# GBIF Species & Occurrence API Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper`) Actor Extract biodiversity data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Dual-mode: species mode retrieves taxonomy, vernacular names, synonyms, and distributions; occurrence mode streams georeferenced observation records for species distribution modelling and conservation analysis. - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, AI, Education - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## GBIF Species & Occurrence API Scraper Extract biodiversity data from the [Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)](https://www.gbif.org/) — the world's largest aggregator of species taxonomy and georeferenced occurrence records. This actor exposes a **dual-mode** interface: - **Species mode** — paginate `species/search`, then fan-out to 4 enrichment endpoints per taxon: vernacular names, synonyms, geographic distributions, and descriptions. Produces fully-denormalised taxonomy rows. - **Occurrence mode** — stream `occurrence/search` results with geo coordinates, collection metadata, and observer info. Year-range chunking automatically bypasses GBIF's 100,000-offset cap for deep pulls. No API key required. No proxy required. Pure public REST JSON. --- ### Why GBIF? GBIF indexes **1.4 million Plantae species** and **billions of georeferenced occurrence records** contributed by natural-history museums, herbaria, and citizen-science platforms worldwide. The data is public-domain and updated continuously. **Who uses this actor:** - Ecological niche / species distribution modellers (SDM/MaxEnt workflows) - Conservation NGOs building species-range databases - AI training-data builders (botanical vision datasets, biodiversity LLMs) - University labs needing bulk taxonomy or occurrence point extracts - Agtech and GIS / land-use analytics teams --- ### Modes #### Species Mode (`mode: "species"`) Paginates `https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/search` and emits one row per taxon. With `enrich: true` (default), each taxon gets 4 additional API calls: | Sub-resource | What it adds | |---|---| | `/species/{key}/vernacularNames` | Common names in all languages | | `/species/{key}/synonyms` | Synonym names | | `/species/{key}/distributions` | Geographic range with establishment status | | `/species/{key}/descriptions` | Habitat, ecology, and conservation notes | Set `enrich: false` to skip enrichment for faster bulk taxonomy extraction. #### Occurrence Mode (`mode: "occurrence"`) Paginates `https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search` and emits one row per observation. Each row includes coordinates, collection metadata, observer, date, and basis of record. **100k offset cap:** GBIF limits occurrence search offsets to 100,000 records per query. For deeper pulls, set `yearFrom` and `yearTo` — the actor automatically chunks by year, running one paginated query per year and concatenating results. A 10-year range with 100k records per year gives 1M+ records. --- ### Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `mode` | string | `"species"` | `"species"` or `"occurrence"` | | `query` | string | — | Free-text search (e.g. `"Acer saccharum"`, `"Quercus"`) | | `higherTaxonKey` | integer | — | GBIF backbone key for a higher taxon (6 = Plantae, 1 = Animalia) | | `rank` | string | — | Species-mode filter: `SPECIES`, `GENUS`, `FAMILY`, etc. | | `taxonomicStatus` | string | — | Species-mode filter: `ACCEPTED`, `SYNONYM`, `DOUBTFUL` | | `datasetKey` | string | — | Restrict to a specific GBIF dataset UUID | | `countryCode` | string | — | Occurrence-mode filter: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (e.g. `"US"`) | | `yearFrom` | integer | — | Occurrence-mode: earliest year; enables year-chunking | | `yearTo` | integer | — | Occurrence-mode: latest year | | `hasCoordinate` | boolean | `false` | Occurrence-mode: only return records with coordinates | | `enrich` | boolean | `true` | Species-mode: fetch vernacular names, synonyms, distributions, descriptions | | `maxItems` | integer | `15` | Maximum records to return (0 = unlimited, requires a filter) | --- ### Output Each record is emitted as a flat JSON object. Fields unused by the current mode are `null`. #### Species record example ```json { "record_type": "species", "gbif_key": 3189834, "nub_key": 3189834, "scientific_name": "Acer saccharum Marshall", "canonical_name": "Acer saccharum", "authorship": "Marshall", "rank": "SPECIES", "taxonomic_status": "ACCEPTED", "kingdom": "Plantae", "phylum": "Tracheophyta", "class": "Magnoliopsida", "order": "Sapindales", "family": "Sapindaceae", "genus": "Acer", "species": "Acer saccharum", "dataset_key": "d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c", "vernacular_names": "Sugar Maple [en] | Érable à sucre [fr] | Zuckerahorn [de]", "synonyms": "Acer saccharophorum K.Koch | Saccharodendron saccharum (Marshall) Nieuwl.", "distributions": "United States (NATIVE) | Canada (NATIVE)", "descriptions": "[habitat] Mesic deciduous forests, often with beech and yellow birch", "gbif_url": "https://www.gbif.org/species/3189834", "scraped_at": "2026-05-18T10:00:00.000Z" } ```` #### Occurrence record example ```json { "record_type": "occurrence", "gbif_key": 3189834, "scientific_name": "Acer saccharum Marshall", "canonical_name": "Acer saccharum", "rank": "SPECIES", "kingdom": "Plantae", "family": "Sapindaceae", "occurrence_key": 4530178441, "decimal_latitude": 44.3601, "decimal_longitude": -72.6519, "country_code": "US", "state_province": "Vermont", "event_date": "2023-09-24", "basis_of_record": "HUMAN_OBSERVATION", "recorded_by": "John Doe", "institution_code": "iNaturalist", "coordinate_uncertainty_m": 12, "gbif_url": "https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/4530178441", "scraped_at": "2026-05-18T10:00:00.000Z" } ``` *** ### Usage Examples #### All Plantae species (ACCEPTED, no enrichment, fast) ```json { "mode": "species", "higherTaxonKey": 6, "rank": "SPECIES", "taxonomicStatus": "ACCEPTED", "enrich": false, "maxItems": 10000 } ``` #### Sugar Maple occurrences in the US with coordinates (2020-2024) ```json { "mode": "occurrence", "query": "Acer saccharum", "countryCode": "US", "hasCoordinate": true, "yearFrom": 2020, "yearTo": 2024, "maxItems": 0 } ``` #### Quercus genus with full enrichment ```json { "mode": "species", "query": "Quercus", "rank": "SPECIES", "enrich": true, "maxItems": 500 } ``` *** ### Rate Limits & Polite Use GBIF does not publish a hard rate limit but asks heavy users to be considerate. This actor uses: - 300 records per page (GBIF maximum for occurrence search) - 200 ms delay between pages - Up to 3 concurrent enrichment calls per species batch - Identifies itself via `User-Agent: OrbLabs/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper` For very large runs (millions of records), consider using the [GBIF download API](https://www.gbif.org/developer/occurrence#download) for a pre-packaged export instead. *** ### Pricing Pay-per-result (PPE). You pay only for records actually extracted. No charge for idle time spent waiting on GBIF's API. *** ### Notes - GBIF data is licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) depending on the contributing dataset. Always check individual dataset licenses before commercial use. - The GBIF backbone (`datasetKey: d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c`) is the authoritative taxonomy for 49M+ taxa. - Occurrence records are georeferenced observations contributed by iNaturalist, eBird, natural history collections, and citizen science platforms. # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `mode` (type: `string`): Which dataset to scrape: 'species' retrieves taxonomy + enrichment (vernacular names, synonyms, distributions, descriptions); 'occurrence' streams georeferenced observation records. ## `query` (type: `string`): Free-text search query (e.g. 'Acer', 'Quercus robur', 'Plantae'). Leave blank to stream all records matching other filters. ## `higherTaxonKey` (type: `integer`): GBIF backbone key for a higher taxon. Use to fetch all species within a kingdom, phylum, class, order, or family. Example: 6 = Plantae, 1 = Animalia. ## `rank` (type: `string`): Restrict species-mode results to this rank. Leave blank for all ranks. ## `taxonomicStatus` (type: `string`): Restrict species-mode results to ACCEPTED names only, SYNONYM only, or all. ## `datasetKey` (type: `string`): Restrict to a specific GBIF dataset UUID. Example: 'd7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c' for the GBIF backbone taxonomy. ## `countryCode` (type: `string`): ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code to filter occurrence records (e.g. 'US', 'GB', 'AU'). Only used in occurrence mode. ## `yearFrom` (type: `integer`): Filter occurrences recorded on or after this year. Also used for year-chunking to bypass the 100k offset cap. ## `yearTo` (type: `integer`): Filter occurrences recorded on or before this year. ## `hasCoordinate` (type: `boolean`): When true, return only occurrence records with a decimal latitude and longitude. Recommended for SDM/GIS workflows. ## `enrich` (type: `boolean`): When true (default), each accepted species record is enriched with vernacular names, synonyms, geographic distributions, and descriptions via 4 additional API calls. Set to false for faster bulk taxonomy extraction. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of records to return (0 = unlimited). For occurrence mode without year filters, GBIF caps offset at 100,000; use yearFrom/yearTo chunking or set a maxItems limit. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "mode": "species", "query": "Acer saccharum", "hasCoordinate": false, "enrich": true, "maxItems": 15 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "mode": "species", "query": "Acer saccharum", "maxItems": 15 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "mode": "species", "query": "Acer saccharum", "maxItems": 15, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "mode": "species", "query": "Acer saccharum", "maxItems": 15 }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "GBIF Species & Occurrence API Scraper", "description": "Extract biodiversity data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Dual-mode: species mode retrieves taxonomy, vernacular names, synonyms, and distributions; occurrence mode streams georeferenced observation records for species distribution modelling and conservation analysis.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "OmuGdttXQk3vBTnmo" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-gbif-species-occurrence-api-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "mode": { "title": "Scrape Mode", "enum": [ "species", "occurrence" ], "type": "string", "description": "Which dataset to scrape: 'species' retrieves taxonomy + enrichment (vernacular names, synonyms, distributions, descriptions); 'occurrence' streams georeferenced observation records.", "default": "species" }, "query": { "title": "Search Query", "type": "string", "description": "Free-text search query (e.g. 'Acer', 'Quercus robur', 'Plantae'). Leave blank to stream all records matching other filters." }, "higherTaxonKey": { "title": "Higher Taxon Key", "type": "integer", "description": "GBIF backbone key for a higher taxon. Use to fetch all species within a kingdom, phylum, class, order, or family. Example: 6 = Plantae, 1 = Animalia." }, "rank": { "title": "Taxonomic Rank Filter (species mode)", "enum": [ "", "SPECIES", "GENUS", "FAMILY", "ORDER", "CLASS", "PHYLUM", "KINGDOM", "SUBSPECIES", "VARIETY" ], "type": "string", "description": "Restrict species-mode results to this rank. Leave blank for all ranks." }, "taxonomicStatus": { "title": "Taxonomic Status Filter (species mode)", "enum": [ "", "ACCEPTED", "SYNONYM", "DOUBTFUL" ], "type": "string", "description": "Restrict species-mode results to ACCEPTED names only, SYNONYM only, or all." }, "datasetKey": { "title": "Dataset Key (species/occurrence)", "type": "string", "description": "Restrict to a specific GBIF dataset UUID. Example: 'd7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c' for the GBIF backbone taxonomy." }, "countryCode": { "title": "Country Code (occurrence mode)", "type": "string", "description": "ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code to filter occurrence records (e.g. 'US', 'GB', 'AU'). Only used in occurrence mode." }, "yearFrom": { "title": "Year From (occurrence mode)", "type": "integer", "description": "Filter occurrences recorded on or after this year. Also used for year-chunking to bypass the 100k offset cap." }, "yearTo": { "title": "Year To (occurrence mode)", "type": "integer", "description": "Filter occurrences recorded on or before this year." }, "hasCoordinate": { "title": "Has Coordinate Only (occurrence mode)", "type": "boolean", "description": "When true, return only occurrence records with a decimal latitude and longitude. Recommended for SDM/GIS workflows.", "default": false }, "enrich": { "title": "Enrich Species Records", "type": "boolean", "description": "When true (default), each accepted species record is enriched with vernacular names, synonyms, geographic distributions, and descriptions via 4 additional API calls. Set to false for faster bulk taxonomy extraction.", "default": true }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of records to return (0 = unlimited). For occurrence mode without year filters, GBIF caps offset at 100,000; use yearFrom/yearTo chunking or set a maxItems limit.", "default": 15 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```