infinitylists: A Shiny application and R package for rapid generation of place‐based species checklists

Abstract Premise Biodiversity researchers often need to answer the question: “Which species of taxon X have been documented in (or near) spatial polygon Y?” Online databases with billions of occurrence records, including vouchered specimens and citizen science records, can provide the answer; howeve...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thomas Mesaglio, Fonti Kar, Hervé Sauquet, William K. Cornwell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-05-01
Series:Applications in Plant Sciences
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.70012
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Summary:Abstract Premise Biodiversity researchers often need to answer the question: “Which species of taxon X have been documented in (or near) spatial polygon Y?” Online databases with billions of occurrence records, including vouchered specimens and citizen science records, can provide the answer; however, quick spatial processing of huge biodiversity datasets can be difficult, and many general‐purpose tools are constrained by dataset size. Methods and Results infinitylists is a Shiny application and R package that allows users to generate species checklists for a user‐specified taxon and area. It downloads taxon–country datasets (e.g., Madagascan geckos) from biodiversity data providers and uses an open source, column‐oriented data file for fast retrieval and visualization. Available as a mobile‐friendly web tool with preloaded data, it can also be run locally in R for very flexible applications. Conclusions infinitylists is an easy‐to‐use tool with applications including supplementing survey data, planning collecting expeditions, and informing gap‐filling. infinitylists is a complementary tool to existing databases to help field ecologists and naturalists globally.
ISSN:2168-0450