Crop Genebank Knowledge Base

Spatial Analysis of Plant Diversity and Distribution

Also available in
French and Spanish

Authors: Scheldeman, Xavier and van Zonneveld, Maarten. 2010. Bioversity International, Rome, Italy. ISBN 978-92-9043-880-9

This training manual is intended for scientists and students who work with biodiversity data and are interested in developing skills to effectively carry out spatial analysis based on (free) GIS applications with a focus on diversity and ecological analyses.

These analyses offer a better understanding of spatial patterns of plant diversity and distribution, helping to improve conservation efforts. The training manual focuses on plants of interest for improving livelihoods (e.g. crops, trees and crop wild relatives) and/or those which are endangered.

Spatial analyses of interspecific and intraspecific diversity are explained using different types of data:

species presence
morphological characterization data
molecular data

Although this training focuses on plant diversity, many of the types of analyses described can also be applied for other organisms such as animals and fungi.

The manual is based on specific exercises, based on real project data. In order to use the manual, you will also need to download the relevant exercise data (listed below). All links below lead to the Bioversity International website.

Download the training manual:
Training Manual on Spatial Analysis of Plant Diversity and Distribution (12 MB)

Download the exercise data as:
A single file (473.9 MB) (which by unzipping creates the different folders used in the manual)