Extending marine species distribution maps using non-traditional sources.

Background: Traditional sources of species occurrence data such as peer-reviewed journal articles and museum-curated collections are included in species databases after rigorous review by species experts and evaluators. The distribution maps created in this process are an important component of species survival evaluations, and are used to adapt, extend and sometimes contract polygons used in the distribution mapping process.

New Information: During an IUCN Red List Gulf of Mexico Fishes Assessment Workshop held at The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, a session included an open discussion on the topic of including other sources of species occurrence data.

Habitat availability and heterogeneity and the indo-pacific warm pool as predictors of marine species richness in the tropical Indo-Pacific.

Range overlap patterns were observed in a dataset of 10,446 expert-derived marine species distribution maps, including 8,295 coastal fishes, 1,212 invertebrates (crustaceans and molluscs), 820 reef-building corals, 50 seagrasses, and 69 mangroves. Distributions of tropical Indo-Pacific shore fishes revealed a concentration of species richness in the northern apex and central region of the Coral Triangle epicenter of marine biodiversity. This pattern was supported by distributions of invertebrates and habitat-forming primary producers.

An overview of marine biodiversity in United States waters.

Marine biodiversity of the United States (U.S.) is extensively documented, but data assembled by the United States National Committee for the Census of Marine Life demonstrate that even the most complete taxonomic inventories are based on records scattered in space and time.