Abstract:
The Birds of the Americas Family Richness Grids of the Gridded Species Distribution, Version 1 are the aggregations of the Presence Grids data at the family level. They are available in 30-arc second (1 kilometer) resolutions. The cell values represent the number of species in a particular family. The input vector layers were produced by a consortium led by NatureServe. The gridding and grid processing are done by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).
The data in Band Interleaved by Line (BIL)and maps in Portable Document Format (PDF) and Portable Network Graphics (PNG) formats are available from the from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC).
Purpose:
To provide provide information on the number of bird species present at a 1 kilometer spatial resolution which can be used in modeling efforts, wildlife conservation planning, natural resource management, policy-making, biodiversity studies and human-environment interactions.
