Data were obtained from the annual list of changes described by the BC Conservation Data Centre:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/conservation-data-centre/explore-cdc-data/conservation-data-centre-updates/archive-changes

These data were in excel files with different sheets and heading names, which were reconciled into the following CSV files:

• Rank changes for animals (RankChangeDatabaseAnimal.csv) and for plants and other taxa (RankChangeDatabaseOther.csv)
• Database additions for animals (AdditionsDatabaseAnimal.csv) and for plants and other taxa (AdditionsDatabaseOther.csv)
• Database deletions for animals (DeletionsDatabaseAnimal.csv) and for plants and other taxa (DeletionsDatabaseOther.csv)
• Taxonomic changes for animals (TaxonomicChangesDatabaseAnimal.csv) and for plants and other taxa (TaxonomicChangesDatabaseOther.csv)
• English name changes for animals (EnglishChangesDatabaseAnimal.csv) and for plants and other taxa (EnglishChangesDatabaseOther.csv)

The two files (RankChangeDatabaseOther.csv, RankChangeDatabaseAnimal.csv) include the rank change summaries used in our paper, "comment genuine" and "reason genuine" assessments by the authors. Two alternate files (RankChangeDatabaseOtherALL.csv, RankChangeDatabaseAnimalALL.csv) do not contain our assessments, but contain additional columns that were used intermittently in the archives and may be of some use (e.g., entry dates).

NOTE: Only specific named species are included in this list, as specified by the excel sheets in this archive. Additional information about large groups of taxa added at the same time are contained in the excel data.

For the analysis of the first (year-to-year) dataset, run the R script "SpeciesAtRiskBC_20250721.R" which reads in the two "bc_all_listings_wide_20260112.csv" and "bc_all_listings_20260112.csv" CSV files.

Below we describe each variable (column) name and its meaning in all CSV files:

• AdditionsDatabaseAnimal.csv, DeletionsDatabaseAnimal.csv
  • year: the year in which the species was added to (or removed from) the list
  • kingdom: the taxonomic kingdom that the species belongs to
  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to
  • scientific name: the scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • english name: the "common name" most frequently used to refer to this species in the English language. Missing values indicate that the species does not have a common name and is only referred to by its scientific name.
  • global rank: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis
  • list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow) after the addition (or prior to the deletion). Missing values indicate that a species is not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species after the addition (or prior to the deletion)
  • comment: any textual explanation associated with the addition or deletion. Missing values indicate a lack of explanation provided by BC Gov.
• AdditionsDatabaseOther.csv
  • year: the year in which the species was added to the list
  • kingdom: the taxonomic kingdom that the species belongs to
  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to
  • scientific name: the scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • english name: the "common name" most frequently used to refer to this species in the English language. Missing values indicate that the species does not have a common name and is only referred to by its scientific name.
  • global rank: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis
  • list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow) after the addition. Missing values indicate that a species is not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species after the addition
  • elcoded: The element code assigned to the species once added to the list. Values coded as NAN or missing entirely indicate the species was not assigned a code at the time of the addition.
  • element subnational id: The species ID assigned to the species once added to the list. Values coded as NAN or missing entirely indicate the species was not assigned an ID at the time of the addition.
• DeletionsDatabaseOther.csv
  • year: the year in which the species was removed from the list
  • kingdom: the taxonomic kingdom that the species belongs to
  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to
  • scientific name: the scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • english name: the "common name" most frequently used to refer to this species in the English language. Missing values indicate that the species does not have a common name and is only referred to by its scientific name.
  • global rank: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis
  • list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow) prior to removal from the database. Missing values indicate that a species was not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species before its removal
  • comment: any textual explanation associated with the deletion. Missing values indicate a lack of explanation provided by BC Gov.
  • element subnational id: The species ID assigned to the species prior to removal from the list. Values coded as NAN or missing entirely indicate the species was not assigned an ID at the time of the addition.
• EnglishChangesDatabaseAnimal.csv, EnglishChangesDatabaseOther.csv
  • year: the year in which the species' English name was changed
  • kingdom: the taxonomic kingdom that the species belongs to
  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to
  • scientific name: the scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • old english name: the old "common name" that was formerly used most frequently to refer to this species in the English language
  • new english name: the new "common name" that is now used most frequently to refer to this species in the English language
  • global rank: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis
  • list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow). Missing values indicate that a species was not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species
  • comment: any textual explanation associated with the change. Missing values indicate a lack of explanation provided by BC Gov.
• TaxonomicChangesDatabaseAnimal.csv, TaxonomicChangesDatabaseOther.csv
  • year: the year in which the species' scientific name was changed
  • kingdom: the taxonomic kingdom that the species belongs to
  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to
  • old scientific name: the old scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • new scientific name: the new scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • english name: the "common name" most frequently used to refer to this species in the English language. Missing values indicate that the species does not have a common name and is only referred to by its scientific name.
  • global rank: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis
  • list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow). Missing values indicate that a species was not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species
  • comment: any textual explanation associated with the change. Missing values indicate a lack of explanation provided by BC Gov.
  • elcoded: The element code assigned to the species. Values coded as NAN or missing entirely indicate the species has not been assigned a code at the time of the taxonomic change.
• RankChangeDatabaseAnimal.csv, RankChangeDatabaseAnimalALL.csv, RankChangeDatabaseOther.csv, RankChangeDatabaseOtherALL.csv
  • year: the year in which the change took place
  • kingdom: the taxonomic kingdom that the species belongs to
  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to
  • scientific name: the scientific (Latin) name of the species
  • english name: the "common name" most frequently used to refer to this species in the English language. Missing values indicate that the species does not have a common name and is only referred to by its scientific name.
  • global rank: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis
  • audit date: the exact date at which the audit regarding the species status change took place. Missing values indicate that the audit date was not recorded or cannot be shared.
  • change year: equal to "year" and not relevant
  • elcoded: The element code assigned to the species. Values coded as NAN or missing entirely indicate the species was not assigned a code at the time of the change.
  • element subnational id: The species ID assigned to the species prior to removal from the list. Values coded as NAN or missing entirely indicate the species was not assigned an ID at the time of the addition.
  • old list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow) before the change. Missing values indicate that a species was not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • new list: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow) after the change. Missing values indicate that a species was not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).
  • old rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species before the change
  • new rank: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species after the change
  • rank change comment: any textual explanation associated with the change. Missing values indicate a lack of explanation provided by BC Gov.
  • rank change reason: the textual reason for change provided by BC Gov associated with this change. Details on the differences between comments and reasons are detailed as a key feature of our analysis.
  • rank change id: the identifying feature assigned to each change. Missing values or "NAN" values indicate that an ID was not assigned to this species.
  • change in list: indicates the directionality of the change in the color-coded list. Missing values indicate that the species did not change its list value.
  • comment genuine: the percentage of evaluators (i.e., 3 manuscript authors) that believed the rank change comment indicated a genuine change in status for this species. Missing values or values labeled "NAN" indicate comments that do not exist or that were not sampled for evaluation.
  • comment genuine: the percentage of evaluators (i.e., 3 manuscript authors) that believed the rank change reason indicated a genuine change in status for this species. Missing values or values labeled "NAN" indicate reasons that do not exist or that were not sampled for evaluation.
  • change in rank: a numerical assessment of the magnitude and direction of rank changes (e.g., S1 to S2 would be +1, S1 to S1S2 would be +0.5). Further details are provided in our publication.
  • direction of rank change: a qualitative indicator of the directionality of the change in the color-coded list. Missing values indicate that the species did not change its list value.
  • change in uncertainty: a qualitative indicator of the presence and directionality of a change in uncertainty associated with subnational rank assessments (e.g., S1S2 indicates higher uncertainty than S1). 
• bc_all_listings_20260112.csv, bc_all_listings_20260112_wide.csv

  • Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family: phylogenetic classifications in which the species belongs to

  • eng_name: the "common name" most frequently used to refer to this species in the English language. Missing values indicate that the species does not have a common name and is only referred to by its scientific name.

  • sci_name: the scientific (Latin) name of the species

  • Year: the year corresponding to this record

  • bc_listing: the species' place on the BC List (usually Red, Blue, or Yellow). Missing values indicate that a species was not placed on any list (e.g., in the case of accidental or non-native species).

  • bc_status: the subnational NatureServe rank (or "S Rank") assigned to this species

  • bc_should_be: the list that the species should be assigned to based on its S Rank (status)

  • bc_listing_num: an ordinated numeral representation of the BC List colors, with higher numbers indicating higher levels of endangerment

  • bc_review_date: the last date at which the species was assessed

  • bc_change_date: the last date at which the species' status or listing was changed

  • federal_listing: the official status of the species under the federal Species at Risk Act. NA indicates that the species is not protected under SARA and never has been.

  • federal_status: the status of the most recent assessment by COSEWIC at the federal level

  • federal_cosewic_date: the date corresponding to the most recent assessment of the species' status by COSEWIC

  • federal_listing_date: the date corresponding to the most recent change of the species' protections under the Species at Risk Act

  • global_status: the global NatureServe rank assigned to this species, assessed similarly to the subnational ("S") ranks included in our analysis

  • global_date: the date corresponding to the most recent change in status for this species

  • group: the taxonomic group (untiered and categorized by BC Gov) that the species belongs to

  • taxon_type: the taxonomic level of this entry (usually "Species", but can also be "Subspecies", "Variety", etc)

  • element_code: the official code associated with this taxonomic entry

  • species_code: the code assigned to the species in which this taxon belongs

  • old_eng_name: old English name(s) formerly associated with this species

  • old_sci_name: old scientific (Latin) name(s) formerly associated with this species

  • endemic: "Y" if the species is endemic to BC (and found nowhere else), "N" otherwise

  • el_code_new: the new unique identifier developed by us for this analysis

  • 2008, 2009, ..., 2025: the values of "bc_listing_num" for each year, facilitating storage of this data in wide format