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.

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.

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-analyse We 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

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.

Invasive species - American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) in Flanders, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The dataset contains over 7,500 occurrences (25% of which are American bullfrogs) sampled between 2010 until now, in the months April to October. The data are compiled from different sources at the INBO, but most of the occurrences were collected through fieldwork for the EU co-funded Interreg project INVEXO (http://www.invexo.eu). In this project, research was conducted on different methods for the management of American bullfrog populations, an alien invasive species in Belgium. 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/LifeWatchINBO/data-publication/tree/master/datasets/invasive-bullfrog-occurrences We 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/10.15468/2hqkqn) 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.