Terrestrial Ecosystems (Reference Classification) of Costa Rica

This dataset was extracted from the Ecosystems of Central America dataset (TNC / NatureServe).

The ecosystem crosswalk was done by Maarten Kappelle, Lenin Corrales, Carmen Josse and Leonardo Sotomayor, and was completed in June 2010. The crosswalk was done in several parts. First, the entire World Bank ecosystem classification attributes and description was added to a IABIN standard ecosystem classification database. The components of the ecosystem classification were thus broken down into variables such as substrate, geology, elevation ranges, dominant species, among other components. Second, this database was added to the IABIN ecosystem database which contains other classifications such as the NatureServe classification in its original componets or building blocks. Third, an ecosystem translator was used to match the components of ecosystems in the World Bank classification with the ecosystem components of the NatureServe classification. This process matched ecosystems that were likely to be the similar in each classification. Using the similarity ratio produced by the translator and the description of the ecoystems, the classifications were matched. Fourth, the crosswalked classification was reviewed by experts at TNC and NatureServe and approved. Fifth, a map was produced witht he crosswalk and the map was peer reviewed by the same experts. Final recommendations were made and changes were made in ecosystem occurrances that were obviously out of place. These recommendations were incorporated and this map is the final product of these changes.