Introduction:
Funded by the World Bank’s NEMO program (LINK to www.worldbank.org/nemo), the Steppe Forward Programme (a collaboration between the Zoological Society of London and the National University of Mongolia) has developed the Mongolian Biodiversity Databank. So far, the project has collected and collated information on all of the mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and freshwater fish of Mongolia. By 2010 the addition of Mongolia’s birds will mean that all species of Mongolian vertebrates will have been included in the databank. The databank holds data that are essential for effectively planning the conservation of Mongolian biodiversity. In addition to assessing the national conservation status of species, the databank contains information on population trends, threats, legal protection that exists for those species, summary conservation action plans and species distribution data. The aim of the databank is to collate this information and provide the means to inform effective broad-scale conservation measures within Mongolia. In particular, the use of distribution data is essential for identifying national priority areas such as locations with high species richness, endemicity, and level of threat, and identifying the potential impacts of development in a given location.
This online spatial tool takes the use of distribution data one-step further, in making the data available in an effective, visual, searchable format, allowing conservation planning and management. In doing so, we aim to provide a tool which will give the user – and especially those conducting environmental impact assessments of infrastructure and other projects - the ability to access information on which vertebrate species are present at a given location, determine the conservation status and other associated information on those species, and what actions would be appropriate. Additionally the tool will allow planners to calculate how many species, both threatened and non-threatened, are within a given distance of a selected location. By making this interactive functionality available on the web, the project will maximise the utility of the Biodiversity Databank as a development and conservation tool.
Guidelines for use:
- Point the cursor at any point on the Mongolian map,
- Click to select the chosen location (the precise geographic coordinates of the target can be seen in the location information box) and allow time for the computer to search the databank,
- A list of species (scientific and common names) present at that location should appear in the ‘Species’ box along with their conservation status and links to the databank outputs.
- Select a given species name to see its geographic distribution appear on the map of Mongolia,
- Specific geographic coordinates may also be searched by entering the coordinates in the ‘latitude’ and ‘longitude’ boxes and clicking the ‘Search’ button in the location information box.
- In order to search for species lists within a specified distance of a location, enter the radius required in the ‘Range’ box and select the required location as usual. The species list appearing will equate to the species within that distance from the selected location.
- The lists generated may be downloaded into a spreadsheet.