CMEC Zoogeographic Realms and Regions
This study updated Alfred Russel Wallace's 1876 map on the zoogeographic regions of the world, which has been the backbone for our understanding of global biodiversity for over a century. The research is published in Science. Free access is available to the abstract, print version and online-version.
Our work is based on the distributions and phylogenetic relationships of all terrestrial mammals, birds and amphibians. The details and references for these data sources are provided in the materials and methods section of our manuscript. The bird distributional data were compiled here at the Center of Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (CMEC) and further details for these data can be obtained by following the link at the bottom of the page. The phylogenetic and distributional data for all three taxonomic groups were combined to produce our updated version of Wallace’s map.
Our global map divides the world into 11 zoogeographic realms, which are further subdivided into 20 regions. Google Earth and GIS maps of zoogeographic realms and regions can also be found here.
Citation
Ben G. Holt, Jean-Philippe Lessard, Michael K. Borregaard, Susanne A. Fritz, Miguel B. Araújo, Dimitar Dimitrov, Pierre-Henri Fabre, Catherine H. Graham, Gary R. Graves, Knud A. Jønsson, David Nogués-Bravo, Zhiheng Wang, Robert J. Whittaker, Jon Fjeldså, and Carsten Rahbek (2013), An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of the World. Science 339 (6115), p74-78, published online 20 December 2012 (10.1126/science.1228282).
Google Earth maps of CMEC zoogeographic realms and regions
- Make sure you have Google Earth installed on your computer.
- Open the file by double-clicking on the file ”CMEC regions & realms.kmz” in your ”Downloads” folder. You can also open the files from within the Google Earth software.
GIS maps of CMEC zoogeographic realms and regions
- Requires version 10.x of ArcGIS.
- After downloading the zip file ”CMEC regions & realms.zip”, extract the files to your desktop or other folder. Double-click on ”CMEC regions & realms.mxd”. You can also open the shape files directly from within ArcGIS.
Taxon specific regions
Download regions classified by taxon (birds, mammals, amphibians)
- Requires ArcGIS or another GIS capable of reading shape-files.
- After downloading the zip file ”Taxon_Specific_regions.zip”, extract the files to your desktop or other folder. You can open the shape files directly from within your GIS.
The Copenhagen global avian distributional database
Rahbek, C., Hansen, L.A., and Fjeldså, J. 2012. One degree resolution database of the global distribution of birds. The Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more about the database.
View list of references for the avian distributional database
Free access to article
Science has provided free access to the article. Abstract, print version and online-version.
Original map by Wallace
Map of terrestrial zoogeographic regions of the world published in "The Geographic Distributions of Animals" (1876) by Alfred Russell Wallace.
Updated map by CMEC
Information on the distribution and evolutionary relationships of over 20,000 species of amphibians, birds and mammals and used to identify the world's 11 zoogeographic realms
The colours of the realms reflect the phylogenetic distinctiveness of the animal assemblages found within them. That is, realms with similar colours contain similar families and genera of animals and those with different colours have few groups of animals in common.
The realms are further divided into 20 regions, shown with the dotted white lines.
Any use of the map must be credited Journal Science / AAAS
100th anniversary of Wallace
Wallace100 is an informal international association of organisations with projects that are designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wallace’s death in 2013.