Is IUCN Red List API available? — is_iucn_rl_api

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provides an API to access data from Red List of Threatened Species. This function checks whether data can be accessed from the API. Please note that a token is required to access the API (see below for instructions to obtain a token).

Usage

is_iucn_rl_api_available(key = NULL, n = 5)

Arguments

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).
n: integer Number of times to attempt to access the API.

Value

A logical indicating if the IUCN Red List API can be accessed.

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.

Examples

# \dontrun{
# check if IUCN Red List API is available?
is_iucn_rl_api_available()
#> [1] TRUE
# }