Digital Distribution Maps of the World's Amphibians

Although amphibians perform key roles in their ecosystems and contribute significantly to biodiversity, especially in tropical habitats, they are frequently excluded from conservation analyses because of a lack of information about their conservation status and distribution. To enhance our knowledge about amphibians and their conservation needs, three organizations—the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science of Conservation International, the Species Survival Commission of IUCN–World Conservation Union, and NatureServe—launched the Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) in 2001. The results, published in 2004, represent the first-ever comprehensive status assessment of the world's 5,743 known amphibian species. This project represents the first time that all amphibians have been assessed against the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, and as such is an important contribution to the Red List Programme. More than 500 scientists from 60 countries contributed to the three-year study. The GAA produced digital distribution maps for all but 101 of described amphibian species worldwide. The localities for unmapped species, generally including those described more than a century ago, are too vague to permit accurate mapping. NatureServe converted these maps to a format similar to that used for the digital range maps of the birds and mammals of the Western Hemisphere. Ranges are annotated to indicate where species are extant, extirpated, and introduced. In addition, NatureServe has updated dozens of maps of North American species subsequent to the original publication of the GAA. Here we make these maps available as a free resource for conservationists, researchers, and the general public. To view the map for each species, visit either our InfoNatura or Explorer websites, or the GAA website, search for the species you are interested in, and click on "Range Map." To download the map files in ArcView format, see below. The map files can be viewed using ESRI ArcExplorer software, which can be downloaded for free from ESRI's website. Please contact ESRI, not NatureServe, for any support needs related to the software.