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Inventory of alien macroinvertebrates in Flanders, Belgium

Dataset homepage

Citation

Boets P, Lock K, Mertens J, Goethals P, Adriaens T, Groom Q, Brosens D, Desmet P, Reyserhove L (2018). Inventory of alien macroinvertebrates in Flanders, Belgium. Version 1.5. Ghent University. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/yxcq07 accessed via GBIF.org on 2021-01-23.

Description

The Inventory of alien macroinvertebrates in Flanders, Belgium is a species checklist dataset published by Ghent University. It contains information on 73 alien macroinvertebrate species (mostly crustaceans and molluscs) occurring in Flemish aquatic habitats, from inland lakes to coastal harbours at the North Sea. The inventory is the result of the study Boets et al. (2016) (https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2016.11.2.03 with occurrence data at https://doi.org/10.15468/xjtfoo) where it was originally published as supplementary material. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each species: the scientific name, higher classification, and stable taxon identifier (in the taxon core), the year of first introduction and last assessment in Flanders (given as a year range in the event date in the distribution extension), coarse habitat information (in the species profile extension) and the pathway(s) of introduction, native range(s), and invasion stage in Flanders (in the description extension). The dataset can be used for researching and managing aquatic invasions or compiling regional and national registries of alien species. Issues with the dataset can be reported at: https://github.com/trias-project/alien-macroinvertebrates

We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the GBIF citation guidelines (https://www.gbif.org/citation-guidelines) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don’t hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via https://twitter.com/trias_project.

This dataset was published as open data for the TrIAS project (Tracking Invasive Alien Species http://trias-project.be, Vanderhoeven et al. 2017), with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It is selected as one of the authoritative sources for the compilation of a unified and reproducible checklist of alien species in Belgium.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

See Boets et al. (2016).

Sampling

See Boets et al. (2016).

Quality Control

See step description.

Method steps

  1. The source data for this standardized checklist is an Excel spreadsheet, originally published as Table S1 in the supplementary material of Boets et al. (2016) (http://www.aquaticinvasions.net/2016/Supplements/AI_2016_Boets_etal_Supplement.xls).
  2. This raw data file was reformatted to make it more machine-readable and uploaded to a GitHub repository (https://github.com/trias-project/alien-macroinvertebrates). See https://trias-project.github.io/alien-macroinvertebrates for an introduction to this repository and the mapping of this dataset.
  3. The source references for each taxon were also standardized and uploaded.
  4. We developed a RMarkdown script to document and perform the transformation of the data to Darwin Core, which includes the following steps:
  5. Perform some basic data cleaning of the raw data.
  6. Generate stable and unique identifiers for each taxon (taxonID).
  7. Create a taxon core file (http://rs.gbif.org/core/dwc_taxon.xml).
  8. Create a distribution extension file (http://rs.gbif.org/extension/gbif/1.0/distribution.xml), including standardization of the distribution date range.
  9. Create a species profile extension file (http://rs.gbif.org/extension/gbif/1.0/speciesprofile.xml), with coarse habitat information.
  10. Create a description extension file (http://rs.gbif.org/extension/gbif/1.0/description.xml), with standardized pathway of introduction (using the pathway vocabulary from the Convention on Biological Diversity (2014)), native range (using the WGSRPD vocabulary from Brummitt (2001) where applicable), and invasion stage (set as “established” based on Blackburn et al. (2011)).
  11. The resulting Darwin Core data files are uploaded to the INBO IPT and documented with metadata.
  12. The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.

Taxonomic Coverages

In total, 73 alien macroinvertebrate species have been collected in Flanders of which 52 are regularly encountered in fresh and/or slightly brackish waters. The remaining 21 species are restricted to the marine environment for at least a considerable share of their lifetime. Most alien macroinvertebrate species are crustaceans (51%), followed by Mollusca (27%), Annelida (19%) and Platyhelminthes (3%). Most alien macroinvertebrates originate from North America (37%) or the Ponto-Caspian region (21%). The main vector of introduction is probably passive transport via the hull of ships (biofouling) and ballast water (71%). The transport via canals is the second main vector (28%) and promoted the dispersion of alien macroinvertebrates. Also, some species were introduced through aquaculture (17%) and hobbyists (6%) (Boets et al. 2016).
  1. Animalia
    common name: animals rank: kingdom
  2. Annelida
    rank: phylum
  3. Arthropoda
    rank: phylum
  4. Mollusca
    rank: phylum
  5. Platyhelminthes
    rank: phylum

Geographic Coverages

This checklist covers alien macroinvertebrate species found in different aquatic habitats in Flanders (northern Belgium), including all types of waterways, lakes, and coastal habitats. The proximity to the sea, the interconnection of different waterways, the high degree of canalisation, and the presence of several harbours make Flemish watercourses susceptible to aquatic invasions (Boets et al. 2016).

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Boets P, Brosens D, Lock K, Adriaens T, Aelterman B, Mertens J & Goethals PLM (2016) Alien macroinvertebrates in Flanders (Belgium). Aquatic Invasions 11: 131-144. https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2016.11.2.03 http://www.aquaticinvasions.net/2016/AI_2016_Boets_etal.pdf -
  2. Blackburn TM, Pysek P, Bacher S, Carlton JT, Duncan RP, Jarosik V, Wilson JRU & Richardson DM (2011) A proposed unified framework for biological invasions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 26: 333-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2011.03.023 -
  3. Brummitt RK (2001) World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (Ed. 2). Published for the International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases for Plant Sciences (TDWG) by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. http://grassworld.myspecies.info/sites/grassworld.myspecies.info/files/tdwg_geo2.pdf -
  4. Convention on Biological Diversity (2014) Pathways of introduction of invasive species, their prioritization and management. UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/18/9/Add.1. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal. https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/sbstta/sbstta-18/official/sbstta-18-09-add1-en.pdf -
  5. Vanderhoeven S, Adriaens T, Desmet P, Strubbe D, Backeljau T, Barbier Y, Brosens D, Cigar J, Coupremanne M, De Troch R, Eggermont H, Heughebaert A, Hostens K, Huybrechts P, Jacquemart A, Lens L, Monty A, Paquet J, Prévot C, Robertson T, Termonia P, Van De Kerchove R, Van Hoey G, Van Schaeybroeck B, Vercayie D, Verleye T, Welby S, Groom Q (2017) Tracking Invasive Alien Species (TrIAS): Building a data-driven framework to inform policy. Research Ideas and Outcomes 3: e13414. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e13414 -

Contacts

Pieter Boets
originator
position: Researcher
Ghent University
BE
email: pieter.boets@oost-vlaanderen.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-328X
Koen Lock
originator
position: Researcher
Ghent University
BE
Joost Mertens
originator
position: Researcher
Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (VMM)
BE
Peter Goethals
originator
position: Researcher
Ghent University
BE
Tim Adriaens
originator
position: Researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: tim.adriaens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
Quentin Groom
originator
position: Researcher
Botanic Garden Meise
BE
email: quentin.groom@plantentuinmeise.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0596-5376
Dimitri Brosens
originator
position: Biodiversity Data Liaison Manager
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) / Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
email: dimitri.brosens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116
Peter Desmet
originator
position: Open data coordinator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: peter.desmet@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025
Lien Reyserhove
originator
position: Data publisher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: lien.reyserhove@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7484-9267
Pieter Boets
metadata author
position: Researcher
Ghent University
BE
email: pieter.boets@oost-vlaanderen.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-328X
Lien Reyserhove
metadata author
position: Data publisher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: lien.reyserhove@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7484-9267
Peter Desmet
metadata author
position: Open data coordinator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: peter.desmet@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025
Pieter Boets
administrative point of contact
position: Researcher
Ghent University
BE
email: pieter.boets@oost-vlaanderen.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-328X
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