MoBI: Map of Biodiversity Importance
The [Map of Biodiversity Importance](https://www.natureserve.org/conservation-tools/projects/map-biodiversity-importance) (MoBI) consists of raster maps that combine habitat information for 2,216 imperiled species occurring in the conterminous United States, using weightings based on range size and degree of protection to identify areas of high importance for biodiversity conservation. Species included in the project are those which, as of September 2018, had a global conservation status of G1 (critical imperiled) or G2 (imperiled) or which are listed as threatened or endangered at the full species level under the United States Endangered Species Act. Taxonomic groups included in the project are vertebrates (birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, turtles, crocodilians, and freshwater and anadromous fishes), vascular plants, selected aquatic invertebrates (freshwater mussels and crayfish) and selected pollinators (bumblebees, butterflies, and skippers). There are three types of spatial data provided, described in more detail below: species richness, range-size rarity, and protection-weighted range-size rarity. For each type, this data set includes five different layers – one for all species combined, and four additional layers that break the data down by taxonomic group (vertebrates, plants, freshwater invertebrates, and pollinators) – for a total of fifteen layers. These data layers are intended to identify areas of high potential value for on-the-ground biodiversity protection efforts. As a synthesis of predictive models, they cannot guarantee either the presence or absence of imperiled species at a given location. For site-specific decision-making, these data should be used in conjunction with field surveys and/or documented occurrence data, such as is available from the [NatureServe Network](https://www.natureserve.org/natureserve-network).
| Organization | NatureServe |
|---|---|
| License | proprietary |
| Access | cog |
| URL | https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/api/stac/v1/collections/mobi |
| Datasets | 0 |