title: marmap: A package for importing, plotting and analyzing bathymetric and topographic data in R.
abstract: In this communication we introduce marmap, a package designed for downloading, plotting and manipulating bathymetric and topographic data in R. marmap can query the ETOPO1 bathymetry and topography database hosted by the NOAA, use simple latitude-longitude-depth data in ascii format, and take advantage of the advanced plotting tools available in R to build publication-quality bathymetric maps. Functions to query data (bathymetry, sampling information…) are available interactively by clicking on marmap maps. Bathymetric and topographic data can also be used to calculate projected surface areas within specified depth/altitude intervals, and constrain the calculation of realistic shortest path distances. Such information can be used in molecular ecology, for example, to evaluate genetic isolation by distance in a spatially-explicit framework.
authors.affiliation: Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés Joint Research Unit 7266 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pante
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Simon-Bouhet
mesh_terms: D008377:Maps as Topic; D012984:Software
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2009 Sep;26(9):1963-73
references.pmid: 19461114