Using Google Earth to improve management of threatened limestone karst ecosystems in Peninsular Malaysia

15 Biodiversity conservation is now about prioritisation, especially in a world with limited 16 resources and so many habitats and species in need of protection. However, we cannot 17 prioritise effectively if historical and current information on a particular habitat or species 18 remains scattered. Several good platforms have been created to help users to find, use and 19 create biodiversity information. However, good platforms for sharing habitat information 20 for threatened ecosystems are still lacking. Limestone hills are an example of threatened 21 ecosystems that harbour unique biodiversity, but are facing intensifying anthropogenic 22 disturbances. As limestone is a vital resource for the construction industry, it is not possible 23 to completely halt forest degradation and quarrying in developing countries such as 24 Malaysia, where 445 limestone hills have been recorded in the peninsula to date. As such, 25 there is an urgent need to identify which hills must be prioritised for conservation. To make 26 decisions based on sound science, collating spatial and biological information on limestone 27 hills into a publicly accessible database is critical. Here, we compile Malaysia’s first 28 limestone hill GIS map for 445 limestone hills in the peninsula based on information from 29 geological reports and scientific literature. To assist in conservation prioritisation efforts, we 30 quantify characteristics of limestone hills in terms of size, degree of isolation, and spatial 31 distribution patterns and also assessed the degree of habitat disturbance of each limestone 32 hill in terms of buffer area forest degradation and quarrying activity. All this information is 33 stored in a KMZ file and can be accessed through the Google Earth interface. This product 34 should not be viewed as a final output containing basic limestone hill information. Rather, 35 this database is a foundational platform for users to collect, store, update and manipulate 36 spatial and biological data from limestone hills to better inform decisions regarding their 37 management. 38