INTERPRETING THE MAPS

Function. Each map shows the distribution of a single fungal taxon recorded from the insular Caribbean.

Geographical scope. For the purposes of these maps, the insular Caribbean is defined to include all islands of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, including Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago, and offshore islands close to Venezuela, including the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, and the Dutch territories of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. In addition, various remote islands belonging to Central and South American countries are also included: Isla de Aves (Venezuela), Isla Providencia (Colombia), Isla San Andrés (Colombia), and Swan Island (Honduras). Finally, though not strictly bordering the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands are also treated as part of the insular Caribbean. The following countries with a Caribbean coastline, or otherwise historically associated with the Caribbean (including any other islands they may own close to the mainland) are excluded from this work: Belize, Bermuda, mainland Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Surinam, the USA, and mainland Venezuela.

Map conventions. For each organism, one of three maps is displayed: for organisms with a known distribution only in the Greater Antilles, a map of the Greater Antilles is used; for organisms with a known distribution only in the Lesser Antilles, a map of the Lesser Antilles is used; for organisms with a general distribution in the insular Caribbean, a map of the whole insular Caribbean is used. Shaded areas contain at least one record accurate to country level. Individual green squares represent separate records accurate to at least 10 minutes of latitude and longitude. A shaded area behind a green square may relate to the same record. For all maps, the green squares cover roughly an equivalent area. As a result, the green squares are smaller in the small scale map of the general insular Caribbean, and larger in the two large scale maps of the Greater and Lesser Antilles.

Additional information. Please note the following points.

Some fungi have been recorded from the Caribbean with identifications not only at species level, but also at subspecific level. In those cases, species level identifications are displayed on separate maps from those made at subspecific level. This means that the species level map does not include the records on the subspecific maps. Where subspecific taxa are recorded from the Caribbean, the user is advised to consult all maps relating to that species and its subspecific taxa, to have a full understanding of the known distribution of the species.

Records which do not merit a green square, and which relate to a small island belonging to a larger country itself excluded from the insular Caribbean (as defined here), may have no apparent shading. In a very small number of cases, this may result in a map which appears to have no distributional information at all. In a small number of other cases, where islands are very small, shading may be hard or impossible to detect. The British and American Virgin Islands, St Barthélemy, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao are examples where this may occur.

Records from Hispaniola, with no distinction between Haití and the Dominican Republic will result in the whole island being shaded. Maps showing the whole island of Hispaniola shaded, and not showing the national boundary between Haití and the Dominican Republic can be interpreted unambiguously as relating to records from Hispaniola. Maps showing the whole island of Hispaniola shaded, and showing that national boundary, particularly those without additional green squares, should be interpreted with caution.

In the case of records with latitude and longitude data accurate to the nearest minute, the location is shown by a green square, and the centre of that square marks the point where the record was made. In the case of records with latitude and longitude data accurate to the nearest ten minutes, the location is shown by a green square, and the centre of that square marks the mid point of the ten minute square in which the record was made. This may at times make the location of recording of, for example, a terrestrial fungus appear to be in the sea. In the current version of these maps, these two categories of square are visually indistinguishable.

Countries listed above as being excluded from this work are never shaded, and should never have individual green squares on them, even where records of a fungus may exist within the project database. If a green square appears over an unshaded country, it is likely to represent a record from a different country, with an error in the latitude and longitude data.

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	Some fungi have been recorded from the Caribbean with identifications not only at species level, but also at subspecific level. In those cases, species level identifications are displayed on separate maps from those made at subspecific level. This means that the species level map does not include the records on the subspecific maps. Where subspecific taxa are recorded from the Caribbean, the user is advised to consult all maps relating to that species and its subspecific taxa, to have a full understanding of the known distribution of the species.
	Records which do not merit a green square, and which relate to a small island belonging to a larger country itself excluded from the insular Caribbean (as defined here), may have no apparent shading. In a very small number of cases, this may result in a map which appears to have no distributional information at all. In a small number of other cases, where islands are very small, shading may be hard or impossible to detect. The British and American Virgin Islands, St Barthélemy, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao are examples where this may occur.
	Records from Hispaniola, with no distinction between Haití and the Dominican Republic will result in the whole island being shaded. Maps showing the whole island of Hispaniola shaded, and not showing the national boundary between Haití and the Dominican Republic can be interpreted unambiguously as relating to records from Hispaniola. Maps showing the whole island of Hispaniola shaded, and showing that national boundary, particularly those without additional green squares, should be interpreted with caution.
	In the case of records with latitude and longitude data accurate to the nearest minute, the location is shown by a green square, and the centre of that square marks the point where the record was made. In the case of records with latitude and longitude data accurate to the nearest ten minutes, the location is shown by a green square, and the centre of that square marks the mid point of the ten minute square in which the record was made. This may at times make the location of recording of, for example, a terrestrial fungus appear to be in the sea. In the current version of these maps, these two categories of square are visually indistinguishable.
	Countries listed above as being excluded from this work are never shaded, and should never have individual green squares on them, even where records of a fungus may exist within the project database. If a green square appears over an unshaded country, it is likely to represent a record from a different country, with an error in the latitude and longitude data.