'NatureServe' Interface

Interface to 'NatureServe' (< http://www.natureserve.org>). Includes methods to get data, image metadata, search taxonomic names, and make maps.

natserv NatureServe R client

NatureServe is a non-profit organization that provides wildlife conservation related data to various groups including the public.

All functions in this package are prefixed with ns_ to prevent collision with other pkgs.

Three NatureServe web services are available in this package:

Name lookup (ns_search) lookup species Unique IDs (UID) by name. These UIDs are required for access to the more detailed services.
Image lookup (ns_images) search for metadata for NatureServe images, including the URL's for the image files themselves.
Fetch data (ns_data) on over 70,000 of the plant and animal species of the United States and Canada.

You'll need an API key to use this package. Get one by signing up at https://services.natureserve.org/developer/index.jsp

Stable version from CRAN

install.packages("natserv")

Development version

install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("ropensci/natserv")

library('natserv')

search

ns_search(x = "Helianthus annuus")
#> # A tibble: 1 × 4
#>          globalSpeciesUid jurisdictionScientificName       commonName
#>                     <chr>                      <chr>            <chr>
#> 1 ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.134717          Helianthus annuus Common Sunflower
#> # ... with 1 more variables: natureServeExplorerURI <chr>

data

res <- ns_data(uid = 'ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100925')
names(res$ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100925)
#>  [1] "uid"                "speciesCode"        "natureserve_uri"   
#>  [4] "classification"     "economicAttributes" "license"           
#>  [7] "references"         "conservationStatus" "managementSummary" 
#> [10] "distribution"

dig into distribution in various watersheds

res$ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100925$distribution$watersheds
#> # A tibble: 458 × 4
#>     type         watershedName watershedCode speciesOccurrenceCount
#>    <chr>                 <chr>         <chr>                  <chr>
#> 1  HUC-8              Allagash      01010002                      1
#> 2  HUC-8 East Branch Penobscot      01020002                      1
#> 3  HUC-8        Upper Kennebec      01030001                      1
#> 4  HUC-8                  Dead      01030002                      7
#> 5  HUC-8        Lower Kennebec      01030003                      1
#> 6  HUC-8    Upper Androscoggin      01040001                      2
#> 7  HUC-8    Lower Androscoggin      01040002                      2
#> 8  HUC-8                  Saco      01060002                      4
#> 9  HUC-8          Upper Hudson      02020001                      3
#> 10 HUC-8      Hudson-Wappinger      02020008                      2
#> # ... with 448 more rows

image metadata

res <- ns_images(commonName = "*eagle", resolution = 'thumbnail')
res$images[[1]][1:5]
#> $id
#> [1] "16968"
#> 
#> $scientificName
#> [1] "Haliaeetus leucocephalus"
#> 
#> $commonName
#> [1] "Bald Eagle"
#> 
#> $otherCommonName
#> [1] "pygargue à tête blanche"
#> 
#> $otherCommonName
#> [1] "Águila Cabeza Blanca"