As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations during 2020, the National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust) is highlighting the 20 most popular datasets on the NBN Atlas. Rather than being swayed by subjectivity, this “top 20” is an objective measure of the most downloaded wildlife datasets – taking into account the length of time the dataset has been on the NBN Atlas.
So, these are the 20 datasets that you have found interesting enough to download most frequently either for your work or for your personal use.
During the NBN Trust’s 20th anniversary year we will be looking at these “top 20” favourite NBN Atlas wildlife datasets in turn.
The datasets
Here are two more NBN Atlas datasets from the ‘top 20’ most downloaded.
Coleoptera without a dedicated recording scheme
We continue with the?4,991 records of Coleoptera from iRecord for families not covered by a recording scheme.??
This dataset includes UK-wide records, made available via iRecord, of the 30 Coleoptera families that do not have a dedicated national recording scheme. Most of these are ad hoc records from volunteer recorders but may also include data from professional surveys and from citizen science projects such as bioblitzes.
The 4,991 records cover 298 species, from 122 genera and from 29 of the 30 Coleoptera families that lack a full national recording scheme.
Since being hosted on the NBN Atlas in February 2020, these Coleoptera records have been downloaded 251 times resulting in the sharing of?8,627 records.? The most common reason for downloading these records is ‘Education’ (97 times) followed by ‘Commercial’ (30 times) and ‘for personal use’ (32 times).
Why not take a look at this dataset from iRecord yourself?
Non-sensitive species from South East Wales
Another of the “top 20” most downloaded datasets are the?272,770 records of non-sensitive species from Natural Resources Wales.??
This dataset was created from 2005 to 2010, from species records extracted, computerised and collated from paper records held at Countryside Council for Wales (the organisation which preceded Natural Resources Wales).
The material from which records were derived included the following: reports, site registers, recording cards, protected site condition assessments, Phase 1 and Phase 2 habitat surveys, other general survey work and records of casual observations.
These 272,770 records comprise 10,505 species from 4,910 genera and 1,374 families.
This dataset has been downloaded?6,302 times, enabling the sharing of 1,557,059 records.
The two most common reasons for downloading this dataset are:? ‘Education’ (2,302 times) and ‘Environmental assessment’ (1,189 times).
Why not take a look at this dataset from Natural Resources Wales yourself?