Bat droppings DNA survey in attics of historic buildings, Flanders, Belgium

Sampling event
Latest version published by Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) on Nov 20, 2025 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Home:
https://www.vlaanderen.be/inbo/projecten/dna-analyse-vleermuizen-evinbo
Publication date:
20 November 2025
License:
CC0 1.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 541 records in English (45 KB) - Update frequency: as needed
Metadata as an EML file download in English (19 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (15 KB)

Description

Bat droppings DNA survey in attics of historic buildings, Flanders, Belgium is a sampling event dataset published by the Research Institute of Nature and Forest (INBO). This dataset contains observations of a survey of attics of old buildings (mainly churches, but also other historic buildings) at which (presumably) bat droppings were collected and identified using DNA barcoding (16S of CytB).The dataset is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each sampling event an eventID, date, location and event remarks l (in the event core), and for each occurrence an occurrenceID, status, scientific name, taxon rank, materialSampleID, materialEntityID and remarks about material entity, occurrence or identification (in the occurrence extension), beside a target gene, forward and reverse primer and sequencing method (in the DNA derived data extension).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.

Data Records

The data in this sampling event 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 541 records.

2 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.

Event (core)
541
dnaDerivedData 
898
Occurrence 
898

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:

Dekeukeleire D, Adriaensens L, Boers K, Brosens D, Cooleman S, De Man T, Dekeyser L, Halfmaerten D, Neyrinck S, Schepers R, Van Liefferinge N, Vandendriessche B, Vermeiren H, Verschaeve L, Willems W (2025). Bat droppings DNA survey in attics of historic buildings, Flanders, Belgium. Version 1.0. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=bat-droppings-dna-survey-occurrences&v=1.0

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: 8062606b-4326-47a6-b89d-7a4c33b98f51.  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

Samplingevent; Bats; attics; DNA-barcoding; faeces; Flanders

Contacts

Daan Dekeukeleire
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Loes Adriaensens
  • Originator
Natuurpunt
BE
Kris Boers
  • Originator
Natuurpunt Vleermuizenwerkgroep
BE
Dimitri Brosens
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Stijn Cooleman
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) / Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
Tobi De Man
  • Originator
Regionaal Landschap Schelde-Durme
BE
Lars Dekeyser
  • Originator
Regionaal Landschap Meetjesland en Leie
BE
David Halfmaerten
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Sabrina Neyrinck
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Robbert Schepers
  • Originator
Regionaal Landschap Schelde-Durme
BE
Nancy Van Liefferinge
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Bob Vandendriessche
  • Originator
Natuurpunt Vleermuizenwerkgroep
BE
Hans Vermeiren
  • Originator
Natuurpunt Vleermuizenwerkgroep
BE
Leen Verschaeve
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Wout Willems
  • Originator
Natuurpunt
BE
Natuurpunt Vleermuizenwerkgroep Vlaanderen
vleermuizen@natuurpunt.be
Regionaal Landschap Schelde-Durme
info@rlsd.be
Regionaal Landschap Meetjesland en Leie
info@rlml.be

Geographic Coverage

Belgium

Bounding Coordinates South West [50.02, 2.61], North East [51.5, 5.89]

Taxonomic Coverage

The target species of this dataset are bats (Chiroptera species). Other species recorded (mainly rodents and shrews) are also included.

Kingdom Animalia
Class Mammalia
Order Chiroptera

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1995-08-07 / 2025-01-08

Sampling Methods

Presumably bat droppings (fecal samples) were collected using pincers and stored in an eppendorf tube with absolute ethanol until DNA extraction. It was tried to collect the most recent dropping.

Study Extent 534 sites across Flanders were visited, mainly attics of churches and other historical buildings, to inspect for roosting bats. For species identification, presumably bat droppings were collected. Most sites were only visited once. Species identification was done using DNA barcoding (targeting a fragment of mitochondrial genes 16S of CytB).
Quality Control Data are collected using predefined sampling protocols.

Method step description:

  1. Researchers from INBO and Natuurpunt Studie define and document the appropriate sampling protocols for the target species.
  2. Based on fieldwork and site visits, samples and data are collected by experts and specialized volunteers, using the predefined sampling protocols.
  3. Based on laboratory analyses, taxon identifications are assigned to the original data in Google sheets.
  4. Datacleaning in R en checks on map in QGIS.
  5. A custom data wrangling is applied in OpenRefine and R to map the original data to Darwin Core as an event core, occurrence extension and an DNA derived data extension.
  6. The Darwin Core views are connected to the INBO IPT and documented with metadata.
  7. The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Dekeukeleire, D., & Veltjen, E. (2025). DMP voor inventarisatie (kraam)kolonies van vleermuizen op warme zolders: versie 1. Instituut voor Natuur‐ en Bosonderzoek, België. https://pureportal.inbo.be/nl/publications/dmp-voor-inventarisatie-kraamkolonies-van-vleermuizen-op-warme-zo/

Additional Metadata

We would like to thank the owners of the buildings that were surveyed in this dataset. Furthermore, we would like to thank the volunteers for their input in creating the dataset.

Alternative Identifiers https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=bat-droppings-dna-survey-occurrences