Approaches to estimating the universe of natural history collections data

This contribution explores the problem of recognizing and measuring the universe of specimen-level data existing in Natural History Collections around the world, in absence of a complete, world-wide census or register. Estimates of size seem necessary to plan for resource allocation for digitization or data capture, and may help represent how many vouchered primary biodiversity data (in terms of collections, specimens or curatorial units) might remain to be mobilized. Three general approaches are proposed for further development, and initial estimates are given. Probabilistic models involve crossing data from a set of biodiversity datasets, finding commonalities and estimating the likelihood of totally obscure data from the fraction of known data missing from specific datasets in the set. Distribution models aim to find the underlying distribution of collections’ compositions, figuring out the occult sector of the distributions. Finally, case studies seek to compare digitized data from collections known to the world to the amount of data known to exist in the collection but not generally available or not digitized. Preliminary estimates range from 1.2 to 2.1 gigaunits, of which a mere 3% at most is currently web-accessible through GBIF’s mobilization efforts. However, further data and analyses, along with other approaches relying more heavily on surveys, might change the picture and possibly help narrow the estimate. In particular, unknown collections not having emerged through literature are the major source of uncertainty

Las Colecciones del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad de Navarra. I. Vertebrados

Se presenta el Catálogo de la Colección de Vertebrados expuesta en el Museo de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad de Navarra. La mayor parte de la colección, de ámbito mundial, proviene de la antigua Colección del Colegio Lecároz (Navarra). Se exponen unos 800 ejemplares de más de 400 especies. Se proporciona información taxonómica, topográfica e histórica de las piezas

Assessment of user needs of primary biodiversity data: Analysis, concerns, and challenges

A Content Needs Assessment (CNA) survey has been conducted in order to determine what GBIF-mediated data users may be using, what they would be using if available, and what they need in terms of primary biodiversity data records. The survey was launched in 2009 in six languages, and collected more than 700 individual responses. Analysis of the responses showed some lack of awareness about the availability of accessible primary data, and pointed out some types of data in high demand for linking to distribution and taxonomical data now derived from the GBIF cache. A notable example was linkages to molecular data. Also, the CNA survey uncovered some biases in the design of user needs surveys, by showing demographic and linguistic effects that may have influenced the distribution of responses received in analogous surveys conducted at the global scale

Bridging the biodiversity data gaps: Recommendations to meet users’ data needs

A strong case has been made for freely available, high quality data on species occurrence, in order to track changes in biodiversity. However, one of the main issues surrounding the provision of such data is that sources vary in quality, scope, and accuracy. Therefore publishers of such data must face the challenge of maximizing quality, utility and breadth of data coverage, in order to make such data useful to users. Here, we report a number of recommendations that stem from a content need assessment survey conducted by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Through this survey, we aimed to distil the main user needs regarding biodiversity data. We find a broad range of recommendations from the survey respondents, principally concerning issues such as data quality, bias, and coverage, and extending ease of access. We recommend a candidate set of actions for the GBIF that fall into three classes: 1) addressing data gaps, data volume, and data quality, 2) aggregating new kinds of data for new applications, and 3) promoting ease-of-use and providing incentives for wider use. Addressing the challenge of providing high quality primary biodiversity data can potentially serve the needs of many international biodiversity initiatives, including the new 2020 biodiversity targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the emerging global biodiversity observation network (GEO BON), and the new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Putting your finger upon the simplest data

Over the past decades, digitization endeavors across many institutions holding natural history collections (NHCs) have multiplied with three broad aims: first, to facilitate collection management by moving existing analog catalogues into digital form; second, to efficiently document and inventory specimens in collections, including imaging them as taxonomical surrogates; and third, to enable discovery of, and access to, the resulting collection data. NHCs contain a unique wealth of potential knowledge in the form of primary biodiversity data records (PBR): at its most basic level, the ¿what, where and when¿ of occurrences of the specimens in the collections. But as T.S. Eliot famously said, ¿knowledge is invariably a matter of degree¿. For such data to be transformed into digitally accessible knowledge (DAK) that is conducive to an understanding about how the natural world works, release of digitized data (the ¿this we know¿) is necessary. At least two billion specimens are estimated to exist in NHCs already, but only a small fraction can be considered properly DAK: most have either not been digitized yet, or not released through a discovery facility. Digitizing is relatively costly as it often entails manually processing each specimen unit (e.g. a herbarium sheet, a pinned insect, or a vial full of invertebrates). How long could it take us to transform all NHCs into DAK? Can we keep up with the natural growth in collections

Conservation-status gaps for marine top-fished commercial species

Biodiversity loss is a global problem, accelerated by human-induced pressures. In the marine realm, one of the major threats to species conservation, together with climate change, is overfishing. In this context, having information on the conservation status of target commercial marine fish species becomes crucial for assuring safe standards. We put together fisheries statistics from the FAO, the IUCN Red List, FishBase, and RAM Legacy databases to understand to what extent top commercial species’ conservation status has been assessed. Levels of assessment for top-fished species were higher than those for general commercial or highly commercial species, but almost half of the species have outdated assessments. We found no relation between IUCN Red List traits and FishBase Vulnerability Index, depreciating the latter value as a guidance for extinction threat. The RAM database suggests good management of more-threatened species in recent decades, but more data are required to assess whether the trend has reverted in recent years. Outdated IUCN Red List assessments can benefit from reputed stock assessments for new reassessments. The future of IUCN Red List evaluations for commercial fish species relies on integrating new parameters from fisheries sources and improved collaboration with fisheries stakeholders and managers.European Commission | Ref. ERC n. 867981

Catálogo de colémbolos ibéricos. Base de datos.

Se presenta un catálogo alfabético, informatizado, que incluye las especies de colémbolos que han sido citadas en la bibliografía científica para España y Portugal continentales e Islas Baleares. Para cada taxón se dan referencias a los trabajos en los que aparece citada, con la denominación correcta o como sinónimo (se incluyen referencias cruzadas), el tipo de información contenido en la referencia, el lugar o lugares y biotopo o biotopos de cita. El catálogo está sujeto a constante actualización

Spatial priorities for freshwater fish conservation in relation to protected areas

Abstract1. Freshwater habitats are vital for both humans and nature owing to theirexceptional biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services, but they are currentlyfacing serious threats. The designation and management of protected areas havebeen proposed as the most feasible way to ensure conservation objectives for thefuture. However, traditional approaches have not protected freshwater faunaeffectively, especially freshwater fish.2. Previous studies have identified the most irreplaceable terrestrial places toachieve conservation goals. Here, the aim was to investigate how the presentnetwork of protected areas preserves irreplaceable rivers for freshwater fish.3. The irreplaceability of the world's river basins was calculated using InternationalUnion for the Conservation of Nature Red List distribution maps, considering therarity, richness, and conservation status of their freshwater fish fauna. Theoverlap between irreplaceable basins and the present network of protected areaswas also calculated.4. The results highlight the conservation significance of tropical rivers, particularlythose in the Neotropics. The subset of the basins covering 30% of the mostirreplaceable land surface (in line with the United Nations 30by30 target)encompasses 99% of freshwater fish species. However, protected areas do notseem to provide sufficient protection to these basins, as 89% of their surface arealies outside protected areas. Only 7% of freshwater ecoregions meet the UnitedNations 30by30 target.5. Given the context of climate change, allocating new protected areas becomescrucial in providing better survival opportunities for freshwater fish species.Despite the limitations inherent to the absence of total knowledge of freshwaterfish biogeography and the irreplaceability index itself, this study identifies prioritysites for their conservation that may help inform decision-making in the future toestablish more effective protected areas