Geographic distribution of 24 Mediterranean and European forest tree species

The 24 distribution maps are a contribution to the regional project "Maximize the production of goods and services of Mediterranean forest ecosystems in the context of global changes" funded by the French Global Environmental Facility (FGEF) and coordinated by FAO-<em>Silva Mediterranea</em> and Plan Bleu. The maps are part of the activities of component 1 "Production of data and development of tools to support decision and management of vulnerable Mediterranean forest ecosystems affected by climate change and the ability of these forest ecosystems to adapt to global change". A total of 24 key forest tree species have been selected by the project partners for their importance for the biodiversity of the Mediterranean basin and for delivering ecosystem services to the Mediterranean forestry community. Data on the geographic distribution of the 24 species were compiled from different sources and make a distinction between locations of known distribution, presumed area of native distribution, and countries (or region within countries) of native distribution. Details on how the maps were produced are given in a published report: N. Wazen, B. Fady (2016) Geographic distribution of 24 major tree species in the Mediterranean and their genetic resources, FAO and Plan Bleu, ISBN 978-92-5-109469-3, http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6338e.pdf The 24 tree species are: <em>Acer hyrcanum</em> subsp. <em>tauricolum</em> (Boiss. &amp; Balansa) Yalt <em>Arbutus unedo</em> L <em>Cedrus atlantica</em> (Endl.) Manetti ex Carriere <em>Cedrus libani</em> A. Rich <em>Chamaerops humilis</em> L. <em>Ilex aquifolium</em> L. <em>Juniperus drupacea</em> Labill. <em>Juniperus excelsa</em> M. Bieb. <em>Juniperus oxycedrus</em> L. <em>Juniperus phoenicea</em> L. <em>Laurus nobilis</em> L. <em>Pinus brutia</em> Ten. <em>Pinus halepensis</em> Mill. <em>Pinus nigra</em> J.F. Arnold <em>Pinus pinea</em> L. <em>Pistacia lentiscus</em> L. <em>Platanus orientalis</em> L. <em>Quercus canariensis</em> Willd. <em>Quercus cerris</em> L. <em>Quercus coccifera</em> L. <em>Quercus ilex</em> L. <em>Quercus suber</em> L. <em>Taxus baccata</em> L. <em>Tetraclinis articulata</em> (Vahl) Mast. Updates of the maps are published on the FAO GeoNetwork at http://www.fao.org/geonetwork/srv/en/metadata.show?id=56996 <strong>Changes in the successive versions</strong> <em>Version 2</em> The “Source_Dat” field was harmonized using the “author_date_title” format for published references. All polygons were snapped together vertices within a small distance threshold to fix small coordinate misalignment in adjacent polygons. In addition, polygons were clipped with sea and administrative boundaries. <em>Pinus halepensis</em>, map 3 in Quézel &amp; Santa (1962): a new georeferencing using the Algerian chotts as additional georeferencing points was made. However, by mistake, the polygons from the old referencing were kept in the shapefile. This mistake was corrected in the subsequent version.