Invasive species - American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) in Flanders, Belgium (post 2018)

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published by Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) on Mar 3, 2026 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Publication date:
3 March 2026
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 44,108 records in English (2 MB) - Update frequency: weekly
Metadata as an EML file download in English (14 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (14 KB)

Description

Invasive species - American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) in Flanders, Belgium (Post 2018) is a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The dataset contains over 24600 occurrences (40 % of which are American bullfrogs) sampled between 2019 until now, in the months April to October. The occurrences were collected through fieldwork and the framework of bullfrog management. Captured bullfrogs were almost always removed from the environment and humanely killed, while the other occurrences are recorded bycatch, which were released upon catch (see bibliography for detailed descriptions of the methods). Therefore, caution is advised when using these data for trend analysis, distribution range calculation, or other. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/inbo/sk-analyseWe strongly believe an open attitude is essential for tackling the IAS problem (Groom et al. 2015). To allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate it however if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use) and provide a link to the original dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/daf62d) whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO.Data from 2010 to 2018 can be found here: https://doi.org/10.15468/2hqkqn

Data Records

The data in this occurrence 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 44,108 records.

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:

Devisscher S, Brosens D (2026). Invasive species - American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) in Flanders, Belgium (post 2018). Version 1.125. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=invasive-bullfrog-occurrences2&v=1.125

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: 5b8bcba7-cecb-4d95-9865-2830cd4e35aa.  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

Occurrence; American bullfrog; Lithobates catesbeianus; Rana catesbeiana; amphibians; invasive alien species; non-native species; management; captures; eradication; Flanders; Observation

Contacts

Sander Devisscher
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
Dimtri Brosens
  • Originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)/ Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
Dimitri Brosens
  • Metadata Provider
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)/ Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE

Geographic Coverage

Flanders, Belgium. Most of the data originate from the province of Antwerp, as this province currently holds the main stronghold of the American bullfrog population.

Bounding Coordinates South West [50.646, 2.483], North East [51.543, 6.086]

Taxonomic Coverage

American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus (Shaw 1802) syn. Rana catesbeiana Shaw 1802)

Kingdom Animalia
Species American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus (Shaw 1802) syn. Rana catesbeiana Shaw 1802) (Amerikaanse stierkikker)

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 2019-05-07 / 2022-01-01

Sampling Methods

Sampling occurs yearly between April and October. Most of the captures are made with paired fyke nets which are placed at the bottom of ponds and lakes for about 24 hours, but other methods are used as well (indicated in samplingProtocol). With each capture, the number of bullfrogs at each developmental stage is recorded (indicated in lifeStage), as well as bycatch species (native amphibians, fish, non-native crayfish, invertebrates) which were released upon catch. Also recorded are date, location, number of employees involved, and start and end time of the capture event.

Study Extent Bullfrog infested ponds and lakes in Flanders, Belgium.
Quality Control Data collection and species identifications were performed by professional scientists or research assistants.

Method step description:

  1. Data is collected in the field
  2. Raw data for Dwc mapping was created: https://github.com/inbo/sk-analyse/tree/main/output
  3. all data was mapped to DwC: https://github.com/inbo/sk-analyse/tree/main/script
  4. all data was imported in INBO IPT, registered and published to GBIF

Additional Metadata

Purpose
Alternative Identifiers 5b8bcba7-cecb-4d95-9865-2830cd4e35aa
https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=invasive-bullfrog-occurrences2