Ecoregional distributions of the world’s freshwater vertebrate species
Understanding global freshwater biodiversity requires knowing where species occur and how they cluster across ecological boundaries. Building on the original freshwater ecoregions framework, this study maps every described freshwater‑dependent vertebrate—23,130 species of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals—into a unified global ecoregional database (FreshVerts v1.0). The dataset contains 96,129 population‑level records, enabling comparisons across taxa, analyses of global biogeographic patterns and improved prioritization of conservation actions. By expanding beyond fishes to all freshwater‑dependent vertebrates, this resource provides a comprehensive foundation for global freshwater biodiversity research and management.
Subject Tags
- Biodiversity
- Conservation Planning
- Wildlife
Abstract
Large-scale conservation of biodiversity requires understanding how species are distributed around the world. The first global delineation of freshwater ecoregions (Abell et al. 2008) integrated hydrological boundaries and fish biogeographic patterns to recognize 426 distinctive zones. Here, we update and expand that ecoregional approach to encompass every described freshwater-dependent vertebrate species: 23,130 species of fishes, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Our database of freshwater vertebrates at the ecoregional scale (FreshVerts v1.0) includes a total of 96,129 ecoregional population records (average of 4.15 records per species, SD = 11.25) based on biogeographic databases and extensive bibliographic searches. This global attribution of all freshwater vertebrates to ecoregions provides a resource for analyzing global biodiversity, comparing biogeographic patterns among vertebrate taxa and prioritizing efforts to conserve aquatic species across a variety of spatial scales.
Citation
Miqueleiz, I., Abell, R., Revenga, C., Petry, P., Thieme, M., Weis, S., ... & McIntyre, P. B. (2025). Ecoregional distributions of the world’s freshwater vertebrate species. Scientific data, 12(1), 1286. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05622-4
TNC Authors
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Robin Abell
Durable Freshwater Protection Director
The Nature Conservancy
Email: robin.abell@tnc.org -
Carmen Revenga
Coastal Fisheries Strategy Lead
The Nature Conservancy
Email: crevenga@tnc.org -
Paulo Petry
The Nature Conservancy -
Shawn Weis
Business Process Specialist
The Nature Conservancy
Email: shawn.weis@tnc.org
TNC Authors
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Timothy M. Boucher
Senior Conservation Scientist, Africa Program
The Nature Conservancy
Email: tboucher@tnc.org