An international research team has compared global distribution maps of marine species and has developed recommendations for how to further improve the two extensive databases providing publicly available delineations of marine species occurrence. Information about species’ occurrences is the crucial basis for ecological studies as well as for policy decisions required to ensure the survival of endangered species. The researchers also developed a Web app that people can use to overlay the maps from both databases in order to compare them – around 250 species have been recorded in the app. University of Freiburg biologist Dr. Kristin Kaschner was involved in the work that the team published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.