Introduction

galah is a Python interface to biodiversity data hosted by the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). It is based off of the R package of the same name. With this package you can locate and download:

• Species occurrence records (observations, specimens, eDNA records, etc.)

• Taxonomic Information

• Media, such as image or sounds

In addition, users can:

• Restrict their queries to particular taxa or locations

• Specify which columns are returned by a query

• Restrict their results to occurrences that meet particular data-quality criteria

All functions return a pandas dataframe as their standard format.

The ALA is an aggregator of biodiversity data, focussed primarily on observations of individual life forms. Like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the basic unit of data at ALA is an occurrence record (what species is found where, and when), based on the ‘Darwin Core’ data standard.

The galah package is named for the bird of the same name (Eolophus roseicapilla), a widely-distributed endemic Australian species. The logo was designed by Ian Brennan.