SPECIES HELP

Search Pages

Results Page

Reports and Reference Page

SEARCH PAGES

Click the question mark beside a section on the search page for information and definitions about that section.

Identification

• All species are listed by their scientific and English names.
• Scientific names are listed by genus and by species.
• The text you enter is not case sensitive.
• Use the singular of a name, not the plural.
• If you are unsure of the name of the species you are looking for, use only the parts of the name that you are sure of. The search tool will return all species that contain the values that you entered, even if the values are in the middle or end of a species or English name.
• Use the combined/animals/plants and combined/scientific/English radio buttons to refine your search.
• Check the include synonyms box if you want to search for names underwhich a species is legally designated in another jurisdication. Note: the synonyms do not appear in the search results, they are only used as a search criteria.
• Use the RISC Code radio button to search using Resource Information Standards Committee (RISC) Codes.

Tips For Searching By Species Group

• This drop down menu can be used by itself, or in conjunction with the Species Name box.
• When used in conjunction with the Species Name box, it can refine your search to produce a list without extraneous species included.
• If you search just by Species Group, you will get all species that fall within that group.
• All species in the database fall into at least one of the species groups.

For Animals

• Select the group you want to search by using the dropdown menu.

For Plants

• When you choose Vascular Plants using the dropdown menu, and also select the Plants radio button under Search Type, the Plant Family box is activated, allowing you to further refine your search.

Additional Search Criteria

Each of Conservation Status, Legal Designation, Origin, Conservation Framework and Distribution can be opened separately, or all can be expanded at once. A green symbol is displayed on the right side when a selection is made under one of these criteria.

Conservation Status

You can choose to search by either BC Conservation Status, or COSEWIC Status, but you cannot use them in combination.

To search:

1. Select the radio button in the section that you want to search by.
2. Check the boxes with the criteria that you want applied to your search.

Checking multiple boxes within each section will broaden the search criteria, and return more species.

Legal Designation

Check a box to limit your search to SARA Schedule 1 species, species identified under the Provincial Identified Wildlife Management Strategy, or species designated as Endangered or Threatened under the Provincial Wildlife Act. You may combine a legal designation with other search criteria such as species group or forest district.

Origin

Ensure the No condition radio button is selected, unless you want your search limited to one of the other categories. You may combine an origin search with other search critieria. For example, you could search for breeding birds in a particular forest district.

Conservation Framework

To execute a search on priorities you must choose both a Priority Type and a Priority.

Priority Type:

HIGHEST: Each species’ and ecological community’s highest Conservation Framework priority among all three Goals.
GOAL 1: Contribute to global efforts for species and ecosystem conservation.
GOAL 2: Prevent species and ecosystems from becoming at risk.
GOAL 3: Maintain the diversity of native species and ecosystems.

Priority: The conservation priority of the species or ecological community. Select a value ranging from 1 (highest priority) to 6 (lowest priority). Note that you must select a value in order to search by priority (a blank value results in no search criteria being applied).

Action Group

To search by the Action Group(s) to which the species or ecological communities have been assigned, select one or more values from the list. To select more than one Action Group, hold down the Ctrl key while making selections. Note: if Priority is left blank and one or more Action Groups is selected, the search results will include all species or ecosystems assigned to that group regardless of the assigned Priority.

For a list of action groups and their full descriptions, click here.

For more information about the Conservation Framework, please visit the website at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/conservationframework/.

Distribution

Distribution information for species is based upon a combination of expert opinion, observation records, and literature. If you find any errors or omissions, please let us know.

Distribution searches are available for the following groups:

• Vascualr plants that are Red-or Blue-listed or legally designated
• Non vascular plants that are listed under the SARA
• Animals that are Red- or Blue-listed or legally designated and breed in the selected area of interest (i.e., species are not included in search results for an area of interest where they occur only as migrants).

Ensure the upper, empty, row is selected, unless you want your search limited to one of the distribution categories. You may select more than one forest district, biogeoclimatic zone, Ministry of Environment region, regional district or habitat, by holding down the ctrl key when selecting. You may also combine distribution searches with other search criteria. For example, you could search for Red- or Blue-listed breeding birds in a particular forest district.

More detailed distribution information for a particular species can be found in the BC Species Summary on the Reports and References page. This report includes a detailed table for each distribution category indicating the species' occurrence status for that area (confident, predicted or possible), origin status (native, introduced or re-introduced) and migrant status (breeding and residency status of migrant species).

Forest District (FD)

Use the map to determine where FDs are located. Hovering your cursor over a FD will cause its name to be displayed. Note that the Skeena Stikine FD consists of two disjunct areas, the Cassiar to the north and the Bulkley to the south.

Select a FD from the drop down menu. Multiple selections of FDs can be made for a single search (hold down the Ctrl key while making selections).If you do not want to limit your search to a FD, choose the blank line at the top of the FD list. You may combine a FD search with other search criteria. Animals are limited to Red- or Blue-Listed or legally designated species that breed within the FD. i.e., species are not included in FD lists where they occur only as migrants.

Ministry of Environment (MoE) Region

Use the map to determine where the MoE regions are located. Select a MoE Regions from the list. Multiple selections of MoE Region can be made for a single search (hold down the Ctrl or Shift key while making selections). If you do not want to limit your search to a MoE Region, choose the blank line at the top of the list. You may combine a MoE Regions search with other search criteria. Animals are limited to Red- or Blue-Listed or legally designated species that breed within the MoE Region. i.e., species are not included in MoE Region lists where they occur only as migrants.

Regional District (RD)

Use the map to determine where the RDs are located. Select a RD from the list. Multiple selections of RD can be made for a single search (hold down the Ctrl or Shift key while making selections). If you do not want to limit your search to RD, choose the blank line at the top of the list. You may combine a RD search with other search criteria. Animals are limited to Red- or Blue-Listed or legally designated species that breed within the RD. i.e., species are not included in RD lists where they occur only as migrants.

Biogeoclimatic (BGC) Zones

Select a BGC zone from the list. Multiple selections of BGC units can be made for a single search (hold down the Ctrl or Shift key while making selections). If you do not want to limit your search to a BGC Zone, choose the blank line at the top of the BGC list. You may combine a BGC search with other search criteria. Animals are limited to Red- or Blue-Listed or legally designated species that breed in BC. Note: If an animal occurs as a non-breeder in a selected BGC, but breeds in BC, it will still show up in the search results for the selected BGC.

Habitat Types

Select a Habitat Type from the list. Multiple selections of Habitat types can be made for a single search (hold down the Ctrl or Shift key while making selections). If you do not want to limit your search to a Habitat Type, choose the blank line at the top of the Habitat Type list. You may combine a Habitat Type search with other search criteria. CAUTION: Habitat information is not complete for all groups. Habitat searches may return incomplete lists of species.

Sort Order

There are two drop-down lists that can be used to order the results of a search.
1. Choose to sort by:

• Scientific Name;
• English Name;
• Phylogenetic classification;
• RISC code;
• Global Status;
• Provincial Status;
• B.C. List;
• COSEWIC status;
• CF Priority.

2. Then order the results alphabetically, either ascending or descending.

Click Search

When you are ready to run a query, click one of the Search buttons on the page. This will produce a list of results that meet your specific search criteria.

RESULTS PAGE

Click on the question mark icon within the column heading to see the definition of that column.

Results may be re-ordered using two drop down windows as described above under Search Page Sort Order.

Explanation of Resulting Lists:

• For animals, all B.C. species are included and any subspecies or populations that are Red-listed, Blue-listed or legally designated.
• For plants, all B.C. species, subspecies and varieties are included. However, where a species includes subspecies or varieties, only the sub-taxa are included.

Location

Click the 'Globe' icon in the Location column to view generalized known locations in Google Maps.

Reports

Click the 'Folder' icon in the Reports column, or click on the Scientific Name to display the Reports and References page for that species.

Modify Search Button

Returns you to the Search page with the last search criteria you selected, allowing you to modify your search.

New Search Button

Returns you to the Plant & Animal search tab with no search criteria selected.

Search Criteria Section

Located at the bottom left corner of the page. Provides a summary of the search criteria selected for the results displayed.

Export Button

Will open up a new browser window that will give you the option of downloading the search results as either a Tab Separated Value file (TSV), or as an HTML formatted file that can be opened up in Microsoft Excel®. You may also link to the Field Definitions document in pdf format (30 KB). Each of the columns in the export file is described in this document.

Printer Friendly Button

Displays the results in a printer-ready format on your browser.

To print results:

1. Select the Printer Friendly button.
2. Select File>Print on your browser.
3. Select Print on the Print dialog box.

REPORTS AND REFERENCE PAGE

The Reports and Reference page is a list of reports and references for a particular species.

• On the Results page, clicking the 'Folder' icon in the Reports column will return the Reports and References page for that species.
• Selecting a View button beside a listed report or reference will take you directly to a web page with that document. Only documents with associated web pages will have a View button beside them.
• Selecting an Info button beside a listed report or reference will take you to a web page with information about how to obtain the document.