Species Occurrence Provincially Tracked

Species Occurrence (EO) data are collected and maintained by the NHIC using a standardized methodology to provide accurate and current biodiversity and conservation information to public and private agencies and individuals. Uses of the data can include: natural resource management, conservation planning, environmental review, biological and ecological research, land acquisition, and economic development. Through aggregation of the EO data at regional, national, or range-wide scales, these data can be used to examine broad patterns and set priorities in a global context.

Features related to provincially tracked species and species at risk are not available as open data. Sensitive features are subject to licensing and approvals. Visit the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry website to get access to natural heritage information.

This dataset is an export of provincially tracked species element occurrences (EOs) from the Biotics database maintained by the Natural Heritage Information Centre. This layer contains species occurrences for over 1700 provincially tracked species, including species with provincial status commonly known as Species at Risk. The Element Occurrence (EO) records that form the core of this dataset include: information on the location, status, characteristics, numbers, condition, and distribution of elements of biological diversity using established Natural Heritage Methodology developed by NatureServe and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). An Element Occurrence (EO) is an area of land and/or water in which a species or natural community is, or was, present.    An EO should have practical conservation value for the Element as evidenced by potential continued (or historical) presence and/or regular recurrence at a given location. For species Elements, the EO often corresponds with the local population, but when appropriate may be a portion of a population or a group of nearby populations (e.g., metapopulation). For community Elements, the EO may represent a stand or patch of a natural community, or a cluster of stands or patches of a natural community. Because they are defined on the basis of biological information, EOs may cross jurisdictional boundaries. An Element Occurrence record is a data management tool that has both spatial and tabular components including a mappable feature and its supporting database. EOs are typically represented by bounded, mapped areas of land and/or water or, at small scales, the centroid point of this area. EO records are most commonly created for current or historically known occurrences of natural communities or native species of conservation interest. They may also be created, in some cases, for extirpated occurrences.    Additional Documentation   Status Planned: Fixed date has been established upon or by which the data will be created or updated    Maintenance and Update Frequency Not Stated   Contact Natural Heritage Information Centre, [email protected] 

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Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated March 24, 2026, 20:42 (UTC)
Created March 24, 2026, 20:42 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Species Occurrence Provincially Tracked
Description
A description of the dataset.

Species Occurrence (EO) data are collected and maintained by the NHIC using a standardized methodology to provide accurate and current biodiversity and conservation information to public and private agencies and individuals. Uses of the data can include: natural resource management, conservation planning, environmental review, biological and ecological research, land acquisition, and economic development. Through aggregation of the EO data at regional, national, or range-wide scales, these data can be used to examine broad patterns and set priorities in a global context.

Features related to provincially tracked species and species at risk are not available as open data. Sensitive features are subject to licensing and approvals. Visit the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry website to get access to natural heritage information.

This dataset is an export of provincially tracked species element occurrences (EOs) from the Biotics database maintained by the Natural Heritage Information Centre. This layer contains species occurrences for over 1700 provincially tracked species, including species with provincial status commonly known as Species at Risk. The Element Occurrence (EO) records that form the core of this dataset include: information on the location, status, characteristics, numbers, condition, and distribution of elements of biological diversity using established Natural Heritage Methodology developed by NatureServe and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). An Element Occurrence (EO) is an area of land and/or water in which a species or natural community is, or was, present.    An EO should have practical conservation value for the Element as evidenced by potential continued (or historical) presence and/or regular recurrence at a given location. For species Elements, the EO often corresponds with the local population, but when appropriate may be a portion of a population or a group of nearby populations (e.g., metapopulation). For community Elements, the EO may represent a stand or patch of a natural community, or a cluster of stands or patches of a natural community. Because they are defined on the basis of biological information, EOs may cross jurisdictional boundaries. An Element Occurrence record is a data management tool that has both spatial and tabular components including a mappable feature and its supporting database. EOs are typically represented by bounded, mapped areas of land and/or water or, at small scales, the centroid point of this area. EO records are most commonly created for current or historically known occurrences of natural communities or native species of conservation interest. They may also be created, in some cases, for extirpated occurrences.    Additional Documentation   Status Planned: Fixed date has been established upon or by which the data will be created or updated    Maintenance and Update Frequency Not Stated   Contact Natural Heritage Information Centre, [email protected] 
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
0.06
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
0d5d91e4-cc46-40dc-a789-4186cb0d86fe
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2020-06-12
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
public
License
License used to access the dataset.
Open Government Licence – Ontario
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://ontariogeohub-lio.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/lio::species-occurrence-provincially-tracked
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
LandInformationOntario
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
Land Information Ontario
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
Land Information Ontario
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
LandInformationOntario
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2026-03-09
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
538623f76b234624bb3161c75cc1b0bf
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://ontariogeohub-lio.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/lio::species-occurrence-provincially-tracked
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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