Articles | Volume 18, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2371-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2371-2026
Data description article
 | 
31 Mar 2026
Data description article |  | 31 Mar 2026

Toward better conservation: a spatial analysis of species occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Susmita Dasgupta, Brian Blankespoor, and David Wheeler

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Cited articles

Ahrends, A., Burgess, N. D., Gereau, R. E., Marchant, R., Bulling, M. T., Lovett, J. C., Platts, P. J., Wilkins Kindemba, V., Owen, N., Fanning, E., and Rahbek, C.: Funding begets biodiversity, Diversity and Distributions, 17, 191–200, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00737.x, 2011. 
Ball-Damerow, J. E., Brenskelle, L., Barve, N., Soltis, P. S., Sierwald, P., Bieler, R., LaFrance, R., Ariño, A. H., and Guralnick, R. P.: Research applications of primary biodiversity databases in the digital age, PLoS ONE, 14, e0215794, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215794, 2019. 
Beck, J., Böller, M., Erhardt, A., and Schwanghart, W.: Spatial bias in the GBIF database and its effect on modeling species' geographic distributions, Ecological Informatics, 19, 10–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2013.11.002, 2014. 
Blankespoor, B., Dasgupta, S., Wheeler, D., Jeuken, A., van Ginkel, K., Hill, K., and Hirschfeld, D.: Linking sea-level research with local planning and adaptation needs, Nature Climate Change, 13, 760–763, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01749-7, 2023. 
Blankespoor, B., Dasgupta, S., and Wheeler, D.: Bridging conflicts and biodiversity protection: the critical role of reliable and comparable data, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 11076, 32 pp., https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099415202272518792 (last access: 29 October 2025), 2025. 
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Short summary
This study leverages recent advances in machine-based pattern recognition to estimate occurrence maps for over 600,000 species, using georeferenced data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). A pilot application for priority-setting identifies 30 nations that host nearly 80 percent of threatened species with small ranges limited to a single country. The algorithms are designed for rapid map updates and estimating new maps as growth in GBIF species occurrence reports continues.
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