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Get species summary data

Source: R/get_spp_summary_data.R
get_spp_summary_data.Rd

Import species summary data obtained from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Please note that a token is required to download data from the IUCN Red List API (see instructions below to obtain a token).

Usage

get_spp_summary_data(
  x,
  dir = tempdir(),
  version = "latest",
  key = NULL,
  delay = 2,
  force = FALSE,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

x

integer Taxon identifier for the species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. For example, the taxon identifier for the species Loxodonta africana is 181008073.

dir

character Folder path where data should be downloaded. By default, data are downloaded to a temporary directory (i.e., tempdir()). To avoid downloading the same data multiple times, it is strongly recommended to specify a persistent storage location (see Examples below). If data are already available in folder for the specified version, then the data are imported and not re-downloaded from the IUCN Red List.

version

character Value indicating version of the IUCN Red List for obtaining data (e.g., "2021-2"). Although it is not possible to query past versions of the IUCN Red List, this functionality is useful for accessing data previously downloaded from the IUCN Red List. Defaults to "latest" such that data are downloaded from the most recent version of the IUCN Red List.

key

character Token for querying the IUCN Red List API. Defaults to NULL such that the token accessed from the "IUCN_REDLIST_KEY" environmental variable (which can be specified in the .Renviron file).

delay

integer Number of seconds to wait between subsequent calls to the IUCN Red List API. Defaults to 2 seconds (as recommended by the rredlist package; https://docs.ropensci.org/rredlist/articles/rredlist.html).

force

logical Should the data be downloaded even if the the data are already available? Defaults to FALSE.

verbose

logical Should progress be displayed while downloading data? Defaults to TRUE.

Value

A table (tibble::tibble()) object.

Details

Data are downloaded from the IUCN Red List using the rredlist::rl_search(). This function is essentially a wrapper designed to help download data for multiple species and provide caching for previously downloaded data.

Accessing the IUCN Red List API

You will need to obtain a token for the IUCN Red List API (if you do not have one already). To achieve this, please visit the IUCN API website (https://apiv3.iucnredlist.org/), click the "Generate a token" link at the top of the web page, and fill out the form to apply for a token. You should then receive a token shortly after completing the form (but not immediately). After receiving a token, please open the .Renviron file on your computer (e.g., using usethis::edit_r_environ()). Next, please add the following text to the file (replacing the string with the token) and save the file:

IUCN_REDLIST_KEY="your_actual_token_not_this_string"

Please restart your R session. You should now be able to access the IUCN Red List API. To verify this, please try running the following R code and – assuming everything works correctly – you should see TRUE as the output:

# verify access to IUCN Red List API
is_iucn_rl_available()

If these instructions did not work, please consult the documentation for the rredlist package for further details.

References

Please use the following citation for data obtained from the IUCN Red List:

IUCN (insert year). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version (insert version). Available at <www.iucnredlist.org>.

To obtain the version number of the latest version, use rredlist::rl_version().

Examples

# \dontrun{
# define species to download data for based on taxon identifiers
spp_ids <- c(18, 22694927)

# define persistent storage location
download_dir <- rappdirs::user_data_dir("aoh")

# create download directory if needed
if (!file.exists(download_dir)) {
  dir.create(download_dir, showWarnings = FALSE, recursive = TRUE)
}

# download and import summary data
result <- get_spp_summary_data(spp_ids, download_dir)
# }

if (FALSE) { # interactive()
# \dontrun{
# preview data
print(result)
# }
}