Udvardy Biogeographical Provinces of Africa at 3.7 km Resolution

UNEP/GRID-Geneva digitized the Africa portion of the Udvardy Biogeographical Provinces of the World in 1986. The dataset maps ecological 'Life Zones' across the African continent at a spatial resolution of approximately 3.7 kilometers, based on Miklos Udvardy's 1975 classification system for IUCN and UNESCO. It covers an area from 38°N to -35°S and -20°W to 52°E, comprising 2191 rows by 2161 columns.

Use Cases

• Modeling continental-scale ecosystem distributions based on the biogeographical province classification.
• Conservation planning and protected area design based on defined 'Life Zone' boundaries.
• Historical ecological analysis based on the 1975 classification framework digitized in 1986.
• Spatial analysis of flora and fauna regions based on the unified biogeographical realm system.

Strengths

• Based on a foundational 1975 classification system developed for IUCN and UNESCO.
• Covers the entire African continent with a defined spatial resolution of approximately 3.7 kilometers.
• Provides a unified system integrating floristic kingdoms and faunistic regions.

Limitations

• Last updated 1975-01-01 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the 1975 source classification.

Provenance

Source

Miklos Udvardy (IUCN Occasional Paper No. 18, 1975), digitized by UNEP/GRID-Geneva in 1986.

Collection Method

Digitized from source documents as part of the UNEP/FAO Africa Database.

Time Range

Classification published in 1975, data digitized in 1986.

Freshness

1975-01-01 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Entire African continent (38°N to -35°S, -20°W to 52°E).