Please let me know where I might locate credible "state-of-knowledge" counts of species by country and by taxonomic groups. (I am especially keen to find total numbers for amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and vascular plants for all tropical countries). I can see that it should be possible to do this, given enough time, for some groups using the IUCN red list and other relatively comprehensive databases, but I would guess/hope that this has already been done and published (I'm certain I have seen various such lists in the past).
I'd be grateful for any pointers. Many thanks!
When I was working on my PhD on identification of the biodiversity indicators, it was really hard as there are many various organizations dealing with them. The best way is to define which countries do you prefer to work on and then try to search for the data of those countries. Each country has its own defined data-sets. Another suggestion is to locate on which species do you prefer to work. I know that biodiversity is really huge subject. Just try to realize what are your main concerns.
I can suggest you another program Fragstat where you can work with vegetation topics mainly. Fragstat has a good connection with Biodiversity Economics. As it is defined from Biodiversity Economics, there are four levels for Biodiversity: Genes, Species, Ecosystems and their Functioning. The concepts are extremely correlated. The definition of the stage is really important.
If you want to be involved with the Environmental Economics than the best way is to compute Total Economic Value (TEV) by dealing with use, non-use etc values where the values according to their usefulness in the functioning ecosystems.
If you care only the ecological aspect such as their distribution etc, the best way is use of GIS as a software where you can insert as maps or onsite data.
I have made a quick search and came up with
Pacific Biodiversity Information Forum: http://www.pbif.org/
Encyclopedia for life: Global Access to Knowledge about life on eart: http://eol.org/
Hope that provided information was useful for you.
Dear Gastón Carvallo and Azniv Petrosyan
Many thanks for your responses and suggestions.
Reassuring to know others have had the same challenge and come to similar conclusions.
Given that others are following the question there may be interest to know the "best" summaries I have found so far (I managed to track down based on half memories and several hundred online searches). These are tables from a report "World Resources 1998-99". See pages 322-325 in this:
http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/pdf/wrr98_chapter14.pdf
I'd still be grateful if anyone can suggest anything more recent. I know that IUCN and others have made extensive updates in the last 15 years.
Many thanks again -- I appreciate the interest
Douglas
Thanks again for the replies and interest. The research that led me to ask the question is now published and available if you are interested (see link below).
Article How are soil carbon and tropical biodiversity related?
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