Conservation in the Carolinian Ecoregion An Ecoregional Assessment

The purpose of this assessment of the Carolinian Ecoregion is to bring an enhanced focus to marine conservation and management in the region. To achieve this purpose, three products were developed: a spatial database of the region’s biodiversity and the factors that affect it, a decision-support framework to evaluate conservation and management alternatives, and a set of conservation areas that represent the region’s biodiversity. The assessment involved many partners in academia, state and federal agencies, and other nongovernmental organizations, as well as staff from all state chapters of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the region and TNC’s Global Marine Initiative. All the tools, data, and results used in the assessment are available in the accompanying CD-ROM to inform and support partner conservation and management efforts.