Data from: Area of habitat maps and validated occurrences for neotropical birds of conservation concern

Understanding species distributions is essential for advancing bird conservation, especially in the rapidly changing landscapes of the Neotropics, where habitat loss and degradation are accelerating. Area of Habitat (AOH) maps offer valuable spatial tools for illustrating species distributions by highlighting potentially suitable habitats within their geographic range. In this study, we generated AOH maps for 713 neotropical bird species of conservation concern, which includes species listed as globally or nationally threatened, endemic, or with restricted ranges. Using primary biodiversity data and a structured geospatial workflow, we refined approximately 2.5 million occurrence records through a flagging process and validated 50,743 records manually. This unparalleled effort led to the creation of high-quality AOH maps, along with altitude-corrected Extent of Occurrence (EOO-DEM) and Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) range maps. Our AOH maps significantly improved species distribution predictions for 82% of species, over EOO-DEM maps. The validated occurrences and AOH maps produced in this study have wide-ranging applications, providing a valuable basis for the development of new species distribution models and for evaluating species’ natural history, extinction risk, and habitat threats. They also support the identification of priority areas for strategic conservation investments. Importantly, these maps played a key role in systematic conservation planning analyses for the Conserva Aves initiative, which is facilitating the creation of more than 80 new protected areas across Latin America, safeguarding 2 million hectares and improving the management of an additional 2 million hectares (https://conserva-aves.org/).明晰物种分布格局对于推进鸟类保护事业至关重要，尤其在新热带界（Neotropics）快速演变的景观中，该区域的栖息地丧失与退化进程正持续加快。栖息地面积（Area of Habitat, AOH）地图是极具应用价值的空间分析工具，可通过标记物种地理分布范围内的潜在适宜生境，清晰呈现物种的空间分布格局。本研究针对713种具有保护关注度的新热带鸟类绘制了AOH地图，涵盖全球或国家级受威胁物种、特有种以及分布范围受限的类群。本研究依托核心生物多样性观测数据与标准化地理空间工作流程，通过标记筛选流程对约250万条物种出现记录进行了精细化处理，并人工校验了其中50743条记录。这项极具规模的研究工作最终生成了高质量的AOH地图，同时配套产出了经海拔校正的发生范围（Extent of Occurrence, EOO-DEM）地图与反距离权重（Inverse Distance Weighted, IDW）分布范围地图。相较于EOO-DEM地图，本研究生成的AOH地图显著提升了82%物种的分布预测精度。本研究产出的校验后物种出现记录与AOH地图应用场景广泛：可为新型物种分布模型的构建提供可靠支撑，亦可用于评估物种的自然历史特征、灭绝风险与栖息地威胁，同时可辅助识别优先保护区域，为战略性保护投资提供决策依据。尤为重要的是，这些地图在Conserva Aves倡议的系统性保护规划分析中发挥了核心作用——该倡议目前已推动拉丁美洲新建超过80处保护区，保护总面积达200万公顷，并额外改善了200万公顷土地的保护管理状况（https://conserva-aves.org/）。