TABLE OF CONTENTS


 

1. Signing in to NatureServe Explorer Pro


NatureServe Explorer Pro Interface extends the capabilities of our free online NatureServe Explorer application. Explorer Pro provides access to more precise levels of documented and predicted locations for species of conservation concern in the U.S. and Canada. Please take the time to provide feedback on your experience using the NatureServe Explorer Pro feedback form (https://explorer.natureserve.org/AboutUs/FeedbackForm).

 

Once you have been granted access to the licensed dataset in Explorer Pro, you will have the ability to view Species Habitat Models and/or occurrence data on the Explorer Pro interface. Below is an overview of the primary components found on the map once you sign into Explorer Pro. Instructional videos on how to use NatureServe Explorer Pro are available at: https://explorer.natureserve.org/Help

  1. Visit the Explorer Pro website and sign in using your account credentials: https://explorer.natureserve.org/pro/Welcome/
  2. Once you have logged on and accepted the terms of service, you will be directed to a custom welcome page where you can link to the following:  Explorer Pro Interface (top right), geodata portal (below username), data use training, and a list of viewable species habitat models with links to their map and metadata (Figure 1).  

 

Figure 1.

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

 

  1. Click on the green “Explore Data on the Explorer Pro Map” button on the top right to go to the map view for Explorer Pro.  You will see a map of North America with the areas where you have access to precise NatureServe data shaded in grey as shown below in Figure 2. In this example below, data is available for the western U.S. including Alaska.

 

 

Figure 2.




Below are images of the tools that will help you navigate the map interface (Figure3.)

 

 

  1.  On the left of the screen, you will see tabs to open for Species Search and Filter, Filter by Area, and Map Layers where you can search for a species, explore an area, and toggle on and off map layers. More instructions on the Species Search and Filter and Filter by Area tools are included below in the second section.  
  2. Click the down arrow on the right side of the Map Layers tab to see all the map layers preloaded.  The map layers that show up in your map are dependent on your license agreement.  The grey polygons represent the states where element occurrence data are present.  As you zoom in further, the locations where precise EO data is available will be shown at a 343 square mile hexagon scale (Figure 4a). As you zoom in more the data will become more and more precise (Figure 4b). 

 

 

 Figure 4a.


 

Figure 4b.

 

More information on these layers can be found in the legend and/or by clicking on the three dots to the right of the layer name, then selecting details (note: some layers do not have additional details at this time).

 

  1. You can turn any of the layers on and off in the table of contents under map layers, along with other contextual layers such as political boundaries, natural boundaries, and conservation priorities (Figure 4). Some layers are only visible at specific map extents, you may need to zoom in to be able to view the data.

 


 

2. Add and View Species Habitat Models and Occurrence Data in Explorer Pro


You can search for individual species in the Explorer Pro Mapping Interface using the “Species Search and FIlter ” option on the left side of the screen. 

  1. When you can open the “Species Search and FIlter” tab to search and add a particular species data to the map. As you type the species name a drop down menu will appear. For this example, the Yuma Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus obsoletus yumanensis) is shown below in Figure 5.

 

                                                     Figure 5

 

A screenshot of a search box Description automatically generated

 

 

  1. Once a species is selected, a variety of layers will be added to the map (Figure 6a.). Depending on your data license agreement, you may have access to view the species’ documented locations (Element Occurrences and/or observations, Figure 6b) and habitat model (Figure 6c). Note: Element Occurrence (EO) data are only viewable at appropriate zoom levels. If you have access to view Element Occurrence (EO) data, zoom in until EOs become visible. The layers will be greyed out until they become visible in the map view.  

   

                Figure 6a. Yuma Ridgway's Rail is selected and map layers drawn.

    

 

 

The figures below provide a brief description of some of the species layers along with a screenshot of the map view:

   

Figure 6b: EO data.  Yuma Ridgway’s Rail element occurrence (EO) data used to produce the Species Habitat Model (SHM) – visible only to users with a relevant data license agreement.


Figure 6c: Species Habitat Model.  Yuma Ridgway’s Rail Habitat Model: This is the species habitat model which has been divided into three thresholds, low, medium, and high. More information on these thresholds can be found in the metadata document that you can access by selecting "Details" from drop down menu that appears when you click on the three dots to the right of the map layer.

  


 

Figure 6d: Public User Datasets including Documented Distribution and State/Provincial Conservation Status: Yuma Ridgway’s Rail Documented Distribution (where available): In this image you can see the extent of the documented distribution of the Yuma Ridgeway Rail at a 343 square mile hexagon resolution, and each state is color coded to indicate the NatureServe Subnational (State) Conservation Status Rank for each state where the Yuma Ridgway’s Rail occurs.

                      

         Figure 6f. Other Sources of Species Data, such as Observations orSummarized Documented Species.           If observations or other datasets are available and included in your license agreement, then they will also be

         present in your list of layers.  This figure shows BLM observation data provided in California.  In the  

         background is a species count for each hexagon and more information on that layer can be found when you

        click the details button.

 

 

 

3. View Species Habitat Model Summary PDFs in the NatureServe Explorer Pro Interface

 

Each SHM that is created at NatureServe has an accompanying summary PDF which gives critical contextual information about the model. The PDF generally includes information about the model confidence level, statistical performance, model thresholds, and a summary of model review comments. Below are the steps on how to access the model summary PDF in Explorer Pro. Once the species of interest is added to the Explorer Pro interface, navigate to the Map Layers section of the table of contents. Under the NatureServe Species Data section, click on the three dots to the right of the species habitat model data layer (Figure 7).

 

Figure 7

A close-up of a text Description automatically generated

 


  1. Click on the details icon to access a brief overview of some of the model summary PDF (Figure 8).


A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Figure 8

 

 Once you click the details icon, you will see the following pop-up appear on your screen. To see more information about the SHM, click on the link to view the full model metadata (Figure 13).


Figure 9