Vlinderdatabank - Butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium

Dirk Maes; Dimitri Brosens; Olivier Beck; Hans Van Dyck; Peter Desmet

doi:10.15468/njgbmh

Vlinderdatabank - Butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium

Citation

Maes D, Brosens D, Beck O, Van Dyck H, Desmet P (2021). Vlinderdatabank - Butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium. Version 1.6. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/njgbmh accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-15.

Description

Vlinderdatabank - Butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and described in Maes et al. 2016 (https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019). The dataset contains over 761.000 butterfly occurrences of 70 species, compiled by the INBO in cooperation with the Butterfly working group of Natuurpunt (Vlinderwerkgroep). The occurrences are georeferenced using the centroid of their respective 5 x 5 km² Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid cell and are derived from the database Vlinderdatabank at the INBO, which consists of (historical) collection and literature data (1830-2001), for which all butterfly specimens in institutional and available personal collections were digitized and all entomological and other relevant publications were checked for butterfly distribution data. It also contains observations and monitoring data for the period 1991-2014. (erratum 2021, the monitoring data is moved to https://doi.org/10.15468/wwrgcd) The latter type were collected by a (small) butterfly monitoring network where butterflies were recorded using a standardized protocol. Together with the dataset Vanreusel et al. (2016, https://doi.org/10.15468/ezfbee), the dataset represents the most complete overview of butterflies in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region (north Belgium).

Information withheld: in the original database, the observer’s name and the exact XY-coordinates are known.

To allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use) and provide a link to the original dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/njgbmh) whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

See geographic coverage.

Sampling

Butterfly distribution data were collected in four different ways: i) collection data, ii) literature data, iii) monitoring transect data and iv) observations. - Collection data were digitised from the following museum collections: Bosmuseum Groenendaal, Royal Institute for Natural Sciences (Brussels), Agricultural Faculty of Gembloux, Ghent university and the Antwerp Zoo. Furthermore, the private butterfly collections of the following people were also incorporated into the INBO dataset: A. Artoisenet, R. Bracke, A. Caljon, S. Cuvelier, A. De Boer, K. Desender, P. Halflants, D. Hilven, J. & T. Jaeken, M. Keirens, H. Kinders, P. & W. Pardon, W. Tips, W. Troukens, F. Turelinckx, O. Van De Kerckhove, R. Van Heuverswijn, B. Vandepitte, J. Vervaeke & R. Winnen. The source collection is indicated in the field associatedReferences. - Published observations were searched for in different literature sources and indicated in the field associatedReferences. Since most of the records in collections and in the literature were only reported at the municipality level, the UTM 5 x 5 km² UTM grid cell of the centre of the municipality was attributed to the record. - Butterfly monitoring counts were conducted along fixed transects of maximum 1 km, consisting of smaller sections, each with a homogeneous habitat (e.g., woodland, hay meadow, dry heathland – see van Swaay et al. 2008; van Swaay et al. 2011 for a detailed description of the monitoring method). - Observations (species, date, location, observer) were recorded by volunteers/citizen scientists (mainly for the period 1991-2007, usually with a resolution of 1 x 1 km² or 5 x 5 km²).

Quality Control

All data were carefully verified by butterfly experts (including professional entomologists). The validation status is indicated in the field identificationVerificationStatus.

Method steps

Not provided.

Additional info

To allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use) and provide a link to the original dataset (DOI10.15468/njgbmh) whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO. Issues with the datasets can be posted here: https://github.com/inbo/data-publication/issues

Taxonomic Coverages

The dataset covers all 67 indigenous and 3 regular migrant butterfly species (Colias croceus, C. hyale, Vanessa cardui, V. atalanta). Vagrant or doubtful species (Apatura ilia, Arethusana arethusa, Boloria dia, Brenthis ino, Coenonympha arcania, Colias alfacariensis, C. palaeno, Cupido argiades, Danaus plexippus, Erebia aethiops, E. ligea, E. medusa, Hamearis lucina, Iphiclides podalirius, Lampides boeticus, Lasiommata maera, Limenitis populi, L. reducta, Lycaena dispar, L. helle, L. hippothoe, L. virgaureae, Melitaea aurelia, Pontia daplidice) and introduced species (Cacyreus marshalli and Polyommatus damon) were excluded because no evidence of the observation was available. Nomenclature is according to Fauna Europaea (http://www.faunaeur.org/full_results.php?id=7).

Animalia
common name: animals rank: kingdom
Arthropoda
rank: phylum
Insecta
common name: insects rank: class
Lepidoptera
common name: moths & butterflies rank: order
Hesperiidae
rank: family
Lycaenidae
rank: family
Nymphalidae
rank: family
Papilionidae
rank: family
Pieridae
rank: family

Geographic Coverages

Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region. These regions cover an area of 13,522 km² and 162 km² respectively (13,684 km² in total). This area is situated in the northern of Belgium and represents 45% of the Belgian territory. Flanders is largely covered by agricultural land and urban areas while the Brussels Capital Region is mainly urban. All occurrence data were recorded or are generalized to grid cells of 5 x 5 km² of the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system, with the grid codes indicated in the field verbatimCoordinates. The WGS84 centroids of these grid cells are calculated in decimalLatitude/Longitude with a coordinateUncertaintyInMeters of 3,769 meters using Wieczorek et al. 2004.

Bibliographic Citations

Maes D, Vanreusel W, Herremans M, Vantieghem P, Brosens D, Gielen K, Beck O, Van Dyck H, Desmet P, Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt (2016) A database on the distribution of butterflies (Lepidoptera) in northern Belgium (Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region). ZooKeys 585: 143-156. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019 - https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019
Daniëls L (1991). JNM-Dagvlinderprojekt. Euglena, 10: 26-27. -
De Prins W (1998). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Belgium, Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, Brussel, 235 pp. -
De Selys-Longchamps E (1837). Catalogue des Lepidoptères ou Papillons de la Belgique. Luik. 14-21. -
Hackray J, Sarlet L, Berger L (1969). Catalogue des macrolépidoptères de Belgique. Lambillionea (suppl.), 67: 1-256. -
Kühn E, Feldmann R, Harpke A, Hirneisen N, Musche M, Leopold P, Settele J (2008). Getting the public involved in butterfly conservation: Lessons learned from a new monitoring scheme in Germany. Israel Journal of Ecology & Evolution, 54: 89-103. https://doi.org/10.1560/IJEE.54.1.89 - https://doi.org/10.1560/IJEE.54.1.89
Maes D, Van Dyck H (1996). Een gedocumenteerde Rode lijst van de dagvlinders van Vlaanderen, Mededelingen van het Instituut voor Natuurbehoud Instituut voor Natuurbehoud, Brussel, 154 pp. -
Maes D, Van Dyck H (1999). Dagvlinders in Vlaanderen - Ecologie, verspreiding en behoud, Stichting Leefmilieu i.s.m. Instituut voor Natuurbehoud en Vlaamse Vlinderwerkgroep, Antwerpen/Brussel, 480 pp. -
Maes D, Vanreusel W, Jacobs I, Berwaerts K, Van Dyck H (2012). Applying IUCN Red List criteria at a small regional level: A test case with butterflies in Flanders (north Belgium). Biological Conservation, 145: 258-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.11.021 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.11.021
Maes D, Vanreusel W, Van Dyck H (2013). Dagvlinders in Vlaanderen: nieuwe kennis voor betere actie, Uitgeverij Lannoo nv, Tielt, 542 pp. -
van Swaay CAM, Nowicki P, Settele J, van Strien AJ (2008). Butterfly monitoring in Europe: methods, applications and perspectives. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17: 3455-3469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9491-4 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9491-4
van Swaay CAM, Termaat T, Plate CL (2011). Handleiding Landelijke Meetnetten Vlinders en Libellen, Rapport VS2011.001. De Vlinderstichting & Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Wageningen/Den Haag, 27 pp. -
Vanreusel W, Herremans M, Vantieghem P, Gielen K, Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt, all butterfly recorders (2016): Waarnemingen.be - Butterfly occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium. Natuurpunt. Dataset/Occurrence. https://doi.org/10.15468/ezfbee Data paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8019 - https://doi.org/10.15468/ezfbee
Wieczorek J, Guo QG, Hijmans RJ (2004). The point-radius method for georeferencing locality descriptions and calculating associated uncertainty. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 18: 745-767. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658810412331280211 - https://doi.org/10.1080/13658810412331280211

Contacts

Dirk Maes
originator
position: Researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Kliniekstraat 25
Brussels
1070
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: dirk.maes@inbo.be
userId: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-1819-2009

Dimitri Brosens
originator
position: Data liaison officer
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Kliniekstraat 25
Brussels
1070
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: dimitri.brosens@inbo.be
homepage: http://www.biodiversity.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116

Olivier Beck
originator
position: Verantwoordelijke soortenbeleid
Leefmilieu Brussels (BIM) / Bruxelles Environnement (IBGE)
Thurn & Taxis-site, Havenlaan 86C/3000
Brussels
1000
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: obeck@leefmilieu.brussels
homepage: http://www.leefmilieu.brussels/

Hans Van Dyck
originator
Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)
Biodiversity Research Centre, Croix du Sud 4-5, bte L7.07.04
Louvain-la-Neuve
1348
Walloon Brabant
BE
email: hans.vandyck@uclouvain.be
homepage: https://www.uclouvain.be/en-bdiv.html

Peter Desmet
originator
position: Data lab coordinator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Kliniekstraat 25
Brussels
1070
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: peter.desmet@inbo.be
homepage: http://lifewatch.inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025

originator
Vlinderwerkgroep Natuurpunt
email: vlinders@natuurpunt.be
homepage: http://www.natuurpunt.be/vlinderwerkgroep

originator
all butterfly recorders
homepage: http://www.waarnemingen.be

Dirk Maes
metadata author
position: Researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Kliniekstraat 25
Brussels
1070
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: dirk.maes@inbo.be
userId: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-1819-2009

Peter Desmet
metadata author
position: Data lab coordinator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Kliniekstraat 25
Brussels
1070
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: peter.desmet@inbo.be
homepage: http://lifewatch.inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025

Dirk Maes
administrative point of contact
position: Researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Kliniekstraat 25
Brussels
1070
Brussels Capital Region
BE
email: dirk.maes@inbo.be
userId: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-1819-2009