In addition to the U.S. and its territories, NatureServe Explorer also covers native ecosystems in Canada, Mexico and Central America, and is actively expanding to the rest of the Western Hemisphere. It also covers plant and animal species throughout the U.S. and its territories, Canada, and the Caribbean, both as individual entries in the database and by listing rare, threatened, endangered (RTE) and other notable species in every ecosystem description.

This coverage provides valuable background to operators and certifiers with respect to RTE species and several other aspects of the NOP Natural Resources and Biodiversity Conservation standards and guidance. NatureServe Explorer can be queried by country, state, or province to produce a list and descriptions of native ecosystems present. NatureServe Explorer is not a map application, however, and cannot in and of itself determine the presence and identity of a native ecosystem at a particular site; it is ideally used together with the two native ecosystem map applications noted above to provide a comprehensive ecosystem description. 

Watch this video demonstration to learn how to use this tool.