Data Downloads

Users can search and download species distribution maps in ESRI shapefile and .BIL image formats for birds (aves), mammals (mammalian), and amphibians (amphibian). Bird and mammal data are available for the Americas only. Amphibian data are global in extent.

All data are in geographic coordinate system. The data sets are at a nominal map scale of 1:1,000,000. Grids are provided at 30 arc second (1 km) resolution.

Species Distribution Shapefiles

Original Vector files from NatureServe and its partners. Distributed without further processing.

Original Grids

Gridded versions of the shapefiles at 30 arc-second (1 km) resolution, in .BIL format. The grid cell values of these files represent Natureserve's seven categories of species presence.

Presence Grids

Boolean 1-0 grid files at 30 arc-second (1 km) resolution. "1" means that the species is known to be present (Natureserve Category 1) and "0" means that the species is absent (NatureServe categories 2–7). Amphibian grids are global and birds and mammal grids are for the Americas only.

Family Richness Grids

Grids representing an aggregation of the Presence Grids at the family level. For the Family Richness Grids (click on advanced tab to the left), each 30 arc-second grid cell represents a count of the number of species in that particular family. Richness grids are also available for each of the three classes: birds, mammals, and amphibians.