The IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, provides Red List of Threatened Species with taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on plants, fungi and animals that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.
GBIF provides free and open access to biodiversity data.
Let's see what you can do with these informations along the open way, e.g. on the example of Triturus carnifex:
"This species is sensitive to changes in water quality. The principal threats to the species are loss of aquatic habitats, especially breeding sites, through agricultural intensification and agrochemical pollution, and introduction of predatory fishes. In the Balkans, there has been loss of breeding habitats in recent years due to decreased spring rains, perhaps as a result of global climate change, and presumed mortality of individuals because of predation by introduced fishes." (IUCN 2015)
Open data
- Natural Earth: Admin 0 – Countries
- GBIF biodiversity data
- IUCN Red List Spatial Data
Some commands in GRASS GIS to get an overview:
# link to Natural Earth Admin 0 - Countries
v.external input=C:\dl\iucn\ne_10m_admin_0_countries output=ne_10m_admin_0_countries layer=ne_10m_admin_0_countries
# import downloaded GBIF data of Triturus carnifex
v.in.gbif -c --verbose input=C:\dl\iucn\triturus\0000336-150922153815467.csv \ output=GBIF_Triturus_carnifex dir=C:\dl\iucn\triturus
# import IUCN Red List Spatial Data defined filtered for Triturus carnifex
v.in.redlist input=C:\dl\iucn\CAUDATA\CAUDATA.shp output=IUCN_redlist_Triturus_carnifex \ species_name="Triturus carnifex"
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| Triturus carnifex: blue points (GBIF data), grey polygon (IUCN Red List Spatial data), red lines (Natural Earth Data) |
These are nice basic data and tools to help improving biodiversity status. Let's contribute to extend!
