The Atlas of Freshwater Biodiversity is a geographic visualisation tool which enables better, evidenced-based decision-making relating to water policy, science and management. It provides an online, open-access, interactive gateway to key geographical information and spatial data on freshwater biodiversity across a wide range of scales. In addition to patterns of freshwater biodiversity, the atlas depicts freshwater resources and ecosystems, human pressures and impacts on freshwaters, and the conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems. Each map is accompanied by a short article with further contextual background information. Unlike a conventional printed atlas, this online atlas is constantly expanded and updated. For this reason, we also invite scientists to contribute their research results to the atlas, supporting the sustainable conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems.
The atlas is an output of the EU project BioFresh. It is edited by a pan-European group of freshwater scientists and conservation experts from 12 research institutes and is supported by a number of key international partner organisations.
