Lucky for me, the folks over at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains a Red List of Threatened Species, which evaluates the conservation status of species all around the world. You can search a species, and the IUCN database will explain how the species is classified into one of the following categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, or Extinct. The assessment information is listed in a table of publications from which they have acquired data, including the current species range (click “View Map”). |
I downloaded the Spatial Data for P. verreauxi (see bottom left), and had to figure out how to add this “shape” data to a map of Madagascar. After trying out a bunch of different packages, I ended up going with a basic maps format (still working on getting a nice looking ggmap). I’ve managed do two things so far: plot the species range to 1) a full country map of Madagascar [bottom middle] and 2) to a “zoomed in” inset of Madagascar that highlights how close the red and black sites are to each other [bottom right]. |