Coral Triangle Maps of the Month

The Coral Triangle Maps of the Month is a bi-weekly email that showcases various maps that highlight the diversity and uniqueness of the Coral Triangle region. The maps also show some of the pressing issues that are threatening this very important resource considered the epicenter of the world's marine biodiversity. The maps are generated by the Coral Triangle Atlas team at The WorldFish Center.

 Click map to enlarge
Map 01: The Eleven Ecoregions of the Coral Triangle

The boundary of the Coral Triangle is delineated based on species diversity of corals, reef fishes and other invertebrates, habitat type and diversity, oceanography, geomorphology, bathymetry, sea level fluctuations and river discharge (Veron et al, 2009). It comprises all or part of six countries in Southeast Asia and Melanesia: Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Meanwhile, ecoregions are defined as "large areas containing geographically distinct assemblages of species, natural communities and environmental conditions." There are 11 ecoregions in the Coral Triangle that have been delineated, which will be used as the basis for conducting ecoregional conservation assessments to identify priority areas for conservation. 

To know more about how the Coral Triangle and its ecoregions were delineated, download the paper Delineating the Coral Triangle, its Ecoregions and Functional Seascapes.

Do you need more maps on the Coral Triangle?

Follow this link to download a high-resolution version of this map from the CT Atlas website
To see see more maps, view the CT Atlas Map Gallery online
To generate your own map, check out the CT Atlas interactive map   
About the Coral Triangle Atlas

The Coral Triangle Atlas is an online Geographical Information System (GIS) database providing scientists, governments and NGOs with a view of spatial data at the regional scale. This project will improve the efficiency of conservation planning in the region by giving researchers and managers access to biophysical and socioeconomic information in spatially explicit while encouraging them to share their data to complete the gaps, therefore reducing duplicate data collection efforts and providing the most complete and most current data available.

By contributing data to the CT Atlas, NGO partners, governments and managers are helping to strengthen the effectiveness of conservation activities in the Coral Triangle through improved information flow and access to the region's best datasets.

The CT Atlas is supported by USAID's US CTI Support Program through the Coral Triangle Support Partnership. It also works to inform the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries ad Food Security - a multilateral partnership formed in 2007 by the six Coral Triangle countries to address the urgent threats facing the Coral Triangle.

Further information about the CT Atlas, contact:
Annick Cros at acros@tnc.org or ReefBase at reefbase@cgiar.org
You can also participate in discussions or submit questions to the CT Atlas forum.