Identification

Title

United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: collated indices 2013

Abstract

Collated indices are a relative measure of butterfly abundance across monitored sites in the UK, calculated from data collected by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Collated indices are calculated annually for each individual butterfly species that has been recorded on five or more sites in that year. Based on this criterion collated indices have been calculated for the entire UKBMS time series from 1976 to the current year for the majority of species. For some rarer species the time series starts in a later year due to lack of data. Collated indices are calculated using a statistical model that accounts for missing data. The number of sites for each species ranges from 5 to several hundred and varies from year to year. Since 2008 more than 1,000 sites have been monitored across the UK each year. Collated indices are calculated so that we can determine how butterfly populations are changing over time across the UK. This data can be used, for example, to determine where to target conservation efforts and to measure the condition of the UK countryside. Butterflies are recognised as important indicators of biodiversity and environmental change (e.g. as official UK Biodiversity Indicators), and have been used in numerous research studies to understand the impacts of changes in climate and the extent and condition of habitats. Although the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and Butterfly Conservation (BC) are responsible for the calculation and interpretation of the Collated indices, the collection of the data used in their creation is ultimately reliant on a large volunteer community. The UKBMS is funded by a consortium of organisations led by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://eidc.ceh.ac.uk/metadata/31f301f5-5374-45c5-8db5-37ea43422b8d/zip_export

name: Supporting information

description: Supporting information available to assist in re-use of this dataset

function: information

Unique resource identifier

code

1412699335353

codeSpace

CEH:EIDC:

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

authority code

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG

code identifying the spatial reference system

27700

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Species Distribution

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

United Kingdom

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

Keyword set

keyword value

annual

Keyword set

keyword value

Lepidoptera

butterflies

Keyword set

keyword value

Natural Capital

Keyword set

keyword value

Biodiversity

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.648

East bounding longitude

1.768

North bounding latitude

60.861

South bounding latitude

49.864

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1974-04-01

End position

2013-09-01

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-10-07

Frequency of update

annually

Quality and validity

Lineage

Collated indices are produced using a series of statistical models on butterfly transect counts recorded by a volunteer network. These indices are a relative measure of each species' abundance across the UK compared to the baseline in 1976. The statistics are presented as log10 values. These values are centred around an arbitrary value of 2 as a mean for the time series in order to help show which years are below or above average (a technique used in other biodiversity indicators).

Conformity

Data format

name of format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

version of format

unknown

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

If you reuse this data, you should cite: Botham, M., Roy, D., Brereton, T., Middlebrook, I., Randle, Z. (2014). United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: collated indices 2013. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/31f301f5-5374-45c5-8db5-37ea43422b8d

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

superseded

publisher

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Environmental Information Data Centre

full postal address

Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg

Lancaster

LA1 4AP

email address

eidc@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2018-10-18T08:31:38

Metadata language

eng