Freshwater biodiversity of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe: Assessing conservation priorities using primary species-occurrence data

Study Extent

This study includes records of invertebrates, fish, birds and amphibians recorded from the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe obtained from the museum specimen records and literature found in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe Zoology Collections.

Sampling

All records of freshwater species from the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe identified to genus, species or sub species level, collected between 1911 and 2017 were collated and used to develop this checklist. The records where digitized into Microsoft Excel (2010) database and the records where cleaned using OPEN REFINE Data cleaning tool (Version 2.5). Taxonomic ranks, status and authorship was also verified using The Catalogue of life List Matching Service (2017), Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) database, The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) name parser (2011) and The Global Names index database where possible.

Quality Control

While standardizing the records to DarwinCore standards, we carried out a major effort for checking errors and inconsistencies among the data using Excel, OPEN REFINE and GBIF Data validation tools. We followed the guidelines proposed by Chapman 2005 and also checked for synonyms and taxonomic errors in the data set

Method steps

1. The creation of the checklist included the following processes: 1 A list of invertebrates, fish, birds and amphibians recorded from the given study area was obtained from the museum specimen records and literature found in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe Zoology Collections. 2 Digitization and documentation of the list was carried out into Microsoft Excel (2010) database using Darwin Core Standards. 3. Data validation and cleaning was then carried out in OPEN REFINE (Version 2.5) as well as Microsoft Excel (2010) data validation tools. 4 The determination of taxonomic status and authorship and checking for taxonomic errors was carried out using The Catalogue of life List Matching Service, Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) database, The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) name parser and The Global Names index database where possible. 5. The dataset was then uploaded and published on the GBIF database using The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (version 1.2) for the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe.

This data set covers records from fish, invertebrates, amphibians and bird species from the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe

1. Insecta
   common name: Insects rank: class
2. Amphibia
   common name: Frogs rank: class
3. Aves
   common name: Birds rank: class
4. Actinopterygii
   common name: Fish rank: class

This dataset covers records of specimens collected from The Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe a biodiversity hotspot that forms part of the Eastern Afromontane region