A CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT OF CENTRAL AMERICAN VEGETATION AND ECOREGIONS.pdfVIP

14 4 Vo1.4 No.4 1999 10 JOURNAL OF NATURAL RESOURCES Oct.,1999 Article ID:1000- 3037(1999) 04- 0300- 07 A CONS RVATION ASS SSM NT OF C NTRAL AM RICAN V G TATION AND COR GIONS LI Xiaoun, T imoth Boucher, Ro er Sa re j y g y ( Conservation Science and Stewardship Department,Latin America and the Caribbean Division The Nature Conservancy, 1815 North Lvnn Street Arlington,VA 22209,USA; Open Research Laboratory of Environmental Changes and Natural Disasters, inistry of Education, Beijing 100875,China) Abstract:Acom rehensive, standardized,andthematicall a ro riatema ofCentralAmeri p y pp p p can vegetation and landcover types was developed by classifying the remotesensed im 2 agery(AVHRR) 1km resolution using advanced digital imageprocessing routines and exper tise.The map identifies 17 remaining natural vegetation types.The classification accuracy of the map is estimated to exceed 80%. Using a GAP analysis approach, a map of existing and proposed protected areas was overlaid on the vegetation map to analyze the protection status of ve etation t es and Ecore ions. g yp g Ke words:landsca elevel biodiversit ; AVHRR; GAP anal sis; ecore ions y p y y g + CLC number:Q948.15 6 Document code:A 1 INTRUDU CT ION 2 Central America encom asses a roximatel one half mi