Butterfly monitoring scheme in Flanders, Belgium (hoge resolutie)

Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)

Instituut voor Natuur en Bosonderzoek

Dataset type

Deze dataset bevat primaire waarnemingsgegevens van soorten.

Geografische beschrijving

Flanders, Belgium

Doel

Since 1991, a butterfly monitoring scheme has been up and running in the northern part of Belgium. The number of butterfly transects remained much smaller than in the UK or in the Netherlands, but thanks to novel statistical techniques, trends can now be calculated for more common species, even with a relatively low number of butterfly transects. In total, 105 transects have been counted with different intensities. Twenty of these transects yielded data of high to very high quality (i.e., are counted a large number of years and regularly throughout the year). One third of the transects is located in an agricultural environment, a quarter in open semi-natural areas, another quarter in woodland and the remaining transects are in urban areas. Over the 29 years of butterfly monitoring, 46 species have been observed of which Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus), Small White (Pieris rapae), Green-veined White (Pieris napi) and Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola) were the most counted ones. Six species are increasing significantly between 1991-2019: Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), Comma (Polygonia c-album), Holly blue (Celastrina argiolus) and Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) while five others are decreasing significantly: Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus), Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) and Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola).

Gegevenskwaliteit

Data are collected using a predefined sampling protocol.

Methoden

Data are collected in the field by specialized volunteers, using the predefined sampling protocol.Volunteers enter the collected data in https://meetnetten.be or via an app in the field.A custom SQL view is created in the meetnetten.be database to map the original data to Darwin Core as an event core, occurrence extension and measurement or fact extension.The Darwin Core views are connected to the INBO IPT and documented with metadata.The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.

Bronvermelding

Maes D, Piesschaert F, Brosens D, Desmet P (2025). Butterfly monitoring scheme in Flanders, Belgium. Version 1.7. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.15468/wwrgcd