MICA - Muskrat occurrences collected by RATO in East Flanders, Belgium
Citation
Van Moer K, Brosens D, Cartuyvels E, Adriaens T, Baert K, Devisscher S, Neukermans A, Huysentruyt F (2022). MICA - Muskrat occurrences collected by RATO in East Flanders, Belgium. Version 1.14. RATO vzw. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/5fps96 accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-09-01.Description
MICA - Muskrat occurrences collected by RATO in East Flanders, Belgium is an occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute of Nature and Forest (INBO). It is part of the LIFE project MICA, in which innovative techniques are tested for a more efficient control of muskrat and coypu populations, both invasive species. This dataset contains muskrat trap captures. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each occurrence record an occurrenceID, date, location, the number of recorded individuals, status (present/absent) and scientific name. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/inbo/mica-occurrences/issues
We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) 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 opendata@inbo.be.
The data were collected as part of the MICA project, which received funding from the European Union’s LIFE Environment sub-programme under the grant agreement LIFE18 NAT/NL/001047.
Purpose
Muskrat catch data are collected by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) to monitor muskrat populations and the efficiency of their management in Flanders. Management has been going since 1938 and although some data collection happened before 1991 (e.g. Geeraerts-Bracops 1974) it is only from this point forward that all catches were collected systematically per month and per municipality. Since management was and is spread over different management actors (the Flanders Environment Agency (VMM), Rattenbestrijding Oost-Vlaanderen (RATO vzw), Polders and Wateringen (vvpw), and provincial and municipal trappers) data needed to be integrated to get a full view of the status of muskrat populations in Flanders and their management. More recently this dataset has also been used to report (Adriaens et al. 2019) on the management of Invasive Alien Species of Union Concern (Regulation (EU) 1143/2014).Sampling Description
Study Extent
Muskrats were introduced in 1928 in Belgium as a fur animal. As early as 1938, its eradication was ordered, making the muskrat control program one of the longest standing control programs for any organism in Belgium. Since then, there have been many different actors and control methods, and today the control is still spread over several management actors and public authorities. In 1991 control was organized at the municipal level, many of whom hired private firms to control muskrats (Stuyck 2002). Catches, bait use, effort and bycatches (most of the time) were submitted monthly to Landelijke Waterdienst /AMINAL - afdeling Water by mail. Muskrat control in Flanders was regionalized and strongly professionalized at the end of the 1990s. For-profit trapping and the fur trade of muskrats was banned. The Flanders Environment Agency (VMM) became responsible for controlling muskrats on all streams under Flemish regional jurisdiction. They are complemented by other management actors, such as provincial and municipal trappers, Rattenbestrijding Oost-Vlaanderen (RATO vzw) and Polders and Wateringen (vvpw).Sampling
Before 2000, baits infused with rodenticides were used to control muskrats. These catches were seldom registered as animals could not be recovered. It is therefore likely that reported catches up until this point in time are an underestimation. Since 2000, Flanders has banned the use of rodenticides for muskrat control and the control is performed purely mechanical using various types of traps. These traps will be laid out either at fixed distances close to the regional borders as a passive control mechanism or they will be placed where traces of muskrat presence are reported as active control mechanisms (Verbeylen et al. 2002). These traps are controlled minimally each week but at high densities it is more likely that a trapper will check them each day. The date of an observation is therefore the date that the animal was retrieved from the trap.This is explained in Dwc:samplingEffort Trapping techniques used in Flanders are described in the best practice of Stuyck (2016). Conibeartraps, fishtraps and baittraps are used for this dataset. RATO vzw carries out active control on the public areas in East Flanders. The trapper searches along the public waterways, street canals, container parks... to find traces of muskrats and brown rats. The transitions of closed to open sewer are extra guarded.Quality Control
see step descriptionMethod steps
- Source data are submitted by the different management actors on either a monthly or yearly basis. Initially these submission where done by mailing the monthly numbers which were then digitized in Excel spreadsheet. Since the early 2000s all management actors have switched to submitting their catches in Excel spreadsheets.
- A csv export of the master Excel spreadsheet was uploaded to a GitHub repository (https://github.com/inbo/muskrat-occurrences).
- We developed a Rmarkdown script to document and perform the transformation of the data to Darwin Core, which includes the following steps:
- Perform some basic data cleaning of the raw data.
- Create an occurrence core file (http://rs.gbif.org/core/dwc_occurrence_2015-07-02.xml) for presence-only and all data.
- The Darwin Core data file is uploaded to the INBO IPT and documented with metadata.
- The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.
Taxonomic Coverages
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Ondatra zibethicuscommon name: Muskrat rank: species
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Animaliarank: kingdom
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Vertebratarank: phylum
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Mammaliarank: class
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Rodentiarank: order
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Cricetidaerank: family
Geographic Coverages
Bibliographic Citations
Contacts
Karel Van Moeroriginator
position: researcher
Rattenbestrijding - Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (RATO)
BE
email: karel.van.moer@oost-vlaanderen.be
Dimitri Brosens
originator
position: researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)/ Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116
Emma Cartuyvels
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7856-6360
Tim Adriaens
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
Kristof Baert
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1910-1114
Sander Devisscher
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-5731
Axel Neukermans
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Frank Huysentruyt
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3071-9126
Dimitri Brosens
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) / Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
email: dimitri.brosens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116
Karel Van Moer
metadata author
position: researcher
Rattenbestrijding - Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (RATO)
BE
email: karel.van.moer@oost-vlaanderen.be
Karel Van Moer
administrative point of contact
position: researcher
Rattenbestrijding - Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (RATO)
BE
email: karel.van.moer@oost-vlaanderen.be
Dimitri Brosens
administrative point of contact
position: Researcher
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) / Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116