Registry of introduced terrestrial molluscs in Belgium

Data Records

The data in this checklist resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 29 records.

4 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Backeljau T, Reyserhove L, Desmet P, Govaert S (2025). Registry of introduced terrestrial molluscs in Belgium. Version 1.5. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Checklist dataset. https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=alien-mollusca-checklist&v=1.5

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: e082b10e-476f-43c1-aa61-f8d92f33029a.  Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Belgian Biodiversity Platform.

Keywords

Checklist; Inventorythematic; checklist; inventory; alien species; molluscs; Belgium; TrIAS; Checklist

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

This checklist covers all non-native terrestrial mollusc species that have been recorded in Belgium.

Taxonomic Coverage

This dataset includes 29 alien mollusc species, covering 18 families.

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

Imagine a future where dynamically, from year to year, we can track the progression of alien species (AS), identify emerging species, assess their current and future risk and timely inform policy in a seamless data-driven workflow. One that is built on open science and open data infrastructures. By using international biodiversity standards and facilities, we would ensure interoperability, repeatability and sustainability. This would make the process adaptable to future requirements in an evolving IAS policy landscape both locally and internationally. The project Tracking Invasive Alien Species (TrIAS) aims to do this for Belgium. For a full project description, see Vanderhoeven et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e13414).

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

The data are originally compiled for EASIN (European Alien Species Information Network, European Commission) and are based on a literature survey and information from the collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS). The scientific nomenclature follows MolluscaBase (http://www.molluscabase.org/, Banks & Neubert 2017). The synonyms of the scientific names were taken from MolluscaBase and the “Inventaire National du Patrimoine Naturel” (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle 2003-2019). While we have tried to check the original sources of each synonym, we have not yet been able to verify all of them. As a consequence, the synonyms may be not always shown in their original nomenclatural combination. The pathways of introduction were inferred from the literature.

Method step description:

1. The source data for this standardized checklist is a Google spreadsheet, maintained by Thierry Backeljau and available on Zenodo as Excel spreadsheet (as a whole) or multiple csv files (one file per tab page)(https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3530326)
2. We developed a RMarkdown script to document and perform the transformation of the data to Darwin Core, which includes the following steps:
3. Download the source data as csv files that are versioned on a GitHub repository (https://github.com/trias-project/alien-mollusca-checklist). See https://trias-project.github.io/alien-mollusca-checklist for an introduction to this repository and the mapping of this dataset.
4. Perform some basic data cleaning of the raw data.
5. Generate stable and unique identifiers for each taxon (taxonID).
6. Create a taxon core file (http://rs.gbif.org/core/dwc_taxon.xml).
7. Create a vernacular name extension file (http://rs.gbif.org/extension/gbif/1.0/vernacularname.xml), including the Dutch, English, French and German vernacular names.
8. Create a distribution extension file (http://rs.gbif.org/extension/gbif/1.0/distribution.xml).
9. Create a description extension file (http://rs.gbif.org/extension/gbif/1.0/description.xml), with standardized pathway of introduction (using the pathway vocabulary from the Convention on Biological Diversity (2014)), native range and degree of establishment (based on Blackburn et al. (2011)).
10. The resulting Darwin Core data files are uploaded to the INBO IPT and documented with metadata.
11. The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.

Bibliographic Citations

1. Bank RA, Neubert E (2017) Checklist of the land and freshwater Gastropoda of Europe. Last update: July 16th, 2017. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=sourcedetails&id=279050
2. Blackburn TM, Pysek P, Bacher S, Carlton JT, Duncan RP, Jarosik V, Wilson JRU & Richardson DM (2011) A proposed unified framework for biological invasions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 26: 333-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2011.03.023
3. Convention on Biological Diversity (2014) Pathways of introduction of invasive species, their prioritization and management. UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/18/9/Add.1. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal. https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/sbstta/sbstta-18/official/sbstta-18-09-add1-en.pdf
4. European Commission - Joint Research Centre - European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN). https://easin.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
5. Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (2003-2019) Inventaire National du Patrimoine Naturel. https://inpn.mnhn.fr. Accessed on 2019-05-07.
6. Vanderhoeven S, Adriaens T, Desmet P, Strubbe D, Backeljau T, Barbier Y, Brosens D, Cigar J, Coupremanne M, De Troch R, Eggermont H, Heughebaert A, Hostens K, Huybrechts P, Jacquemart A, Lens L, Monty A, Paquet J, Prévot C, Robertson T, Termonia P, Van De Kerchove R, Van Hoey G, Van Schaeybroeck B, Vercayie D, Verleye T, Welby S, Groom Q (2017) Tracking Invasive Alien Species (TrIAS): Building a data-driven framework to inform policy. Research Ideas and Outcomes 3: e13414 https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e13414

Additional Metadata