Last four of the 20 most popular datasets on the NBN Atlas

As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations during 2020, the National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust) was highlighting the 20 most popular datasets on the NBN Atlas.  Rather than being swayed by subjectivity, this “top 20” was an objective measure of the most downloaded wildlife datasets – taking into account the length of time the dataset had 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.

As the NBN Trust’s 20th anniversary year has come to a close, we are looking at the remaining “top 20” favourite NBN Atlas wildlife datasets in turn.

The datasets

Here are the last, but by no means least, four NBN Atlas datasets from the ‘top 20’ most downloaded:

Miscellaneous records held by Biodiversity Information Services (BIS) 

We continue with the 182,396 miscellaneous records held by Biodiversity Information Service (BIS) for Powys and Brecon Beacons National Park. 

They are records mainly from field observations made within Powys and the Brecon Beacons National Park, but may also include records from mammal and moth trapping. This is the majority of records collated, digitised and held by BIS excluding any records known or thought to be already on NBN Atlas.  The data will have been collected by local experts, ecological consultants, ecologists and members of the public.

These 182,396 records cover 6,551 species – the most frequently recorded include: meadowsweet or mead wort (1,385), the creeping buttercup (1,273) and the common nettle (1,223).  The records cover 3,226 genera and 902 families.

This dataset has been downloaded?12,125 times, enabling the sharing of 1,979,390 records.

The three most common reasons for downloading this dataset are:?’Education’ (3,150 times), ‘Environmental assessment’ (999 times) and ‘Professional researcher/publisher’ (811 times).

Why not take a look at this dataset from Biodiversity Information Service yourself?

Lancashire Environment Records Network (LERN) Records 

The 1,417,675 records from the Lancashire Environment Records Network (LERN) are another of the “top 20” most downloaded datasets.

This dataset covers the 12 districts of Lancashire plus the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen.  These data are a collation of field surveys undertaken by a variety of individuals and organizations –  for differing reasons, using various techniques – and should not be regarded as having comprehensive geographic or taxonomic coverage.

These 1,417,675 records comprise 7,613 species – the most frequently recorded include: the common hawthorn (10,774), the common nettle (10,649) and the common rush or soft rush (10,630).  The records cover 3,593 genera and 1,039 families.

This dataset has been downloaded?17,979 times, enabling the sharing of 19,642,490 records.

The three most common reasons for downloading this dataset are:?’Education’ (4,237 times), ‘Ecological research’ (1,589 times) and ‘Environmental assessment’ (1,437 times).

Why not take a look at this dataset from Lancashire Environment Record Network yourself?

Miscellaneous records held on the Cofnod (North Wales Environmental Information Service) database 

Another of the “top 20” most downloaded datasets are the 724,163 miscellaneous records held on the Cofnod (North Wales Environmental Information Service) database.

While most records are from North Wales there are some from elsewhere in Wales.  Records originate from a wide variety of different recorders and data suppliers, and have been submitted in various different electronic or paper formats or entered directly onto the Cofnod Online Recording System.  This dataset includes Sensitive species records.  However they are not sensitive at the resolution supplied and as their site names and any attached comments have been removed.

These 724,163 records cover 8,000 species – the most frequently recorded being the great crested newt or northern crested newt (14,476), followed by the common dormouse or hazel dormouse (10,242) and the Eurasian blue tit (9,245).  The records comprise 4,586 genera and 1,000 families.

Downloaded?18,408 times, this has allowed 16,994,827 records to be shared from this dataset.

The three most common reasons for downloading this dataset are:?’Education’ (4,151 times), ‘Ecological research’ (1,288 times) and ‘Environmental assessment (1,224 times).

Why not take a look at this dataset from Cofnod (North Wales Environmental Information Service) yourself?

Bryophyte data for Great Britain from the British Bryological Society held by BRC: Atlas 2014 

The 2,785,010 records from the British Bryological Society held by the Biological Records Centre (BRC) are the last of the “top 20” most downloaded datasets from the NBN Atlas.

These Bryophyte records were submitted to the Biological Records Centre for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The dataset comprises records collected for the Bryophyte Recording Scheme, as well as those extracted from literature and museum sources.

This ‘Atlas’ dataset contains all of the records presented in Blockeel et al. (2014) Atlas of British and Irish Bryophytes, with the exception of two datasets (one from Cofnod [North Wales Environmental Information Centre] and one from CEDaR [Centre for Environmental Data and Recording, Northern Ireland]).

These 2,785,010 records consist of 1,069 species – the most frequently recorded include: hypnum moss or cypress-leaved plaitmoss (59,360), common feather moss (45,927) and rough-stalked feather moss (42,079).  The records cover 308 genera and 112 families.

This dataset has been downloaded?7,384 times, enabling the sharing of 55,854,077 records.

The three most common reasons for downloading this dataset are:?’Education’ (1,798 times), ‘Commercial’ (980 times) and ‘Ecological research’ (980 times).

Why not take a look at this dataset from the British Bryological Society yourself?

Read about the other Top 20 datasets

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