Fauna and flora inventories (terrestrial and limnetic) from the South of Belgium

Bruno Danis1

1 Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50, avenue FD Roosevelt, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

Corresponding author(s): Bruno Danis (bdanis@ulb.ac.be)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Danis, B., Meerts, P., Josens, G., Host, B., Delhaye, G., Moerman, R., Poncelet, J.F., George, I.. [YEAR ACCESSED]. ULB General Ecology field inventories. Accessed trough [URL]

Abstract

This dataset is the result of census exercises made by students in the framework of the General Ecology Course, at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). 
The data includes both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems data, taken on a yearly basis (by different batches of students), for which identifications are systematically checked by the supervisors.
The field work focuses on regions of Belgium which are particularly contrasted from a geomorphological standpoint, but also from their conservation status, including Natura2000 sites.

Keywords: Occurrence, Observation

General description

Purpose: The dataset is mainly aimed at offering Biology students an opportunity to work on simple, real-life datasets in order to train with various Biodiversity Informatics techniques. It can probably be used in a more general context, as we assume the dataset will be updated yearly with new data, using the same protocols.

Data published through GBIF: http://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource?r=ulb_ecologie

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: All plants and metazoans found in the area

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: "Entre Sambre et Meuse" and "Treignes" regions
Coordinates: 50°1'55.2''N and 50°25'58.8''N Latitude; 4°28'1.2''E and 4°51'43.2''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: May 14, 2014 - May 8, 2015

Methods

Method step description: Each group of students produces a spreadsheet in CSV format, using the GBIF data templates. The data is aggregated in the file which is shared through this IPT instance.
Study extent description: The study includes yearly inventories carried by 3rd year Biology students. The study focuses on terrestrial station in the South of Belgium in contrasted areas.
Sampling description: Terrestrial inventories (ligneous, herbaceous and invertebrate species) are carried out in several locations. 
Tree layer : 30 trees taller than 3 m in a 20m radius are inventoried  by each group of students
Shrub layer: in the same radius, all other ligneous species between 1 et 3 m are inventoried .
Herbaceous layer: in a 5-10 m radius, herbaceous species are identified and there abundance is estimated
Moss layer: abundance and coverage by Bryophyta is inventoried
Macroscopic invertebrates: a 20x20cm surface of litter is sieved (1mm), and all invertebrates are identified
  
Freshwater inventories:
prior to the inventories exercise, artificial substrates are placed in the river, under various currentology conditions. The substrates are collected by the students, and all invertebrates are identified and there abundance is recorded.
Quality control description: Identifications are carried out using identification keys by the students and systematically checked by the supervisors. The data quality undergoes a quick QC, addressing various semantic and parameter issues (taxon names, georeferencing, formatting,...).

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Fauna and flora inventories (terrestrial and limnetic) from the South of Belgium
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://ipt.biodiversity.be/archive.do?r=ulb_ecologie
Publication date of data: 2018-10-05
Language: French
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2015-12-07
Hierarchy level: Dataset