GEOSPATIAL RESOURCES - Maps and Atlases: Ecological and Environmental Maps

Maps and Atlases: Ecological and Environmental Maps

Arctic Environmental Atlas (GRID - Arendal and United Nations Environmental Programme) Interactive atlas of the Arctic region (everything 50 degrees north of the equator). Themes include topography, land cover, permafrost, population density, human impact and wilderness, drainage basins, ecoregions, and other themes.

AAAS Atlas of Population & Environment (Harrison & Pearce) 2000 (atlas HB 849.415 H374 2000)

Atlas of United States Environmental Issues (Mason & Mattson) 1990 (atlas G 1201 G3 M3 1990)

Atlas of U.S. and Canadian Environmental History (Miller) 2003 (GF 503 A84 2003)

Conservation and Ecology (National Geographic Map Machine) Collection of interactive maps US and world on the environment, land use, natural hazards and weather.

EarthTrends (World Resources Institute) Contains over 100 maps on a world base in gif and pdf formats that represent a broad range of environmental topics including water, climate, biodiversity, agriculture, population, and health. Under each category click on the "maps" option. Part of a larger environmental information portal.

Ecological Inventory Map Series (US Fish and Wildlife Service) 1980-1982 (Docs I 49.6/5: Ec7) Series of maps on a 1:250,000 USGS map base that shows the distribution of fish, wildlife, and plant species along the coastal areas of the conterminous 48 states. Species with special status are shown in red. Some land use and land cover designations are also shown. There are a total of 79 maps issued in four series: Atlantic Coast, Gulf Coast, Lower Mississippi Basin, and Pacific Coast. Each series includes an accompanying Users Guide and Information Base report that provides detailed explanations and additional technical information about the ecological data plotted on the maps.

Ecoregions (US Forest Service. Inventory & Monitoring Institute Ecoregions Center) Includes an image of the "North American Ecoregions Map" and other ecoregions maps as well as downloadable versions for use in gis applications.

Environmental Sensitivity Index Maps (US National Ocean Service. Office of Response and Restoration) Uses USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles as a base map to present three types of information that can be used in oil spill contingency planning and assessment--shoreline classification as it relates to oil contamination sensitivity, sensitive human-use resources such as water intakes, and sensitive biological resources such as seabird colonies. Use the NOS Data Explorer interactive mapper to identify an area of interest and download a pdf image of an ESI map. For further description see ESI Maps.

Geo Data Portal (United Nations Environment Programme) Includes data sets used in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report and other environment assessments. The database holds more than 400 variables that are available as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps). Topics covered include themes like Freshwater, Population, Forests, Emissions, Climate, Disasters, Health and GDP. Data can be displayed on-the-fly as interactive maps, graphs, data tables or downloaded in different formats.

GEOTRACT (US Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Conservation Online System) Interactive mapper that allows one to zoom, pan and identify environmental spatial themes for a specific area in the U.S. Areas can be selected by geographic coordinate or a preset list of area types. Users can produce customized maps, query related tabular data, display metadata and download spatial themes in Arc/Info or Arcview compatible formats. Include three background themes for land management, land use/land cover, and wetlands; line themes for roads, streams, and boundaries; and point themes for mines, utilities, dams, toxic release inventory sites, ECDMS and NIWQP sample locations and other pollution related themes from the EPA.

Global Environmental Risk Map Network (MapCruzin) Contains links to national, state, and international maps that show environmental risk.

Isopleth Maps (National Atmospheric Deposition Program) Shows yearly deposition concentrations in the United States from 1994 to the present for hydrogen (acidity as pH), sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.

Maps and Graphics (UN Environment Programme - GRID) Collection of over 100 maps and charts on various environmental topics organized by theme or geographic area..

Marine Information (UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre) For each counrtry includes maps showing distribution of coral reefs, mangroves and protected areas; marine related statistics and a list of protected areas.

New State of the Earth Atlas (Seager) 1995 (Atlas G 1046 G3 S4 1995)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA generates a wealth of information relating to air quality, water quality, and hazardous waste generation, management, and disposal. Statistics and maps are available at a variety of geographic levels - national, state, county, metropolitan area, zip code, and watershed. Mapping resources available include:

Atlas of America's Polluted Waters Contains maps for each state depicting waters that do not meet state water quality standards. Maps can be downloaded as PDF files.
EnviroMapper Interactive GIS systems that allows one to retrieve and map environmental information from the national level down to the community level (within one mile). Standard mapping functions include display, pan, zoom, and feature identification. Search by city, county, state, zip code, watershed, or EPA region or by clicking on an interactive map to compose a printable map. Comes in five versions. See the EM Catalog for detailed information on the features and data layers available in each version.
- EnviroMapper (Envirofacts) Includes environmental information from the Envirofacts data warehouse.
- Environmental Mapper for Water Generates detailed maps surface water features and their environmental condition.
- EnviroMapper (SuperFund) Displays National Priority List (NPL) sites.
- EnviroMapper (Community Environmental Information) Contains environmental information for metropolitan areas participating in the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Planning (EMPACT) program.
- EnviroMapper (Brownfields) Displays tax incentive zones.
Environmental Atlas Contains a collection of national, regional, and state maps depicting air, land, and water environmental quality.
Window to My Environment Provides a wide range of federal, state, and local information about environmental conditions and features in an area you specify. Search by town or zip code. For each location presents: 1) an "Interactive Map" that shows the location of regulated facilities, monitoring sites, water bodies, population density, topographic map and aerial photograph; 2) "Your Window" that provides selected geographic statistics about the area, including estimated population, county/urban area designations, local watersheds/waterbodies, etc.; and 3) "Your Environment" that links to information from federal, state, and local partners on environmental issues like air and water quality, watershed health, Superfund sites, fish advisories, impaired waters, as well as local services working to protect the environment in your area.

Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (National Geographic Society and World Wildlife Fund) Interactive mapper contains shows distribution of 867 land-based ecosystems. For each ecosystem includes descriptive information and images.

WildWorld (National Geographic Society and World Wildlife Fund) Interactive mapper provides maps and profiles of terrestrial ecosystems of the world and priority areas for conservation.

World Atlas of Biodiversity: Earths Living Resources in the 21st Century (Groombridge and Jenkins) 2002 (print copy available in ref QH 541.15 B56 G762 2002) Prepared by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre this work uses text, maps, figures and tables to outline the broad ecological relationships between humans and the environment and to summarize trends and conditions of the Earth's main ecosystem types. General chapters include information on biodiversity through time; diversity of organisms; humans, food and biodiversity; and global biodiversity. Specific chapers cover the state of terrestrial, marine, and inland water biodiversity. The web site includes interactive maps that appear in the print text.

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Lastest entry: November 21, 2006
Links last checked: April 19, 2005