Bioclimate of Italy: application of the worldwide bioclimatic classification system

The worldwide bioclimatic classification system (WBCS) of Rivas-Martinez was applied to the Italian territory and surrounding areas between latitudes 35 degrees 47'-46 degrees 60' N and longitudes 5 degrees 92'-21 degrees 39' E. The 'WorldClim' precipitation and temperature dataset was used as the source data. Application of the WBCS in a geographic information system allowed the production of macrobioclimates, bioclimates, ombrotypes, continentality, compensated thermicity index and ombro-evaporal index maps at a scale of 1: 5,500,000, and a map of thermotypes at a scale of 1: 2,250,000. Moreover, the isobioclimates of Italy are identified and quantified in terms of areas. These maps are available here as raster datasets (1 km spatial resolution) and are useful for: (i) rapid bioclimatic diagnosis of the Italian territories; and (ii) vegetation-environment relationship modeling at the national scale.