Waarnemingen.be - Non-native plant occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by Natuurpunt and described (v1.2) in Swinnen et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.3391/bir.2018.7.3.17). The dataset contains over 700,000 occurrences of non-native plant, algae and fungi species, recorded by volunteers (citizen scientists), mainly since 2008. The occurrences are derived from the database http://www.waarnemingen.be, hosted at the nature conservation NGO Natuurpunt in collaboration with Stichting Natuurinformatie. Standardized information regarding the occurrence's sex, reproductiveCondition, behavior, occurrenceRemarks, and samplingProtocol is included as well. Generalized and/or withheld information: since dataset v1.4 location information is no longer generalized to grid cells, but provided as the original decimalLatitude/Longitude and coordinateUncertaintyInMeters for all occurrences. Observer name, toponyms, and photographs are not included in the published dataset, but are known in the source database. 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 however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.natuurpunt.be/normen-voor-datagebruik) and provide a link to the original dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/smdvdo) 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 provide more information or know how you have used the data, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or natuurdata@natuurpunt.be. The publication of this dataset is supported by INBO and funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) as part of the Belgian contribution to LifeWatch.

Waarnemingen.be - Non-native animal occurrences in Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by Natuurpunt and described (v1.2) in Swinnen et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.3391/bir.2018.7.3.17). The dataset contains over 900,000 occurrences of non-native animal species, recorded by volunteers (citizen scientists), mainly since 2008. The occurrences are derived from the database http://www.waarnemingen.be, hosted at the nature conservation NGO Natuurpunt in collaboration with Stichting Natuurinformatie. Standardized information regarding the occurrence's sex, lifeStage, reproductiveCondition, behavior, occurrenceRemarks, and samplingProtocol is included as well. Generalized and/or withheld information: since dataset v1.4 location information is no longer generalized to grid cells, but provided as the original decimalLatitude/Longitude and coordinateUncertaintyInMeters for all occurrences. Observer name, toponyms, and photographs are not included in the published dataset, but are known in the source database. 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 however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.natuurpunt.be/normen-voor-datagebruik) and provide a link to the original dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/k2aiak) 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 provide more information or know how you have used the data, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or natuurdata@natuurpunt.be. The publication of this dataset is supported by INBO and funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) as part of the Belgian contribution to LifeWatch.

Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The dataset contains over 6,000 occurrences (Chinese mitten crab exclusively) sampled between 2000 and now. The data are compiled from different monitoring initiatives coordinated or run at INBO. The Chinese mitten crab is listed as a species of EU concern sensu the EU regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species (IAS). This requires member states to report on the status and distrubution of such species. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/LifeWatchINBO/data-publication/tree/master/datasets/invasive-chinese-mitten-crab-occurrences 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 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/eakzzv) 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.

Monitoring of invasive alien species by the Province East Flanders, Belgium dataset is an occurrence dataset published by the Province East Flanders (Belgium). The dataset is created by ad-hoc in-field spotting of invasive species. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each occurrence record an occurrenceID, date, location, quantification where available and scientific name. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/riparias/pov-ias-plants-occurrences/issues. We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Attribution License. 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.

The RATO - daily operations commissioned by the Province East Flanders, Belgium dataset is an event dataset published by RATO. The dataset includes data on management actions on invasive alien species and nuisance species, predominantly in the province of East Flanders and from 2021 onwards. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each occurrence record an occurrenceID, date, location, scientific name, sampling protocol, sampling effort and the number of recorded individuals or biomass. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/riparias/rato-occurrences/issues. 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. This dataset was published as open data for the LIFE RIPARIAS project (Reaching Integrated and Prompt Action in Response to Invasive Alien Species https://www.riparias.be/), with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO).

The "VMM - Rat control occurrences in Flanders, Belgium" dataset is an occurrence dataset published by Flanders Environment Agency (VMM). The dataset is assembled by the VMM to monitor and control pest organisms in Flanders from 2016 onwards. It mainly includes observations of muskrats and brown rats, but other animal and plant pest species are included as well. Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each occurrence record: an occurrenceID, scientific name, number of individuals (optional), date and location. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/riparias/vmm-rattenapp-occurrences/issues. We have released this dataset under a Creative Commons Attribution license. 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.

This camera trap dataset is derived from the <a href="https://www.agouti.eu">Agouti</a> project <em>MICA - Management of Invasive Coypu and muskrAt in Europe</em>. Data have been standardized to Darwin Core using the <a href="https://inbo.github.io/camtraptor/">camtraptor</a> R package and only include observations (and associated media) of animals. Excluded are records that document blank or unclassified media, vehicles and observations of humans. Geospatial coordinates are rounded to 0.001 degrees. The original dataset description follows. <em>MICA - Muskrat and coypu camera trap observations in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany</em> is an occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute of Nature and Forest (INBO). It is part of the LIFE project MICA, in which innovative techniques are tested for a more efficient control of muskrat and coypu populations, both invasive species. The dataset contains camera trap observations of muskrat and coypu, as well as many other observed species. Issues with the dataset can be reported at <a href="https://github.com/inbo/mica-occurrences/issues">https://github.com/inbo/mica-occurrences/issues</a> 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. This dataset was collected using infrastructure provided by INBO and funded by Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) as part of the Belgian contribution to LifeWatch. The data were collected as part of the MICA project, which received funding from the European Union’s LIFE Environment sub-programme under the grant agreement LIFE18 NAT/NL/001047. The dataset was published with funding from Stichting NLBIF - Netherlands Biodiversity Information Facility.

Florabank2 is a database that contains distributional data on the bryophytes of Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region. It holds about Two hundred thousand records of mosses (Liverworths, Hornworths and Mosses), dating from 1800 till present. The database is an initiative of the Bryological and Lichenological Society of Flanders “Werkgroep Bryologie en Lichenologie” (www.mossenkorstmossen.be), the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO: www.inbo.be) and the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (www.br.fgov.be). Florabank aims at centralizing botanical distribution data gathered by both professional and amateur botanists and to make these data available to the benefit of nature conservation, policy and scientific research. The occurrence data contained in Florabank2 are extracted from checklists, literature and herbarium specimen information. Of survey lists, the locality name (verbatimLocality), species name, observation date and IFBL square code, the grid system used for plant mapping in Belgium (Van Rompaey 1943), is recorded. Analysis of herbarium specimens in the collection of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium, the University of Ghent and the University of Liège provided interesting distribution knowledge concerning rare species, this information is also included in Florabank2. All data in Florabank2 is georeferenced. Every record holds the decimal centroid coordinates of the IFBL square containing the observation. The uncertainty radius is the smallest circle possible covering the whole IFBL square, which can measure 1 Km² or 4 Km². Florabank is a work in progress and new occurrences are added as they become available; the dataset will be updated through GBIF on a regularly base.

The “Occurrences from the Alien CSI Bioblitz: citizen science to engage society in invasive species monitoring” dataset is an occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) in collaboration with the <a href="https://alien-csi.eu/">AlienCSI </a> COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology, CA17122) research network (Roy et al. 2018). The dataset contains all the alien species data collected during the <a href="https://iasbioblitz.creaf.cat/">Alien CSI Bioblitz</a>. This bioblitz was organized for the first time in May 2022 as a three day event and is planned to be repeated yearly. This bioblitz activity aims to engage society in invasive species monitoring. The first edition included guided bioblitzes in thirteen different protected areas across twelve European countries. The data are published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/alien-csi/bioblitz-occurrences/issues We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication. 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.

Florabank1 is a database that contains distributional data on the wild flora (indigenous species, archeophytes and naturalised aliens) of Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region. It holds about 3 million records of vascular plants, dating from 1800 till present. Furthermore, it includes ecological data on vascular plant species, redlist category information, Ellenberg values, legal status, global distribution, seed bank etc. The database is an initiative of "Flo.Wer" (http://www.plantenwerkgroep.be), the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) (http://www.inbo.be) and the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (http://www.br.fgov.be). Florabank aims at centralizing botanical distribution data gathered by both professional and amateur botanists and to make these data available to the benefit of nature conservation, policy and scientific research. The occurrence data contained in Florabank1 are extracted from checklists, literature and herbarium specimen information. Of survey lists, the locality name (verbatimLocality), species name, observation date and IFBL square code - the grid system used for plant mapping in Belgium (Van Rompaey 1943) - are recorded. For records dating from the period 1972–2004 all pertinent botanical journals dealing with Belgian flora were systematically screened. Analysis of herbarium specimens in the collection of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium, the University of Ghent and the University of Liège provided interesting distribution knowledge concerning rare species, this information is also included in Florabank1. The IFBL data recorded before 1972 is available through the Belgian GBIF node (http://www.gbif.org/dataset/940821c0-3269-11df-855a-b8a03c50a862), not through Florabank1, to avoid duplication of information. A dedicated portal providing access to all currently published Belgian IFBL records is available at: http://projects.biodiversity.be/ifbl. All data in Florabank1 is georeferenced. Every record holds the decimal centroid coordinates of the > IFBL square containing the observation. The uncertainty radius is the smallest circle possible covering the whole IFBL square, which can measure 1 km² or 4 km². Florabank is a work in progress and new occurrences are added as they become available; the dataset will be updated through GBIF on a regularly base.