Meetnetten.be - Egg counts for butterflies in Flanders, Belgium

Frederic Piesschaert1, Dirk Maes1, Dimitri Brosens2, Toon Westra1, Peter Desmet1, Hannes Ledegen3, Wim Veraghtert3, Sam Van de Poel3, Marc Pollet1

1 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), , Belgium; 2 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)/ Belgian Biodiversity Platform, , Belgium; 3 Natuurpunt, , Belgium

Corresponding author(s): Frederic Piesschaert (frederic.piesschaert@inbo.be)Dirk Maes (dimitri.brosens@inbo.be)Dimitri Brosens (dimitri.brosens@inbo.be)Toon Westra (toon.westra@inbo.be)Peter Desmet (peter.desmet@inbo.be)Hannes Ledegen (hannes.ledegen@natuurpunt.be)Wim Veraghtert (wim.veraghtert@natuurpunt.be)Sam Van de Poel (sam.vandepoel@natuurpunt.be)Marc Pollet (marc.pollet@inbo.be)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Piesschaert F, Maes D, Brosens D, Westra T, Desmet P, Ledegen H, Veraghtert W, Van de Poel S, Pollet M (2020): Meetnetten.be - Egg counts for butterflies in Flanders, Belgium. v1.11. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Dataset/Samplingevent. https://doi.org/10.15468/hsfq2u https://doi.org/10.15468/hsfq2u

Abstract

Meetnetten.be - Egg counts for butterflies in Flanders, Belgium is a sampling event dataset published by the Research Institute of Nature and Forest (INBO). It is part of the Meetnetten.be suite of monitoring networks for priority species in Flanders, in which data are collected at fixed locations using a standardized protocol (https://meetnetten.be). This dataset contains egg counts for 1 priority butterfly species (Phengaris alcon). Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each sampling event an eventID, date, location and sampling protocol (in the event core) and for each occurrence an occurrenceID, the number of recorded individuals, status (present/absent) and scientific name (in the occurrence extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/inbo/meetnetten-occurrences/issues
Generalized and/or withheld information: as these are sensitive priority species, location information is generalized to 1, 5 or 10 km Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid cells. Original locations are available upon request.
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.
For all published Meetnetten.be datasets, see https://www.gbif.org/dataset/search?project_id=meetnetten.be

Keywords: Samplingevent, butterflies, Lepidoptera, monitoring, priority species

Project details

Project title: Meetnetten.be
Personnel: Frederic  Piesschaert
Funding: Flemish Government
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Flanders, Belgium
Design description: Each monitoring network consists of fixed sample locations in which target species are counted based on a standardized protocol. Data collection relies mainly on specialized volunteers, coordinated by the NGO Natuurpunt Studie. Fieldwork is planned and monitored with the web tool https://meetnetten.be, which is also used for entering the collected data.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=meetnetten-butterflies-egg-occurrences

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: The target butterfly species for Meetnetten.be are listed at https://meetnetten.be/#group-4. Other butterflies observed during the sampling are also included. This dataset covers the egg count protocol, for which the target species is Phengaris alcon (alcon blue / gentiaanblauwtje).
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Species: Phengaris alcon
Common names: animals, insects, butterflies, alcon blue / gentiaanblauwtje

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Flanders, Belgium
Coordinates: 50°40'12''N and 51°30'36''N Latitude; 2°31'48''E and 5°56'24''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2018

Methods

Method step description: 
- . 	Researchers from INBO and Natuurpunt Studie define and document the appropriate sampling protocol for the target species.
- . 	Fieldwork is planned and coordinated by Natuurpunt Studie, using https://meetnetten.be.
- . 	Data are collected in the field by specialized volunteers, using the predefined sampling protocol.
- . 	Volunteers enter the collected data in https://meetnetten.be.
- . 	A custom SQL view is created in the meetnetten.be database to map the original data to Darwin Core as an event core and occurrence extension.
- . 	The Darwin Core views are connected to the INBO IPT and documented with metadata.
- . 	The dataset is published and registered with GBIF.
Study extent description: Phengaris alcon (alcon blue / gentiaanblauwtje) can be found in wet heathlands with Gentiana pneumonanthe (marsh gentian / klokjesgentiaan) and a sufficient number of ants. Not the butterflies, but the eggs of this species are counted on the host plant. Either the entire area is examined and all eggs are mapped or sample areas are used (in the case of large populations).
Sampling description: Sampling was done using the protocol described in Maes et al. (2019) and explained to volunteers in Ledegen et al. (2018). Egg counts for Alcon blue are done in plots of 10 x 10 m on locations with the highest density of gentians. Counting takes place once a year, in August.

Quality control description: Data are collected using a predefined sampling protocol.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Meetnetten.be - Egg counts for butterflies in Flanders, Belgium
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.inbo.be/archive.do?r=meetnetten-butterflies-egg-occurrences
Publication date of data: 2020-10-29
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2020-05-15
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Maes D, Ledegen H, Van de Poel S & Westra T (2019) Monitoringsprotocol Dagvlinders: Versie 2.0. Rapporten van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek 2019 (56). Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, Brussel. https://doi.org/10.21436/inbor.16744530

Ledegen H, Veraghtert W & Van de Poel S (2018) Veldwerkhandleiding dagvlinders. Natuurpunt Studie, Mechelen.