Match a scientific name against the GBIF backbone taxonomy. Returns the best-matching taxon with full classification and a confidence score (0–100). This is the mandatory first step for any GBIF workflow — it returns the backbone taxonKey required by gbif_search_occurrences, gbif_count_occurrences, and gbif_occurrence_facets. When the queried name is a synonym, taxonKey is the accepted taxon it resolves to and matchedTaxonKey carries the synonym's own key; occurrence counts differ sharply between the two, so pass taxonKey. Below confidence 80, the match should be reviewed. matchType NONE means no usable match was found — try removing the strict flag or broadening the name.
Resolve up to 50 scientific names to GBIF backbone taxon keys in one call — the batch counterpart to gbif_match_species for checklist, inventory, and species-list workflows that would otherwise need one round trip per name. Each name is matched independently and results are returned in input order, one entry per name. A name with no backbone match yields matchType NONE (no taxonKey) instead of failing the batch; a per-name lookup failure yields matchType ERROR carrying that name's error message and, when the failure was classified, a machine-readable reason — the rest of the batch is unaffected, and the call as a whole still succeeds. When a queried name is a synonym, taxonKey is the accepted taxon it resolves to and matchedTaxonKey carries the synonym's own key. Common names are not supported — use gbif_search_species for vernacular searches. Below confidence 80, review the match.
Fetch a single backbone taxon by its GBIF taxon key. Returns full classification, authorship, taxonomic status, vernacular name, descendant count, and publication reference. Use after gbif_match_species when you need the complete record rather than the match summary. When taxonomicStatus is SYNONYM, acceptedKey and accepted fields identify the accepted taxon. The extinct field is absent (not false) on most records — only present on explicitly flagged taxa.
Search or browse the GBIF backbone taxonomy. Accepts scientific name fragments, rank filters, and higher-taxon constraints. Useful for exploring what species exist under a higher taxon (e.g., "list all families of Coleoptera"), for simple name-fragment searches, or when gbif_match_species returns too narrow a result. kingdom, family, and genus scope the browse to a higher taxon: each is resolved to its backbone key before the search runs, so the narrowest one supplied is what scopes, an alternative name resolves to the taxon it is a synonym of, and a name that matches no backbone taxon at that rank fails rather than returning the whole index. Names are capitalized as GBIF writes them ("Paridae", not "paridae") and are matched exactly, not fuzzily. Paginated — use limit and offset to walk through results.
Return the parent chain for a taxon — from kingdom (or domain) down to the immediate parent of the queried taxon — as an ordered array. Each entry has its rank, canonical name, and taxon key. The array is returned root-first (kingdom → phylum → class → … → immediate parent of the queried taxon); the queried taxon itself is not included — call gbif_get_species for its own record. Useful for building taxonomic trees or understanding placement without navigating the backbone level-by-level.
List direct children of a backbone taxon — genera within a family, species within a genus, subspecies within a species. Paginated. Use gbif_match_species to get the taxonKey first, then iterate with offset for large groups.
Search 3.9B+ GBIF occurrence records with Darwin Core filters. Use taxonKey from gbif_match_species for reliable results — it resolves synonyms automatically. Accepts country (uppercase ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, where the record was observed), publishingCountry (the publishing organization's country — a different question), stateProvince, bounding box (decimalLatitude/decimalLongitude ranges), WKT polygon geometry, year range, month, basis of record, coordinate filter, and dataset key. Returns sightings only by default — GBIF also indexes absence records (surveys that looked and found nothing), and occurrenceStatus controls whether they are included. Pagination is capped at offset+limit=100,001 and GBIF offers no cursor or scroll, so a larger result set is covered only by partitioning it — facet it by DATASET_KEY with gbif_occurrence_facets and search each datasetKey separately. This server cannot download a result set in bulk; that needs the GBIF Download API with a GBIF.org account, or the GBIF snapshot on AWS Open Data.
Count occurrences matching a taxon + location filter without fetching records. Use for quick totals ("how many Aves records in Sweden?") or before deciding whether to paginate a full search. Accepts taxonKey, country (uppercase ISO 3166-1 alpha-2), publishingCountry, stateProvince, isGeoreferenced, datasetKey, year, occurrenceStatus, and iucnRedListCategory. Counts sightings only by default, matching gbif_search_occurrences — GBIF also indexes absence records, and for some taxa they are the overwhelming majority. A count above 100,001 is the signal to partition rather than page: gbif_search_occurrences cannot reach past that offset, so split the query by DATASET_KEY via gbif_occurrence_facets and search each dataset separately.
Fetch a single occurrence record by its GBIF occurrence key. Returns the complete Darwin Core record — all coordinates, administrative geography (GADM levels 0–3), dates, collections metadata, collector identifiers, conservation status, media links, and quality issue flags. Check occurrenceStatus before reading the record as a sighting: ABSENT means a survey looked for the taxon and did not find it. Use the occurrence key from gbif_search_occurrences results.
Aggregate occurrence counts across a dimension (COUNTRY, STATE_PROVINCE, YEAR, BASIS_OF_RECORD, DATASET_KEY, KINGDOM_KEY, etc.). Returns one page of facet values ranked by count descending — the top facetLimit at facetOffset 0, a later slice of the same ranking past that. No record payloads returned. Core tool for distribution analysis and trend queries: "which countries have the most records for this species?", "how has observation volume changed since 2010?". Scope the aggregation with taxonKey, country (uppercase ISO 3166-1 alpha-2), publishingCountry, stateProvince, year, geometry, basisOfRecord, datasetKey, occurrenceStatus, or iucnRedListCategory filters. Also the way to split a result set too large for gbif_search_occurrences to page (offset+limit caps at 100,001): facet by DATASET_KEY, then search each datasetKey on its own. Aggregates sightings only by default, matching gbif_search_occurrences and gbif_count_occurrences; to measure the presence/absence split itself, pass facet OCCURRENCE_STATUS with occurrenceStatus ANY.
Search GBIF datasets by keyword, type, publishing country (uppercase ISO 3166-1 alpha-2), publishing organization, or hosting organization. The two organization filters answer different questions — publishingOrg matches the organization whose data it is, hostingOrg the organization whose installation serves it — and an organization key from gbif_search_publishers usually wants publishingOrg. Returns dataset title, description, license, record count, and DOI. Use to find the source dataset behind a set of records, or to explore what data collections are available for a taxon, country, or organization.
Fetch full dataset metadata by UUID key — title, description, citation text, contacts, license, DOI, record count, numConstituents (sub-datasets), and temporal/geographic coverage. Use after gbif_search_datasets or when an occurrence record's datasetKey needs provenance detail. Contacts are capped by contactLimit (default 10); contactsTotal and contactsReturned report the full count.
Search organizations registered with GBIF by name fragment or country. Returns organization key, title, and country — sufficient to chain into gbif_search_datasets as publishingOrg for the datasets an organization published, or as hostingOrg for the ones its own installation serves, or to understand who publishes data for a region. publishingOrg is the usual chain: most organizations publish through an installation someone else runs, so hostingOrg matches nothing for them.