Mobilisation of Data From Natural History Collections Can Increase the Quality and Coverage of Biodiversity Information.

ABSTRACT: The surge of biodiversity data availability in recent decades has allowed researchers to ask questions on previously unthinkable scales, but knowledge gaps still remain. In this study, we aim to quantify potential gains to insect data on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) through further digitisation of natural history collections, assess to what degree this would fill biases in spatial and environmental record coverage, and deepen understanding of environmental bias with regard to climate rarity. Using mainland Afrotropical records for Catharsius Hope, 1837 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), we compared inventory completeness of GBIF data to a dataset which combined these with records from a recent taxonomic revision. We analysed how this improved dataset reduced regional

SUBMITTER: Blades B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11994295 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature