specieswhere

Specieswhere is a term used in ecology and biodiversity informatics to describe a framework for documenting and analyzing the geographic context of living species. The term combines 'species' and 'where' and is intended to emphasize the spatial dimension of a species' identity, distribution, and habitat associations. In practice, specieswhere can refer to datasets, data models, and ontologies that link taxonomic information with georeferenced occurrence records, extent of occurrence or range maps, and environmental attributes.

Data structures for specieswhere typically include: taxonomic name and authority, known localities or ranges (points or polygons), temporal information, source references, habitat type, and associated environmental variables (climate, land cover, altitude). Implementations may be simple databases or richer ontologies that support querying by location, time, or habitat.

Applications of the concept include biodiversity monitoring, conservation planning, climate change impact assessment, and ecological niche analysis. Specieswhere information is often used in or alongside species distribution modeling to understand where species could occur under current and future conditions, while also preserving observational context and data provenance.

Limitations and challenges include uneven sampling effort, geographic bias in occurrence data, taxonomic revision, spatial resolution, and temporal gaps. A clear definition of data compatibility and provenance is important for comparing specieswhere records across studies.

While not universally standardized, the term appears in some biodiversity informatics discussions as a pragmatic label for integrating taxonomy, geography, and environment into a unified view of species presence. Related topics include occurrence data, species distribution modeling, ecological niche modeling, and georeferenced biodiversity databases.