Global Register of Migratory Species (GROMS) http://www.groms.deA Geo-Database of migratory species at a global scale

1. Definitions:
• Migration: “the act of moving from one spatial unit to another“
(Baker 1978, p. 23)
• ‘true migration’ : “seasonal movement with return to starting point –
the traveller needs a return ticket”(Dingle 1996)
• Political definition: the entire population or any geographically
separate part of the population of any
species or lower taxon of wild animals, a significant proportion of
whose members cyclically and predictably cross one or more national
jurisdictional boundaries“ (CMS 1979, Article 1)
• GROMS: true migration > 100 km (excl. local migrants)
CMS
Global Register of Migratory Species (GROMS)
http://www.groms.de
A Geo-Database of migratory species at a global scale

2. Main results
• Identification of migratory species: bats,
terrestrial mammals, seals, sirenia, whales
and dolphins, birds, turtles, fishes
• Threat assessment (IUCN Red List 2000):
species not listed by CMS, but threatened!
• GIS „calculation“ of range states
• GIS analysis of global migrant diversity

3. Identification of migratory
species:
295 Mammals:
131 bats
42 terrestrial mammals
39 seals and sirenia
83 whales and dolphins
2145 Birds
10 Reptiles ( 7 marine turtles)
1895 Fishes (ray-finned fishes, lampreys, sharks and rays,
chimaeras, lobe-finned fishes)
XXL Invertebrates
(12 in GROMS, monarch butterfly on CMS App. II)

4. Species fact sheets on the Web
Static html-pages focussing on migration,
including maps (generated by geo-database)

5. Web products
Map server based on Open GIS - Open source
In cooperation with GEO-informatics, Uni Bonn.
Web-based linking of Geodata from different sources

6. GIS calculation of range
territories

7. Database import:
1,000 mapped species -
2,522 administrative units
340,000 combinations
(province – species)

9. GIS analysis of global migrant
diversity (540 mammals and birds)

10. Number of migratory species in 890 ecoregions of the World
species: 846 GROMS distribution maps
ecoregions: www-eco.shp file provided by ArcView/ESRI

11. Migratory Footprint of Migratory Species
occuring in Germany

12. Migratory Footprint of German Migrants:
breeding elsewhere

13. Migratory Footprint of German Migrants:
wintering elsewhere

14. • Geo-Database on CD-ROM
• 2 Books:
- New Perspectives for Monitoring Migratory
Animals
- Global Register of Migratory Species
• Workshops:
3 Workshops, incl. Capacity building (COP7)
• WWW publication:
http://www.groms.de
Products

15. Web products 6 (6)
Email discussion list (appr. 300 members)
Migration@listserv.uni-bonn.de

16. Perspectives: data sets
- Site data (in particular: IBA- congregation areas
BirdLife International)
- satellite tracks (for included animation tool)

17. Perspectives
Any information system dealing with migratory species
has to cover:
- movements of migrants, requiring a GIS with time-code,
- a higher taxonomic resolution at subspecies and/or
population level.
At present, none of the major databases covers these
aspects.
GROMS is unique because it has developed a data model
covering these aspects.
It can be used for any biodiversity information system
dealing with species distributions changing overn time