Scientists complete conservation ’atlas of life’

An international team of scientists have completed the 'atlas of life' - the first global review and map of every vertebrate on Earth. Led by researchers at the University of Oxford and Tel Aviv University, the 39 scientists have produced a catalogue and atlas of the world's reptiles. By linking this atlas with existing maps for birds, mammals and amphibians, the team have found many new areas where conservation action is vital. In order to best protect wildlife, it's important to know where species live, so the right action can be taken and scarce funding allocated in the right places. With this in mind, an international group of researchers have produced detailed maps highlighting the whereabouts of all known land-living species of vertebrate on Earth. These maps show for the first time the complete distribution of global terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity on Earth. They comprise approximately 31,000 species of mammal, bird,amphibian and now reptiles.