Mapping species distribution mostly relies on expert ranges (for example, IUCN and EUFORGEN) or predictive modeling. However, expert maps remain unavailable for many rare and regional species, while modelling workflows require advanced technical expertise and highly accurate, spatially continuous occurrence data that often demand intensive error-cleaning. The gbif.range R package overcomes these limitations by providing a user-friendly, integrated workflow to generate ecologically informed range maps from sparse observations using environmental clustering and convex hulls.
To streamline data acquisition, gbif.range handles
synonym-aware Global Biodiversity
Information Facility (GBIF) downloads and uses dynamic geographic
tiling to bypass GBIF’s 100,000 record API limit without credentials.
The package also automates data curation via 13 custom and configurable
CoordinateCleaner filters, and constrains estimated ranges
using built-in or custom terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecoregion
layers to prevent over-prediction into non-viable habitats. For
large-scale workflows, a dedicated disk-based pipeline processes
multi-species exports without memory limits, while built-in
cross-validation and evaluation functions enable rigorous map validation
against independent datasets, offering a robust, low-barrier alternative
to traditional modeling approaches.
For full documentation, workflows, and examples, visit the package website.
# From CRAN
install.packages("gbif.range")
# From GitHub (development version)
remotes::install_github("8Ginette8/gbif.range", build_vignettes = TRUE)
# Load
library(gbif.range)# Download Panthera tigris occurrences
obs_pt <- get_gbif(sp_name = "Panthera tigris")
# Load terrestrial ecoregions and build range map
eco_terra <- read_ecoreg(ecoreg_name = "eco_terra", save_dir = tempdir())
range_tiger <- get_range(occ_coord = obs_pt,
ecoreg = eco_terra,
ecoreg_name = "ECO_NAME",
degrees_outlier = 5,
clust_pts_outlier = 4,
format = "SpatRaster")
# Plot range
countries <- terra::vect(
system.file("extdata", "world_countries.shp", package = "gbif.range")
)
terra::plot(countries, col = "#bcbddc")
terra::plot(range_tiger$rangeOutput, col = "#238b45",
add = TRUE, axes = FALSE, legend = FALSE)
# Visualise points
graphics::points(obs_pt[, c("decimalLongitude", "decimalLatitude")],
pch = 20, col = "#99340470", cex = 1.5)Yohann Chauvier, Oskar Hagen, Stefan Pinkert, Camille Albouy, Fabian Fopp, Philipp Brun, Patrice Descombes, Florian Altermatt, Loic Pellissier, Katalin Csilléry. gbif.range: An R package to generate ecologically-informed species range maps from occurrence data with seamless GBIF integration. Authorea. June 30, 2025. doi: 10.22541/au.175130858.83083354/v1