FAQ

Citing a BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer Search:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 20xx. BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer. B.C. Government, Victoria B.C. Available: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (date accessed).

Note: it is helpful to include your search criteria, which can be copied from the results page after a search has been done, e.g.:

Search Criteria

Search Type: Plants & Animals
AND BC Conservation Status:Red (Extirpated, Endangered, or Threatened)
Sort Order:Scientific Name Ascending

Citing a BC CDC Species/Community Summary Report:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 20xx. Species/Community Summary: species name or ecosystem name. B.C. Government. Available: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (date accessed).

Citing CDC i-map Occurrence information:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre: Conservation Data Centre Mapping Service [web application]. 20xx. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Available: http://maps.gov.bc.ca/ess/sv/cdc/ (date accessed).

Citing CDC Webpage content:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cdc/. Web. (date accessed).

Rare means not common. Many species and ecological communities are naturally rare. Relative rarity does not necessarily mean that a species and ecological community is endangered. Endangered means that a species or ecological community is at risk of becoming extinct. Ranking is the process of determining the degree of extinction risk. In B.C., the Conservation Data Centre is responsible for assigning provincial ranks. For a description of ranks and how they are determined, please read NatureServe Conservation Status.

If the species or ecological community is known from a common, relatively unthreatened habitat in a remote region and/or is not a showy, easily observed species, then it may be more common than the number of observations indicate. Only by targeted surveys can this question be answered. Some species and ecological communities have indeed been down-listed after such surveys. Until the survey can be done, though, the precautionary principle requires the B.C. Conservation Data Centre to rank the species or ecological community based on existing information.

The greatest part of the biodiversity of British Columbia is made up of invertebrates - a group that we know the least about! We do not even know what species are found in the province or the extent of their ranges, let alone the roles that they play in the diverse ecosystems in the province. For example, many bees, flies, butterflies or beetles are key pollinators. They are critical components in the food chain. There are many plants that are dependent on fungal associations with their roots, invertebrates are important vectors in this process. Insects and other soil-dwelling creatures help create productive soil. There are many predaceous or parasitic invertebrates that are vital in the control of unwanted plants or other invertebrates that may be considered pests.

One cannot assume that just because an element is at the edge of its range in B.C. that it is doing well elsewhere. For example, the Oregon Spotted Frog is declining across its range. Other species, such as the golden paintbrush and Columbia Sharp-tailed Grouse, are doing better at the edge of their ranges than in the centre. Furthermore, range edge populations often have special conservation value. They have often adapted to live in different habitats than populations in the centre of the range, and have developed unique genetic characteristics that should be preserved to maintain the strength and diversity of the species as a whole. In the case of climatic change, it may be the population at the edge of the range that can best adapt to a new environment.

Visit the NatureServe web site and use NatureServe Explorer. This is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities of the United States and Canada. Through the NatureServe site you can also link to Conservation Data Centres and Natural Heritage Programs in other states and provinces. From the NatureServe home page, click on the Network Directory.

The data in BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer come from the B.C. Conservation Data Centre (CDC). CDC species data come from a wide variety of sources including museum specimen records, theses, published and unpublished research, surveys conducted by contractors or ministry staff, naturalist's reports and from observations sent in by the public. Data on ecologincal communities comes from sources including the Ministry of Forests Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification program, the Ecological Reserves Program, theses, the International Vegetation Classification, incidental observations and ecosystem mapping projects. If you have information to share about a rare species or ecological community in B.C. please visit our Help Us page.

All biogeoclimatic (BGC) units in which an ecological community occurs are displayed in the results, regardless of the BGC unit or Natural Resource District specified as a search criterion. This also applies to searches on a specific Ecosection, Ministry of Environment Region, or Regional District.

This means that a Natural Resource District (or Ecosection, Ministry of Environment Region, or Regional District) search may return ecological communities that also occur on BGC units that aren't in the specified Natural Resourse District (or Ecosection, Ministry of Environment Region, or Regional District). For example, Glyceria borealis Marsh is one of the ecological communities in the Haida Gwaii FD. The BGCs listed in the search results for Glyceria borealis Marsh are CWHvh2, which occurs in the Haida Gwaii FD, and ESSFdv, MSxv and SBPSxc, which do not.

First, distribution searches are restricted to Red- and Blue-listed and legally designated species. Second, birds are only listed in a jurisdictions in which they breed. The Western Grebe breeds in the interior, then disperses along the coast in the winter.

Using the Search by Area tool in BC Species and Ecosystem Explorer users can select a predefined area of interest (e.g. Municipalities, Regional Districts, etc.) or upload/draw their own area of interest.  The Search by Area tool performs a spatial overlay of a user's area of interest and species and ecological community range data.  Species range data are based on Ecosection linework and ecological community range data are based on Biogeoclimatic unit boundaries.  Range data are created for Red or Blue listed or legally designated species and ecological communities, but not necessarily for all of them.  The species and ecological community ranges are currently being reviewed by experts and thus the range data (and by extension the search results) are continuously updated and will become more complete and accurate through time.  Please review your results from the Search by Area tool for anomalies. 

Zoology:

If only one subspecies exists in the province (i.e., all instances of the element are a single subspecies), then we only report out the species record. We generally only report out subspecies if the subspecies has special status (COSEWIC, SARA etc.).

Botany:

For plants and fungi (including lichens), if a species has subtaxa (some don’t, they are monotypic) then each subspecies or variety that occurs within BC is assigned a provincial conservation status rank and is reported on BCSEE. 

In B.C., species and ecological communities are assigned to one of three lists, based on their provincial Conservation Status Rank. Red-listed species and ecological communities are Extirpated, Endangered, or Threatened in British Columbia. Blue-listed species and ecological communities are of Special Concern (formerly Vulnerable) and Yellow-listed species and ecological communities are secure. To see how Conservation Status Ranks relate to list colour, see the Provincial Red and Blue Lists page.

A species or ecological community is placed on the Red or Blue list based on its provincial Conservation Status Rank, which is assigned by the B.C. Conservation Data Centre. To see how Conservation Status Ranks relate to the red and blue lists, see the Provincial Red and Blue Lists page.

The following factors are considered in assigning the Provincial Conservation Status Rank:

• total number and condition of occurrences
• population size (species only)
• range extent and area of occupancy
• short- and long-term trends in the foregoing factors
• threats
• intrinsic vulnerability
• environmental specificity

For a complete treatment of this topic, read the NatureServe Conservation Status Assessment methods. 

Use the BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer to search for the species or ecological community you are interested in. Then click on 'View' under the 'Reports' column. This will create a web-linked bibliography. Your local library or a search of the world-wide web may lead you to more information. In some cases there may not be very much known about the species or ecological community or at least not very much known about it in B.C.

Species and ecological communities are added or removed from the lists as a result of increased knowledge about the species/ecological community or because of an actual change in the species'/ecological community's circumstances. For example, the Boreal Snaketail Dragonfly, Ophiogomphus colubrinus, was only known from two locations in the province before an extensive dragonfly survey was conducted in the summer of 2000. It is now known from a dozen locations in relatively non-threatened habitats. Consequently it was moved from the Red list to the Blue list. On the other hand, Caribou (southern population) were moved from the Blue list to the Red list when extensive surveys indicated that their population numbers were decreasing, and the threats they were exposed to were increasing. The Conservation Data Centre attempts to review ranks annually.

The B.C. Conservation Data Centre and NatureServe network use the term Ecological Communities to refer to ecosystems in B.C. In practice, ecological communities include plant associations from the Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification and other natural plant communities documented from inventory projects, theses, and other reports. 

Please refer to the CDC Data Contributions page.  

Yes. Mid seral stage forests are expected to develop into mature and late seral stage forest ecosystems if they are not harvested or subject to other disturbances.  However, assessing the conservation value of seral associations is complex because some disturbances can be critical to maintaining a plant association at a particular site, while other disturbances can disrupt processes that have previously maintained a plant association on a particular site, thereby altering the site and the community. Depending on the type and severity of disturbance, some seral associations, given time, may develop into mature ecosystems with good or excellent ecological integrity, while others are more likely to have fair or poor ecological integrity. Seral plant associations may be of interest for conservation, such as ecosystems culturally maintained by Indigenous Peoples. Seral associations may also be of interest because some ecological communities are infrequently found in late stages of development, so “recruitment” occurrences representing earlier stages of development are relatively important for long-term conservation.  

An element occurrence is an area of land and/or water in which a species or ecological community is or was present. The number of known occurrences for a species or ecological community may be an important factor in determining its Conservation Status Rank. An occurrence record is the spatial representation of a species or ecological community at a specific location. An occurrence generally delineates a species population, or ecological community stand, patch or cluster of stands or patches, and represents the geo-referenced biological feature that is of conservation management interest.

Some occurrences are considered to be susceptible to persecution or harm. Examples include falcon aeries, rattlesnake dens, and bat 'hibernacula' or roost sites. The B.C. Conservation Data Centre (CDC) only displays secured occurrences as a large "fuzzed" polygon with only an ID number. The CDC can release details of these occurrences on a need to know basis. Some occurrences are secured due to proprietary reasons and these are not released. For more information on obtaining secured data, contact . Read more about Species and Ecosystems Secure Data and Information.

Search for the species or ecological community in BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer. From the results page, click on the globe icon. This will link you to Google Maps where you will see mapped known locations. Alternatively, visit the Mapped Known Locations page.

Visit the Mapped Known Locations page.