World Terrestrial Ecosystems

Terrestrial ecosystems can be defined by their climate, landform and land cover. The World Terrestrial Ecosystems Map identifies areas with similar terrestrial ecosystem structure.

Ecosystems are distinct areas on the planet which differ based on their environmental settings and assemblages of organisms.

Online explorer tool produced by the U.S Geological Survey, the World Terrestrial Ecosystems Explorer (WTEE), allows for the map-based visualization and query of any terrestrial location on Earth for its ecosystem type and characteristics.

"Mapping and characterizing ecosystems is crucial to protect and restore ecosystems and their services." - Douglas M. Muchoney, Ph. D., Senior Environment Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

We need maps of Global Terrestrial Ecosystems because;

"Ecosystems give us goods and services like food, water, fuel etc. that we need for our survival, so we need to take care of them. A requirement for managing ecosystems is first knowing what they are and where they are on the planet. That’s why we classify and map ecosystems.” Roger Sayre, Ph.D, Senior Scientist for Ecosystems in the Land Change Science Program of the U.S. Geological Survey

This map can be used for;

• Conservation planning
• Analyses of ecosystem health and resilience
• Classification of ecosystems related to the FAO Global Ecological Zones dataset
• Ecosystem accounting
• Understanding ecosystem structure and function
• Analyses of green house gas emissions and carbon sequestration

“This map will be essential for NGOs and governments as they assess progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and it will be generally useful in supporting academic research and teaching at universities.” - Roger Sayre, Ph.D, Senior Scientist for Ecosystems in the Land Change Science Program of the U.S. Geological Survey

The new map of terrestrial World Ecosystems integrates and objectively analyzes three sources of authoritative information:

1. The World Climate Regions, which establish the macroclimate regime
2. World Landforms, which modify the macroclimates into mesoclimates and microclimates
3. World Vegetation/Land Cover, which identify the major plant formations occurring in a place in response to the climate and landforms.

In part, the vegetation that occurs in a place could be predicted from the climate and terrain features. Instead of predicting the vegetation, we just include it in the ecosystem concept.

This map is important because the ecologically relevant distinctions are authoritatively defined and modeled using globally consistent objectively derived data.

Informed decision making requires transparent, accurate, and consistent data and information. This map is essential for that process.

This map allows you to query of any of the 250-m pixels on the land surface of the Earth, and returns the values of all the input parameters and the name of the World Ecosystem at that location.

Each combination was assigned a color using an algorithm that blended traditional color schemes for each of the four components.

Values for each of the four input layers are listed in the table on the left. Every point in this map is symbolized by a combination of values for each of these fields. An example of a World Terrestrial Ecosystems class is shown below.

Without current and detailed information, a nation’s ability to understand the function of their ecosystems, and properly report on biodiversity targets for SDGs is greatly impeded.

"This dataset will raise awareness for existing ecosystems in global scale and draw a baseline of where we are by addressing the targets at SDGs -15 Life on Land Category." - Charlie Frye , Esri Chief Cartographer

Roger Sayre, Ph.D., Senior Scientist for Ecosystems at the USGS Land Change Science Program, led a team from Esri and The Nature Conservancy to produce this global dataset. This work is documented in the publication below.

You can download the pro package to access the dataset from the Living Atlas

You can access and view World Terrestrial Ecosystems Image File.

"We need healthy ecosystems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to address climate change" - Antonio Gutierres - Secretary General of the United Nation