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Trends in the Distribution of UK native species 1970–2010: Preliminary report to JNCC 2013

Abstract

The partnership between JNCC and the Biological Records Centre (BRC) is a research program to analyse and interpret biological records data. A key strategic aim of this work is to derive quantitative and robust measures of trends in species’ status over policy-relevant time-periods.

Biological records are observations of species in a known place in space and time. Most records are made by volunteer recorders and whilst these data may be collected following a specific protocol, the majority of records in these datasets are opportunistic. The intensity of recording varies in both space and time, which is a challenge for estimating robust quantitative trends.

Fortunately, a range of methods now exists for producing such trends using unstructured biological records data. Computer simulations show that some of these methods are robust to the biases in biological records data. Here, three such methods are applied to estimate preliminary trends in the status of over 1,300 native species of plants and animals in well-recorded groups. The summary statistics provide a broad overview of changes in the status of native biodiversity for a much wider range of taxa than has previously been possible.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Biota

Reference date 2013·05·01

Citation
Isaac, N.J.B., August, T.A., Harrower, C. & Roy, D.B. 2013. Trends in the Distribution of UK native species 1970–2010: Preliminary report to JNCC. JNCC Report No. 488, JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091

Lineage
This report discusses three methods used to estimate preliminary trends in the status of over 1,300 native species of plants and animals in well-recorded groups.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC author

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2020·07·20

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

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