in the Bahamas was replaced with data collected from the Andros Island Conservation Assessment Project (CAP) in 2006 mapped by using a combination of local and scientific knowledge and land cover classes delineated from Landsat 7 imagery.
Copyright Text: These files were created under a contract from UNESCO for the purposes of the CLME Project in 2013.
Description: The coral reef map displays data from multiple sources, providing the most accurate and current information for this region to date. The first step towards this final product began with mapping regional data which covered as many countries in the CLME region as possible. This included information from 3 separate datasets: (1.) For the insular Caribbean, the best available information was compiled by Brigham Young University students through a Nature Conservancy contract in 2011. This effort also began with a compilation of various datasets, supplemented with any original digitization efforts. This information was then checked against high resolution satellite imagery where available from Bing and Esri imagery basemaps. Errors and misrepresentations in the base information were modified through heads up digitization from the high resolution imagery. Omissions of coverage were corrected by creating new polygons to match visible coral structures. Outside of the insular Caribbean, (2.) the data from the Mesoamerican region was collected in 2007 as well as (3.) "Tropical Coral Reefs of the World," a 2011 dataset from the World's Resources Institute. For this dataset, reef locations were based on 500 meter resolution gridded data (converted to polygon) reflecting shallow, tropical coral reefs. Organizations contributing to this effort include the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing, University of South Florida (IMaRS/USF), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UNEP-WCMC, The World Fish Center and the World’s Resources Institute. The final composite dataset was compiled from multiple sources, incorporating products from the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project prepared by IMaRS/USF and IRD using imagery from 1999-2003.The regional data was then replaced with sub-regional, national or site level information where this information was available (and wasn't already used in the starting regional file) to obtain a finer scale product. For coral reefs, the following separate datasets were included: (1.) Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were replaced with data collected from the At the Water’s Edge Project and the ECMMAN project led by the Nature Conservancy. Union Island was created through a contract with Robert Gardiner & Gwilym Rowlands, National Coral Reef Institute, Oceanographic Center, for the AWE project. All of SVG except Union Island was created through object-oriented mapping on 2010 WorldView2 imagery through a contract with Sam Purkins in 2015. Grenada was created through object-oriented mapping on WorldView2 and Pleiades imagery through a contract with Sam Purkins in 2017. (2.) St. Kitts and Nevis were replaced with data collected from satellite and in-situ field data by the National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) on behalf of The Nature Conservancy. (3.) USVI and Puerto Rico were replaced with data collected from NOAA's benthic habitat mapping effort in 1999. Twenty-one distinct benthic habitat types within eight zones were mapped using visual interpretation of orthorectified aerial photographs. (4.) St. Lucia was replaced with national level benthic habitat data created in 2016 using WorldView-3, Pleiades, and LandSAT8 satellite imagery through a contract with Sam Purkis. (5.) Jamaica was replaced with data collected from the 2009 National Ecological GAP Assessment. Conservation targets for this project were derived from a combination of ecological expert inputs, published literature, existing maps and other credible documentation. Pedro Bank was replaced with data created through object-oriented mapping on WorldView2 imagery through a contract with Sam Purkins in 2014. (6.) Antigua was replaced with national level benthic habitat data created in 2016 using WorldView-3, Pleiades, and LandSAT8 satellite imagery through a contract with Sam Purkis. For Barbuda, IKONOS-2 satellite imagery collected by GeoEye (now DigitalGlobe) in 2012 is the basis for the layer. The product was created through object-oriented mapping using Definiens eCognition software. Barbuda also had polygons added to the island from data originally created by Barry Devine for Antigua and Barbuda Resource Mapping and Protected Areas Project in 2004 and placed into the Environmental Information Management Advisory System (EIMAS). These extra polygons represent the coral outcrops in the northwest lagoon area. (7.) Monserrat was not available in regional data. Polygons for this island were from data created in 1996 and collected for The Nature Conservany's Sustained Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Threat Abatement in the Eastern Caribbean project. (8.) The eastern coast of Andros Island in the Bahamas was replaced with data created by The Nature Conservancy through a contract with the National Coral Reef Institute for the Global Environmental Facility-funded Integrating Watershed and Coastal Area Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF-IWCAM) Project.The habitat layer was derived from RapidEye multispectral satellite data (RapidEye 2010). (9.) Île à Vache, Haiti was replaced with data collected for the Haiti Southwest Sustainable Development Project in 2012. The project utilized well established image-based remote sensing techniques and used a more advanced high-resolution satellite sensor (Worldview-2) and object-based mapping techniques. (10.)Dominica was replaced with national level benthic habitat data created in 2016 using WorldView-3, Pleiades, and LandSAT8 satellite imagery through a contract with Sam Purkis.
Copyright Text: This file was originally created under a contract from UNESCO for the purposes of the CLME Project in 2013. Since then, the file has been updated by TNC as new benthic data becomes available.
Value: Bauxite waste water/mining intermixed with areas of disturbed lowland/submontane seasonal evergreen forest, and grasslands Label: Bauxite waste water/mining intermixed with areas of disturbed lowland/submontane seasonal evergreen forest, and grasslands Description: Symbol:
Value: Giant bunch bamboo forest/shrubland mixed with areas of herbaceous/shrub/tree cultivars Label: Giant bunch bamboo forest/shrubland mixed with areas of herbaceous/shrub/tree cultivars Description: Symbol:
Value: Gravel, Coble or talus rock sparse vegetation/non-vegetated Label: Gravel, Coble or talus rock sparse vegetation/non-vegetated Description: Symbol:
Value: Lowland semi-deciduous forest with admixture of mixed evergreen-drought deciduous shrubland with succulents Label: Lowland semi-deciduous forest with admixture of mixed evergreen-drought deciduous shrubland with succulents Description: Symbol: