Global Biodiversity Information Facility Research Articles

A critical appraisal of occurrence data in OBIS and GBIF databases: a case study on true mangrove species

In the context of the biodiversity and climate crises, reliably documenting past and current species distributions is of paramount importance for deciphering the main drivers of species occurrences and range shifts and forecasting those under various global change scenarios. For that purpose, species observation records are essential and, according to the FAIR data principles, should be shared with a broad community of researchers and other stakeholders. Various databases have been created to compile and centralize information about biodiversity in recent years, among which the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), dedicated to the marine realm, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) are the most renowned ones. Here we evaluated how 38 selected “true mangrove” species are represented in those databases and assessed the quality and reliability of the information on geographical location of those observations. While OBIS and GBIF are extremely valuable databases, they still contain erroneous information, highlighting the need for closer communication among scientific experts and database managers together with the implementation of automated validation processes (e.g., using ecosystem distribution maps) to improve the data curation and data quality assurance processes. Further, we showed clear data deficiencies in many regions, including biodiversity hotspots. Many valuable observations are either hidden in publications or in private repositories but not shared with the global community, a practice that should change for the benefit of mangrove conservation and management. We encourage mangrove researchers to be proactive in correcting those data deficiencies by systematically submitting their observations, following the FAIR data principles.

A trawl collected dataset of Johnius (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) species in central-western Taiwanese waters.

Sciaenidae is one of the most important coastal fisheries in Taiwan, both in production and economic value. It is also significant as the main targetted diet of Chinese white dolphins, Sousachinensis, especially for the genus Johnius, such as J.taiwanensis, J.belangerii and J.distinctus, which is primarily found in central-western Taiwan coastal waters. Despite an abundance of Johnius species occurrences reported in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF) data portals (Mozambique, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Pakistan, Vietnam and China), there are no specific datasets that properly document the regional distribution of this genus, especially in Taiwanese waters. Thus, this paper describes a dataset of genus Johnius occurrences in waters on the central-western coast of Taiwan. The data collection for the present study was conducted from 2009 until 2020 and comprised 62 sampling events and 133 occurrence records. All fish specimens were collected by trawling in Miaoli, Changhwa and Yunlin Counties, Taiwan and brought back to the lab for identification, individual number count and body weight measurement. These processing data have been integrated and established in the Taiwan Fish Database and published in GBIF. This dataset contains six Johnius species and 2,566 specimens, making it comprehensive Johnius fish fauna and spatial distributional data on the coastal habitat in central-western Taiwanese waters. This dataset contains 133 occurrence records of Johnius species (Sciaenidae) with 2,566 specimens, making it the most extensive public dataset of Johnius distribution records in Taiwan. The publication of this dataset through the TaiBIF and GBIF dataset platforms demonstrated that the number of Johnius spatial and temporal records in Taiwan waters is influenced by the topographical structure of the Changyun Rise (CYR) in combination with the cold current of the China Coastal currents and bound with the warm currents of the Kuroshio and the South China Sea on the central-western coast of Taiwan. The data serve as the foundation for understanding the biogeography and Johnius species ecology in Taiwan's coastal waters, which present a 2°C water temperature difference split at the CYR.

INVASIVE INSECT SPECIES CYDALIMA PERSPECTALIS (WALKER, 1859): GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION, INVASION IN UKRAINE AND DAMAGE IN CHERNIVTSI REGION

Invasions of species into ecosystems cause their transformation and, in certain cases, their degradation. The study was carried out to determine the extent of the invasion of Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859). For this purpose, the following aspects were analyzed: distribution of the species in different countries of the worldі, history of invasion of the pest in Ukraine, degree of damage to plantations of different box (Buxus L.) species and colony density in certain areas. The chronology of the distribution of C. perspectalis was studied using literature sources and international databases: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe (DAISIE), European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). The information on the history of the species' invasion in Ukraine and in particular in the Chernivtsi region was found in the literature, using the database of the National Biodiversity Information Network (UkrBIN), through questionnaires and personal observations using the route method (counting the number of C. perspectalis on a certain route). The degree of damage to Buxus sp. shrubs was determined visually using a scale. The density of C. perspectalis in each area was assessed by total counts and direct counts in situ with a parallel assessment of habitat size. It was found that the expansion of C. perspectalis beyond its native range began in 2006 from southwestern Germany. In 15 years, the species has occupied the territories of about 40 mainland and island countries of the North American and European continents. Since 2014, after the invasion of the Zakarpattia region, C. perspectalis has begun to spread throughout the Ukrainian territories. Currently, the secondary range of the species is represented by 14 regions. The presence of C. perspectalis has been detected in 16 settlements of Chernivtsi region, where the degree of damage to box shrubs is mostly severe. The density of caterpillars on most bushes is up to 100 individuals/m2, which indicates the high damage of the species. Key words: Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859), invasive species, damage, expansion.

Unveiling the urban colonization of the Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) across its distribution range using citizen science.

This study aims to investigate the urban colonization of the Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) across its entire range of distribution, addressing the paucity of research on this species in urban ecosystems. The research spans the geographic range of the Asian water monitor, focusing on urbanized areas where the species accumulates more observations (Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore). We conducted a systematic review to comprehensively assess the current knowledge of the species' presence in cities. Additionally, citizen science data from repositories like GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information facility ) were utilized to analyze the distribution patterns of V. salvator in urban environments. To elucidate urban distribution and correct collection biases, observations were weighted by sampling effort, using as a proxy all squamate occurrences available from 2010-2023, including V. salvator. Despite the widespread presence of the Asian water monitor in numerous cities within its distribution range, the available studies on the topic appear to be scarce. Existing research primarily consists of descriptive reports on diet and behavior. Our findings indicate that V. salvator predominantly colonizes green patches in urban areas, such as parks and small gardens. Larger cities exhibit higher records, potentially due to both permanent populations and increased citizen science reporting. The Asian water monitor, as the largest lizard with established populations in cities, remains scarcely studied on a broader scale. However, the urban design of each city seems relevant to understand the distribution patterns within each context. Our study highlights the need for further research to explore the ecological and human dimensions associated with the species' presence in urban environments.

Climate and human stressors on global penguin hotspots: Current assessments for future conservation.

As charismatic and iconic species, penguins can act as "ambassadors" or flagship species to promote the conservation of marine habitats in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately, there is a lack of reliable, comprehensive, and systematic analysis aimed at compiling spatially explicit assessments of the multiple impacts that the world's 18 species of penguin are facing. We provide such an assessment by combining the available penguin occurrence information from Global Biodiversity Information Facility (>800,000 occurrences) with three main stressors: climate-driven environmental changes at sea, industrial fisheries, and human disturbances on land. Our analyses provide a quantitative assessment of how these impacts are unevenly distributed spatially within species' distribution ranges. Consequently, contrasting pressures are expected among species, and populations within species. The areas coinciding with the greatest impacts for penguins are the coast of Perú, the Patagonian Shelf, the Benguela upwelling region, and the Australian and New Zealand coasts. When weighting these potential stressors with species-specific vulnerabilities, Humboldt (Spheniscus humboldti), African (Spheniscus demersus), and Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus) emerge as the species under the most pressure. Our approach explicitly differentiates between climate and human stressors, since the more achievable management of local anthropogenic stressors (e.g., fisheries and land-based threats) may provide a suitable means for facilitating cumulative impacts on penguins, especially where they may remain resilient to global processes such as climate change. Moreover, our study highlights some poorly represented species such as the Northern Rockhopper (Eudyptes moseleyi), Snares (Eudyptes robustus), and Erect-crested penguin (Eudyptes sclateri) that need internationally coordinated efforts for data acquisition and data sharing to understand their spatial distribution properly.

From “Sabang to Merauke”, the presence of non-native Oreochromis mossambicus and Oreochromis niloticus (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) in Indonesia

Mozambique Tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus and Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticusare two non-native species of cichlids (Cichlidae: Cichliformes) that have established populations in Indonesia. There are many information about the presence of both non-native species in the country, but detailed distribution is filling a gap of information. We compile unpublished and published distribution records of Oreochromis mossambicus and Oreochromis niloticus from various sources, particularly from iNaturalist (citizen science platform) and GBIF (The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an international network of country and organizational participants that exists to enable free and open access to biodiversity data from all sources and to support biodiversity science, environmental research and evidence based decision-making). The historical records of O. mossambicus and O. niloticus were reviewed and summarized, and put the certain known distribution records into the map. Our study suggest that O. mossambicus and O. niloticus found widely throughout Indonesia, from Sabang (northwesternost: Aceh Province, Sumatra) and Merauke (southeasternmost: South Papua Province, Papua).

A comprehensive synthesis of dung beetle records (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) from Sabah, Malaysia.

Dung beetles play key roles in terrestrial ecosystems, contributing to many important ecosystem process and functions, such as nutrient recycling, parasite control and seed dispersal. Due to their tight associations with mammals and their responses to environmental change, they are also frequently used as environmental and biological indicators. Despite their importance, knowledge about dung beetles in Southeast Asia is limited. To address this information gap, we established a databasing project - "Mobilising data on ecologically important insects in Malaysia and Singapore" - funded by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). As part of this project, we compiled two extensive datasets - a sampling-event and occurrence dataset and a taxonomic checklist - for the dung beetles of Sabah, Bornean Malaysia. The sampling-event dataset documents 2,627 unique sampling events and 21,348 dung beetle occurrence records for Sabah. The taxonomic checklist includes 156 confirmed dung beetle species and 36 synonyms, totalling 192 records. These datasets have been made open access through the GBIF portal, which we hope will enhance the understanding of dung beetle taxonomy and their distributions in Southeast Asia. All data presented in this paper comprises of available information pertaining to the dung beetles of Sabah.

Intermediate and definitive hosts of wild Schistosoma mansoni: ecological niche modeling of hosts in low endemicity areas.

The relationship between the environment and animal life began to be seen as an important tool to help control zoonoses. Climate variations lead to changes in the environment, which can influence the spatial distribution of species and, consequently, the spread of diseases to humans. Considered the main non-human definitive host species of Schistosoma mansoni in Brazil, the wild rodent Nectomys squamipes plays an important role as a reservoir in maintaining the schistosomiasis cycle in the absence of humans. This study demonstrates the results of ecological niche modeling of intermediate and definitive wild hosts of S. mansoni in the Regional Health Superintendence of Barbacena (Minas Gerais State), which has registered 31 municipalities, 80% of which are classified as endemic for parasitosis. Environmental variables associated with the distribution of each species were used based on information from the scientific collections of Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Species Link to project the ecological niche model in the geographic space. Abiotic variables such as the mean annual temperature, isothermality, and precipitation seasonality were obtained from World Clim. Ecological niche modeling of the wild host, N. squamipes, revealed the occurrence of the species in geographic overlap with the Biomphalaria species. Knowing the influence of bioclimatic variables and identifying favorable conditions for the establishment, occurrence, and distribution of species are important information for developing strategic actions for the surveillance and control of this endemic species. The presence of the definitive wild host needs to be considered by control programs of schistosomiasis.

Modeling the current and projected distribution of Brazilian peppertree Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Anacardiaceae) in the Americas.

Global biodiversity is under substantial threat due to biological invasions, a problem exacerbated by climate change. Such invasions have detrimental effects on the environment, economy, and human health, resulting in significant financial burdens. Recently, understanding these challenges has become a highlighted priority within the scientific community. This study focuses on the evaluation of Schinus terebinthifolia, native to South America, and its invasive spread into North and Central America, which has resulted in wide distribution and considerable impact. The primary objectives of this study include analyzing the potential distribution of the species under current and future climate scenarios, identifying the areas where its climatic niche is changing. Data collection encompassed a vast dataset of over 30,000 occurrence records of this species, from the following databases: (1) The Global Biodiversity Information Facility provided 22,163 records (GBIF), (2) The virtual Herbarium Reflora contributed 1,438 records, and NeoTropTree made available 6,591 records. Following a rigorous filtering process, 992 occurrences were considered for modeling. In this process, we utilized climate data and climate projections, employing various algorithms, with an emphasis on the consensus model methodology. The research results reveal a clear trend of reduced habitat suitability for S. terebinthifolia, especially under scenarios of high global warming. This accentuates the urgency of implementing emission control measures and mitigation strategies. Additionally, the study underscores the crucial importance of continuous monitoring, as well as actions for controlling and restoring affected ecosystems. The significant role played by S. terebinthifolia in both its native and invaded areas highlights the need for comprehensive management approaches. In the face of climate change and biodiversity threats, this study provides insightful observations on the dynamics of biological invasions. Success in addressing these issues relies on close cooperation between the scientific community, policymakers, land managers, and local communities. This collaboration is essential for guiding and conducting conservation and biodiversity management efforts in an ever-evolving world.

Finding biotic anomalies described in specimen label text is a challenge that artificial intelligence can address

Biodiversity specimen collectors are on the front lines of observing biotic anomalies, some of which herald early stages of significant changes (e.g., the arrival of a new disease; Pearson and Mast 2019). Online data sharing has opened new possibilities for the discovery of anomaly descriptions on collectors’ labels, but it remains a challenge to find these needles in the haystack of many millions of specimen records available at aggregators like iDigBio and Global Biodiversity Information Facility. In a recent community survey, over 200 collectors identified 170 unique words and phrases (e.g., atypical) that they would use to describe six types of anomaly (Pearson and Mast 2019). Left unanswered was the relative efficiency with which anomaly descriptions can be found using the simple presence of these words. Here, we address that question with a focus on one type of anomaly (phenological; related to the timing of life historyevents) and ask a second question: can we further improve the efficiency of anomaly description discovery by engaging artificial intelligence (AI)?

Evaluating nomina of the phylum Ciliophora: examples for increasing work load of serious taxonomists

Thirteen examples mainly taken from ciliatology illustrate the increasing work load of serious taxonomists interested in the reliability of nomenclatural information and trying to be Code-compliant. Weaknesses of the “Amendment” of five articles to expand methods of publication of the Code resulted in the increasing vagueness of dating a nomen (and/or even authorship). The statuses of periodicals with two ISSNs (Print and Online), online-only versions not being or incompletely registered in Zoobank and Corrigenda are often questionable. It is necessary to check in detail the nomenclatural availability of novelties included in them. The Zoobank registration of works published on ciliates is of little help in this respect. There was also retrieval inefficiency and bias of the search engine Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) tested for a subset of ciliate nomina (nearly 350 nomina and/or spellings) involved in unavailability, mainly objective synonymy and homonymy. The results clearly indicate that the taxonomic status is privileged and nomenclatural revisionary work, which often is spread over three or more decades, is very fragmentarily recognised. Moreover, the main subcategories of synonymy (including alloneonymy) and the correctness of information on senior and junior homonyms are disregarded. Recent monographies are not adequately represented in online databases and websites, forcing genuine taxonomists (after the promulgation of the revisionary work) to check a second time and often to correct each single record in the internet.

Quantifying spatial ignorance in the effort to collect terrestrial fauna in Namibia, Africa

Effective conservation efforts and predictions of future impacts on biodiversity depend heavily on publicly available information about species distributions. However, data on species distributions is often patchy, especially in many countries of the Global South where resources for biological surveys have been historically limited. In this study, we use biodiversity ignorance scores to quantify and visualize gaps and biases in biodiversity data for Namibia, with a focus on five terrestrial taxa at a spatial scale of 10 x 10 km. We model the relationship between ignorance scores and socio-geographical variables using generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS). Our findings demonstrate that despite a high volume of occurrence records available on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), publicly available knowledge of Namibia's terrestrial biodiversity remains very limited, with large areas contributing few or no records for key taxa. The exception is birds that have benefitted from a massive influx of data from the citizen science platform eBird. Our study also highlights the importance of citizen science initiatives for biodiversity knowledge and reinforces the usefulness of ignorance scores as a simple intuitive indicator of the relative availability and distribution of species occurrence records. However, further research, biological surveys, and renewed efforts to make existing data held by museums and other institutions widely available are still necessary to enhance biodiversity data coverage in countries with patchy data.

Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery

A working group from the Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds effort collaborated with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) to create an inventory of species confirmed or expected to produce sound underwater. We used several existing inventories and additional literature searches to compile a dataset categorizing scientific knowledge of sonifery for 33,462 species and subspecies across marine mammals, other tetrapods, fishes, and invertebrates. We found 729 species documented as producing active and/or passive sounds under natural conditions, with another 21,911 species deemed likely to produce sounds based on evaluated taxonomic relationships. The dataset is available on both figshare and WoRMS where it can be regularly updated as new information becomes available. The data can also be integrated with other databases (e.g., SeaLifeBase, Global Biodiversity Information Facility) to advance future research on the distribution, evolution, ecology, management, and conservation of underwater soniferous species worldwide.

An Endemic Vascular Plant Species for Türkiye, Ferulago Humilis Boiss., and Its Potential Distribution Areas

Turkey is expected to be affected considerably in future adverse climatic conditions. Plant species are one of the most vulnerable to these climatic changes. In this study, we aimed to investigate current and future potential distribution areas of Ferulago humilis Boiss., which is an endemic vascular plant species for Turkey, using CMIP5 projected to year 2070. For this purpose, we obtained occurence data (presence-only) from Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Regarding bioclimatic data we used WorldClim dataset with 10 km2 resolution. Using both plant occurrence and bioclimatic data, we performed species distribution modelling analysis. We used two methods namely Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) and Random Forest (RF). Additionally, we used bootstrapping method as partitioning resampling for all analysis. Our analysis has showed that potential distribution areas of the species has slightly changed for the future projection. The species movement is towards slightly upwards as higher latitudes. We believe that our study shows the importance and relevance of the endemic species in the scope of species distribution models for plant conservation topics.

The Andean Ibis (Theristicus branickii) in South America: potential distribution, presence in protected areas and anthropic threats

The avifauna of South America is one of the most widely studied groups of vertebrates. However, certain species, such as the Andean Ibis (Theristicus branickii), have received limited attention regarding their ecological patterns, biology, current distribution, and environmental requirements. This study analyzed observation data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) on the Andean Ibis in four countries to identify and understand critical variables that determine the species’ presence, assess the proportion of its habitat within protected areas and identify possible threats to the species. Additionally, this study considered environmental and ecological variables to model ecological niches using the maximum entropy approach in MaxEnt to map the suitable habitat of the species. The findings revealed the extent of suitable Andean Ibis habitats in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. The variables that most determined the presence of the species were: altitude (36.57%), distance to lakes (23.29%) and ecological isothermality (13.34%). The distribution area of the Andean Ibis totaled 300,095.00 km2, spanning both sides of the Andean mountains range. Human activities have left a significant impact on the Andean Ibis habitat, with 48% of this area impacted by the human footprint and only 10% of the territory falling within protected areas designated by the respective countries. The results of this study show that the Andean Ibis presents characteristics of a specialist species due to its adaptation to the climate conditions of the plateau and highlands, including low temperatures, herbaceous vegetation and the presence of water bodies. The species is distributed in disconnected Andean landscape areas, whose functionality could be compromised by increased human activities. Complementary studies will be necessary to understand the ecological role and effectiveness of protected areas for conserving the species.

Camtrap DP: an open standard for the FAIR exchange and archiving of camera trap data

AbstractCamera trapping has revolutionized wildlife ecology and conservation by providing automated data acquisition, leading to the accumulation of massive amounts of camera trap data worldwide. Although management and processing of camera trap‐derived Big Data are becoming increasingly solvable with the help of scalable cyber‐infrastructures, harmonization and exchange of the data remain limited, hindering its full potential. There is currently no widely accepted standard for exchanging camera trap data. The only existing proposal, “Camera Trap Metadata Standard” (CTMS), has several technical shortcomings and limited adoption. We present a new data exchange format, the Camera Trap Data Package (Camtrap DP), designed to allow users to easily exchange, harmonize and archive camera trap data at local to global scales. Camtrap DP structures camera trap data in a simple yet flexible data model consisting of three tables (Deployments, Media and Observations) that supports a wide range of camera deployment designs, classification techniques (e.g., human and AI, media‐based and event‐based) and analytical use cases, from compiling species occurrence data through distribution, occupancy and activity modeling to density estimation. The format further achieves interoperability by building upon existing standards, Frictionless Data Package in particular, which is supported by a suite of open software tools to read and validate data. Camtrap DP is the consensus of a long, in‐depth, consultation and outreach process with standard and software developers, the main existing camera trap data management platforms, major players in the field of camera trapping and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Under the umbrella of the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), Camtrap DP has been developed openly, collaboratively and with version control from the start. We encourage camera trapping users and developers to join the discussion and contribute to the further development and adoption of this standard.

Biodiversity conservation in Myanmar's coastal wetlands: Focusing on saltwater crocodile habitats and connectivity

Landscape-level conservation strategies are needed to protect the saltwater crocodile population and habitats in Myanmar. Identifying the remaining habitats and movement corridors is essential due to population decline across coastal regions and insufficient habitat coverage, even within protected areas. This study predicts the distribution of habitats and creates low-resistance corridors that facilitate movement across the landscape. Occurrence dataset encompassing a 20-year period (1999–2019) was used incorporating records gathered from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—GBIF, crocodile counting reports from the Meinmahla Kyun wildlife sanctuary of Myanmar, and recent spotlight and camera-trap surveys. Using landscape connectivity tools, structural compositions of habitat classes were determined, and habitat patches were delineated to simulate the least-cost corridor and dispersal pathways. Two patches in Rakhine, two in Ayeyarwady and Yangon, one in Mon, and two in Tanintharyi, were identified that include 1247 km2 of core suitable habitat areas. The Ayeyarwady Delta exhibits a plethora of suitable habitats, while the Rakhine and Tanintharyi regions have higher marginal habitats that are largely unprotected. Only 12 % of the extent of occurrence of saltwater crocodiles are suitable habitats with a high potential for occupancy. Habitats are highly fragmented and four bottlenecks are identified to assist population connectivity in those fragmented patches. Despite notable challenges in ensuring connectivity to restore populations across the habitat patches, we highlighted connectivity as the foundation for establishing an ecological network of Myanmar's coastal habitats, leveraging the saltwater crocodile as an umbrella species for the region's coastal wetlands, and identifying key areas for enhanced protection.

Spatial and temporal representation of marine fish occurrences available online

Despite the 243,000 marine species described by 2022, our knowledge about the oceanic biodiversity is still incomplete. This knowledge gap carries potentially adverse and far-reaching consequences for the preservation of marine ecosystems, particularly in the context of the ongoing human-induced alterations to our biosphere and the rapid progression of climate change and global environmental shifts.Recently, however, a large number of online repositories have emerged, which catalogue, store and distribute biodiversity information, including taxonomic and species occurrence data. FishBase, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) are part of these publicly available repositories representing a variety of sources that have exploded in number. However, despite the incredible accumulation of biodiversity records, not all the information is actually useful, nor does it represent any new knowledge regarding global species richness patterns.In this study, we assessed the spatial and temporal representativeness of marine fish records (order Actinopterygii) found in the GBIF and OBIS global repositories. The methodological framework that we developed relies on a series of non-parametric estimators for computing species richness from incidence data. This methodology employs hexagonal grids as sampling units that overlay marine bioregions across the globe.Using standard ecological and spatial analysis tools, we identify regions that are adequately represented in terms of available records and therefore have more reliable data, as well as regions with few records that do not represent current species richness. We overlap these results with the location of marine protected areas and fishing exploitation zones to understand the anthropogenic effect on marine ichthyofauna. We additionally evaluate hypotheses regarding the taxonomic, geographic, and temporal distribution of information biases to deepen our current understanding of public records of species occurrences worldwide.Considering that more than 40 years of information was analyzed, the results showed that, on a global scale, the primary data on marine fish available on GBIF and OBIS platforms are still far from being representative and complete. Only 1.14% of the records were useful for our analyses. In addition, we found that the information seems to be biased towards coastal areas, regions close to developed countries, and areas where there is a large fishing activity. Finally, the best represented species and families are those with a small body size, which use shallow habitats and are usually recognized as having commercial or cultural value.

Evaluation of moth community changes and northward shifts in response to climate warming in Korea using both local and global occurrences

Although climate warming arguably induces changes in species distribution, thereby causing poleward shifts in various taxa, comprehensive research on the response of moths to climate warming is lacking. This study compared the distribution of macro-moths between historical (1978–2002) and recent (2011–2016) periods in South Korea using the macro-moth data collected at 18 survey sites to elucidate the changes in community composition. We used the community temperature index (CTI) to quantify the effect of temperature change on moth community changes. The CTI represents the average value of the species temperature index (STI; mid-value of thermal range) calculated using our local observations and global occurrences reported in the online database of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Our analysis revealed no significant difference in species richness between historical and recent surveys. However, some taxa, such as Uraniidae, Nolidae, Sphingidae, and Lasiocampidae, exhibited high turnover rates, while the number of sphingid moths with large body sizes greatly decreased. The temperature changes at the survey sites became pronounced with an increase in the survey interval (year) between historical and recent surveys (temperature increase = 0.0465 ℃ /year), while the CTI change exhibited a weak signal for northward shift of moth species. The CTI using the local data indicated 0.09 km/year of northward shift of moths, which is considerably slower than the northward shift (9.6 km/year) of the isothermal bands. However, the CTI using global occurrence data, expected to improve the estimation of species thermal niches, did not show any sign of northward shift. When observed, the northward shifts of moths were primarily identified in the cold-adapted species with low STI values, suggesting that cold-adapted species are more sensitive and vulnerable to climate warming than warm-adapted species. These results indicate that the current distribution changes of species were uneven, and the species adapted to cold regions are the ones primarily responding to the temperature increase by migrating northward and to high elevations.

Increased Abundance Coincides with Range Expansions and Phenology Shifts: A Long-Term Case Study of Two Noctuid Moths in Sweden

Environmental and climatic changes are inducing population declines in numerous species. However, certain species demonstrate remarkable resilience, exhibiting both population growth and range expansion. This longitudinal study in Sweden carried out over two decades (2004–2023) examines the noctuid moths Mythimna albipuncta and Hoplodrina ambigua. Abundance and phenology data were gathered from three light traps in southeastern Sweden and integrated with distribution and phenology data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. In M. albipuncta, the distribution area expanded from 7 to 76 occupied grids (60 km2) and the abundance increased from 7 to 6136 individuals, while in H. ambigua, the distribution area expanded from 1 to 87 occupied grids and the abundance increased from 0 to 6937 individuals, during the course of the study. Furthermore, a positive yearly association was observed between the number of occupied grids and light trap abundance for each species. We also found significant extensions in the adult flight periods of more than 100 days in both species. Light traps emerged as an effective monitoring tool, with light trap abundance as a reliable proxy for distribution changes. Our findings demonstrate that the studied species cope very well with environmental and climatic changes. Given their role as dominant links between primary producers and higher trophic levels, abundance and distribution shifts of these ecological engineers have the potential to cascade up and down in the ecosystem.