EFG SM1.3 Sea caves – current maps

SM1. Subterranean tidal biome

Published

June 7, 2024

This page provides information about the valid indicative distribution map for the ecosystem functional group SM1.3 Sea caves. For older or alternative maps, see here.

Methods

Here is the methods summary for Map code and version: SM1.3.web.grid v3.0.

Marine ecoregions (Spalding et al. 2008) containing occurrences of rocky coastline (see MT1.1) were verified by inspection of imagery available in Google Earth to identify an envelope of potential distribution for sea caves. The coastlines within these ecoregions were summarised using a template of 1-degree grid cell intersected with the coast. As caves represent a small portion of such coastlines, all mapped areas were designated as minor occurrences.

Datasets

MEOW-2008 (Spalding MD et al. 2008):

Source of biogeographical range. Resolution: variable (polygons), static. Accuracy evaluation: qualitative (experts judgement).

dataset url
MEOW-2008 https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/marine-ecoregions-of-the-world-a-bioregionalization-of-coastal-and-shelf-areas :: https://databasin.org/datasets/3b6b12e7bcca419990c9081c0af254a2 :: http://maps.tnc.org/gis_data.html

Processing

Processing steps used in this map are: Selection :: Buffering.

Map evaluation

This map is considered to be a Coarse quality map based on the following characteristics:

Concept alignment is Indirect,general.

Ground observations are NA.

The accuracy evaluation Qualitative expert assessment,undocumented.

How to use the data

Available files

Following maps are considered current and valid indicative distribution maps for this ecosystem functional group. Web navigation maps are optimised for use in webapps, but they have similar methods and differ only in details of format and processing.

  • Indicative Map (code: SM1.3.IM.grid, version v3.0)
  • Web navigation (code: SM1.3.web.grid, version v3.0)

You can download geospatial data for this map from the following sources:

SM1.3.IM.grid (v3.0): Google Cloud bucket :: Zenodo repository (bundle of maps)

SM1.3.web.grid (v3.0): Google Cloud bucket :: Zenodo repository (bundle of maps) :: Zenodo repository (EFG map) :: Mapbox tileset :: Earth Engine assets

Note that you need to login to some services like mapbox or earthengine, and in some cases you also need to request access to the files.

License information

Indicative maps have been released with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Datasets used to create this map might have some restriction for commercial use, see details below.

dataset license_info
MEOW-2008 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License :: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0

References

References used in this version of the maps.

  • Spalding MD, Fox HE, Allen GR, Davidson N, Ferdaña ZA, Finlayson M, Halpern BS, Jorge MA, Lombana A, Lourie SA, Martin KD, McManus E, Molnar J, Recchia CA, Robertson J (2007) Marine ecoregions of the world: a bioregionalization of coastal and shelf areas. Bioscience 57: 573–583. DOI:10.1641/B570707