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BC Species & Ecosystems Explorer

Last updated on August 23, 2023

BC Species & Ecosystem Explorer (BCSEE) provides information for over 24,000 plants, animals and ecological communities in BC.

  • Learn about the species and ecological communities in BC
  • Generate lists based on your chosen criteria
  • Find out what potentially occurs in your area of interest

Launch BC Species & Ecosystems Explorer 

2023 data update!  Read about the recent CDC data changes here.

We want to hear from you. Please send your feedback to cdcdata@gov.bc.ca

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How to Use the Application

Generate lists by group, conservation status, legal designation, area and more.

The following YouTube video is based on the previous version of BCSEE , however most instructions still apply. An updated video will be available soon.

BCSEE video tutorial

Quick Search: 

  • Select a "Quick Search” – this allows you a ‘one-click’ search for records in BC. You cannot change or add any other criteria.

Other Search Options: Mix and match the search criteria below to narrow your search (pick one or many options):

  • Search by Name and/or Group
  • Search by Conservation Status or Legal Designation
  • Search by Area:
    • Draw a user-defined area of interest
    • Upload a shapefile (zipped to include all associated files)
    • Pre-defined layers (choose by map or list)
  • Other Search Options

Results: You have a number of options on the results page including:

  • View basic rank and status information for resulting species and ecological communities
  • Change the sort order and the number of rows and columns shown on page
  • View CDC Mapped Locations (Occurrences) if available
  • View reports including:
    • summary and conservation status reports
    • reports from other databases
    • best management practices
    • other related references
  • Export results details to downloadable table.

Cite CDC as a data source.

 

Data Sources

Find out where data for species and ecological communities comes from:

 

Data Updates

Every year (usually in the spring), conservation status and taxonomy information is reflects any updates (G-Ranks, S-Ranks, B.C. List Status). The following updates are made on an as-needed basis:

  • Addition of new species or ecological communities
  • Taxonomic and/or name changes, including species codes
  • COSEWIC status (updates twice a year)
  • Federal Species at Risk Act legal status
  • Range updates (used in generating area of interest results)
  • Species and ecological community summary reports and conservation status reports
  • CDC mapped locations (Occurrences) (updated daily)

Find more information about taxonomic and status updates:

 

Previous Application Updates

  • May 2021: Read about the enhancement here
  • October 2020: update from http to https
  • July 2020: Read about the enhancements here

 

 

CDC logo

Data about species and ecosystems in B.C. can be found using one of these online tools:

If these resources do not have the data you need, you can submit a custom data request.

The Conservation Data Centre uses the term "ecological community" in its data to capture the full range of ecosystems in B.C. at a variety of levels.

Contact information

Please contact the Conservation Data Centre for more information.

Office
250-356-0928
Email
cdcdata@gov.bc.ca