Context

Invasive alien species have been pointed out as an important driver of biodiversity loss. Many policy responses are being developed to address this threat. Protected areas often represent and preserve hotspots of biological diversity and ensure the maintenance of ecosystem services crucial to human livelihoods. The impact of biological invasions can be particularly severe in protected areas and their occurrence and impact in such areas is an important element of the risk they pose. To address this, there is a need for data on the occurrence and extent of alien species invasions in protected areas.

Description

This dataset contains species occurrence and occupancy in protected areas of the Natura2000 network in Belgium (Special Conservation Areas sensu Habitat Directive and Special Protection Areas sensu Bird Directive). The dataset was generated using the Belgian occurrence cube at species level and the Belgian occurrence cube for non-native taxa (both containing GBIF data aggregated using Oldoni et al. 2020), the 1x1km EEA reference grid and the Natura2000 protected areas shapefiles from the European Environment Agency.

Data are grouped by protected area (SITECODE), year (year) and (infra)species (taxonKey, speciesKey). For each group, it provides the number of occurrences found in GBIF (n), the area of occupancy (aoo: number of 1 km² squares), the coverage (coverage: % of 1 km² squares), the minimum coordinateUncertaintyInMeters (min_coord_uncertainty), and the alien status (is_alien) based on the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Belgium. For infraspecific taxa in the latter, the alien status of the species is looked up and included.

The dataset is built on open science principles and intended to be completely reproducible:

• The input data are publicly available on Zenodo, with the download DOIs listed in the related identifiers of this dataset package.
• The code to process the data is publicly available and documented on GitHub.

Files

• protected_areas_species_occurrence.csv: number of occurrences (n), area of occupancy (aoo) and coverage of taxa (taxonKey) in Natura2000 areas of Belgium (SITECODE). Other columns included: speciesKey (for species is speciesKey = taxonKey), SITETYPE containing the site type of the Natura2000 area (one of A, B or C), min_coord_uncertainty with the lowest coordinate uncertainty in meters, is_alien containing the alien status (TRUE or FALSE) and remarks containing, if present, the infraspecific alien taxa whose occurrences contribute to the calculated aoo (only for species).
• protected_areas_species_info.csv: taxonomic information of taxa in protected_areas_species_occurrence.csv as retrieved from GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Columns: taxonKey, speciesKey, scientificName, kingdom, phylum, order, class, genus, family, species, rank and includes. The latter contains the infraspecific taxa and synonyms whose occurrences contribute to the number of occurrences at species level.
• protected_areas_metadata.csv: protected area information for areas included in protected_areas_species_occurrence.csv. Columns: SITECODE as in protected_areas_species_occurrence.csv (BE*******), SITENAME containing the name of the protected area, SITETYPE as in protected_areas_species_occurrence.csv, flanders, wallonia and brussels containing whether the area is situated respectively in Flanders, Wallonia or Brussels-Capital Region (TRUE or FALSE). Field codes are in line with EEA element definitions for Natura 2000 sites.

Potential use of the dataset

Currently, there is no comprehensive reporting system for invasive alien species in Natura 2000 sites. This dataset provides a baseline as to which species occur in which protected area. We envisage this dataset can be an interesting starting point for various types of analyses on alien species in protected areas in Belgium, but that it can also be used in complement to other data on alien species in protected areas to study more general patterns. Some examples of research questions:

• Which protected areas are most invaded by alien species
• Which alien species are most distributed in protected areas and which traits do they have
• How does the proportion of alien species in protected areas change in time
• How does the occurrence/occupancy of alien species in protected areas match lists of regulated species (e.g. Union List, EPPO lists)
• To what extent can the network of protected areas contribute to providing safe refuge to native species from the impacts of invasive alien species
• How widespread are the impacts of certain alien species on protected areas

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded under the Belgian Science Policies Brain program (BelSPO BR/165/A1/TrIAS), the European Union's LIFE program (LIFE19 NAT/BE/000953 - LIFE RIPARIAS).

This is a redistribution of a subdataset of the data source 'Biologische Waarderingskaart en Natura 2000 Habitatkaart - Toestand 2023', originally published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and distributed by 'Digitaal Vlaanderen' under a CC-BY compatible license. It is redistributed for reproducible, analytical workflows on Flemish Natura 2000 habitats and regionally important biotopes.

The subdataset is a shapefile of line segments of the Natura 2000 habitat type 3260 (Watercourses of plain to montane levels with the Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitricho-Batrachion vegetation) that correspond with its presence in watercourses in the Flemish Region, identical to the shapefile Hab3260 in the original data source.

The data source is produced, owned and administered by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO, Department of Environment of the Flemish government).

This is a redistribution of a subdataset of the data source Biologische Waarderingskaart en Natura 2000 Habitatkaart - Toestand 2023, originally published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) (De Saeger et al. 2023; see also De Saeger et al. 2017) and distributed by 'Digitaal Vlaanderen' under a CC-BY compatible license. It was redistributed in order to make it more easily findable and useful (in the long run) for reproducible, analytical workflows on Flemish Natura 2000 habitats and regionally important biotopes. The subdataset is a shapefile of geospatial polygons of BWK and Natura 2000 habitat types in the Flemish Region, identical to the shapefile 'BwkHab' in the original data source.

Coordinated efforts in the European Union (EU) have produced a common legal framework for the nature conservation based on the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive. The Natura 2000 network of reserves, complemented by specific provisions for the protection of endangered species of animals and plants, from the cornerstones for the implementation of the EU conservation directives. By committing 14.1% of its territory, Germany has provided an important contribution to the Natura 2000 network. The Natura 2000 network is key for the achievement of the political goal to "halt further loss of biodiversity by the year 2010" set by the European Heads of State in 2001. For each feature contained in the source shapefile, a unique URI is created and a spatial literal is attributed to it. The spatial literal corresponds to the closed polygon and defines the underlined area. For example, nat:lake_1 a nat:Lake ; geo:hasGeometry "POLYGON ((24.12 34.80, ..., 24.12 34.80))"^^geo:wktliteral maps a protected area, which is a Lake, to a polygon in the Well Known Text Literal format provided by the GeoSPARQL ontology.

The Natura2000 sites download service provides the demarcations of fauna-Flora-Habitat areas and bird sanctuaries as a shapefile for download. The main factual data of the protected areas are included in the attribute table (name, area size and identification number). By the “Bavarian Ordinance on Natura 2000 Areas” of 19 February 2016, the Bird Protection Areas and Habitats Areas were legally binding with a common regulation. The Bavarian Total Report of the FFH Areas is offered on a scale of 1:5,000.

Zones spéciales de conservation désignées dans le cadre de la directive européenne "Habitats". Mise à jour conformément aux règlements grand-ducaux du 24 mai 2023. Les zones spéciales de conservation, instaurées par la directive Habitats en 1992, ont pour objectif la conservation de sites écologiques présentant soit : des habitats naturels ou semi-naturels d'intérêt communautaire, de par leur rareté, ou le rôle écologique primordial qu'ils jouent (dont la liste est établie par l'annexe I de la directive Habitats) ; des espèces de faune et de flore d'intérêt communautaire, là aussi pour leur rareté, leur valeur symbolique, le rôle essentiel qu'ils tiennent dans l'écosystème (et dont la liste est établie en annexe II de la directive Habitats).

Summary tabular data relating to Natura 2000 SAC sites in Ireland, providing Natura 2000 site-related details, including lists of the habitats and species listed in Annex I and Annex II of the Habitats Directive for which each Natura 2000 site is selected. Data is accurate up to March 2023. Please check the Iris Oifigiúil, Irish, Irish Statute Book for more recently published Statutory Instrument (S.I.) regulations. Data is provided in a single zip file containing sub folders holding MS Excel, CSV and JSON formats, each accompanied by a ‘readme’ file. This data should be read in conjunction with the spatial (GIS) boundaries for sites, site documents and related publications (see further https://www.npws.ie/maps-and-data/designated-site-data/ )

This data repository contains a set of multi-temporal data products of ecosystem structure derived from four national ALS surveys of the Netherlands (AHN1–AHN4) (folder: 1. Data_products). Four sets of 25 LiDAR-derived vegetation metrics representing ecosystem height, cover, and structural variability are provided at 10 m spatial resolution, providing valuable data sources for a wide range of ecological research and field beyond. All 25 LiDAR metrics were calculated using Laserfarm workflow (https://laserfarm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) (building on the user-extendable features from the “Laserchicken” software: https://laserchicken.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#features). All metrics are calculated with the normalized point cloud. More details on metric calculation are provided on GitHub (Laserchicken: https://github.com/eEcoLiDAR/laserchicken and Laserfarm: https://github.com/eEcoLiDAR/Laserfarm), as well as on the “Laserchicken” documentation page (https://laserchicken.readthedocs.io/en/latest/). We also provided masks to minimize the influence of water surfaces, buildings and roads, as well as powerlines in the data products (folder: 2. Masks). Since the point density of each AHN dataset has changed significantly which may have influence on generated LiDAR metrics, we also provided the four raster layers of point density (all points) for each AHN dataset (folder: 3. Point_density). Two use cases demonstrated the utility of the presented data products: (use case 1) monitoring forest structural change across time using multi-temporal ALS data and (use case 2) comparison of vegetation structural difference within Natura 2000 sites. The used data are also provided (folder: 4. Use_case). Note that all the raster layers and shapefiles provided in this repository are under the local Dutch coordinate system “RD_new” (EPSG: 28992, NAP:5709).

Three subfolders are included:

1. Data_products

· AHN1.zip

· AHN2.zip

· AHN3.zip

· AHN4.zip

· Maps

It contains four folders with 25 LiDAR metrics at 10 m resolution generated from each AHN dataset. The file names and their corresponding LiDAR metrics can be found in Table 1. An additional folder (Maps) contains the maps (.pdf format) of all 25 metrics for each AHN dataset.

1. Masks

· ahn3_10m_mask_building_road_water.tif

· ahn4_10m_mask_building_road_water.tif

· ahn4_10m_mask_powerline.tif

It contains two mask layers of water surfaces, buildings and roads for both AHN3 and AHN4 data products based on the Dutch cadaster data (TOP10NL) from 2018 (corresponding to AHN3) and 2021 (corresponding to AHN4) (https://www.kadaster.nl/zakelijk/producten/geo-informatie/topnl). In the masks, water surfaces, buildings and roads were merged into one class with pixel value assigned to 1 and the rest has the pixel value of 0. There is also a powerline mask generated from the AHN4 dataset at 10 m resolution, where pixels containing powerlines were assigned a value of 1 and the rest as NoData. We provide those masks to minimize the inaccuracies of the data products caused by human infrastructures and water surfaces.

1. Point_density

· ahn1_10m_point_density.tif

· ahn2_10m_point_density.tif

· ahn3_10m_point_density.tif

· ahn4_10m_point_density.tif

It contains four raster layers (at 10 m resolution) representing the point density of each AHN dataset.

1. Use_case

2. Multi-temporal_AHN

· Data

· Usecase_multi-temporal_AHN.R

It contains the input data for the use case data processing (i.e. Data folder), including the shapefile of the area (i.e. shp folder), and extracted pixel value from six selected LiDAR metrics from AHN1–AHN5 (i.e. Metrics folder), and the selected LiDAR metrics of the area (e.g. Hp95 folder), and the R code for data processing (i.e. Usecase_multi-temporal_AHN.R).

1. Natura2000

· Data

· Natura2000_end2021_HABITATCLASS.csv

· Natura2000_NL_habitat_grouped.csv

· Usecase_Natura2000.R

It contains a folder of the input data used for the use case (i.e. Data folder), including the shapefile (i.e. shp folder) of the Natura 2000 sites in the Netherlands (i.e. Nature2000_NL_RDnew.shp) and the 100 random sample plots from each habitat type (e.g. woodland_points.shp), and the LiDAR metrics from AHN4 used for demonstrating the vegetation structure within each habitat type (i.e. AHN4_metrics folder). The table “Natura2000_end2021_HABITATCLASS.csv” is the original attribute table of Natura 2000 sites, including information related to the description of habitat classes (column “DESCRIPTION”), the code corresponding to the habitat class (column “HABITATCODE”), the code for the specific site (column “SITECODE”), and the percentage of the cover of a specific habitat class in one site (column “PERCENTAGECOVER”). The table “Natura2000_NL_habitat_grouped.csv” contains two subtabs, one (i.e. “Habitatclass”) is the copy of the original attribute table of Natura 2000 sites in the Netherlands, and the other one (i.e. “Habitat_class_summary”) is the grouped habitat type based on the dominant habitat class (i.e. class with the highest percentage cover) in each site. Different colors indicate different habitat types, corresponding to the colors in the first tab (“Habitatclass”) where the dominant habitat class was highlighted for each site.

Code availability

Jupyter Notebooks for processing AHN datasets:

https://github.com/ShiYifang/AHN

Laserfarm workflow repository:

https://github.com/eEcoLiDAR/Laserfarm

Laserchicken software repository:

https://github.com/eEcoLiDAR/laserchicken

Code for downloading AHN dataset: https://github.com/ShiYifang/AHN/tree/main/AHN_downloading

Code for generating masks for AHN datasets: https://github.com/ShiYifang/AHN/tree/main/AHN_masks

Code for demonstration of ecological use cases: https://github.com/ShiYifang/AHN/tree/main/Use_case

This is a redistribution of a subdataset of the data source 'Biologische Waarderingskaart en Natura 2000 Habitatkaart - Toestand 2018', originally published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and distributed by 'Informatie Vlaanderen' under a CC-BY compatible license. It is redistributed for reproducible, analytical workflows on Flemish Natura 2000 habitats and regionally important biotopes.

The subdataset is a shapefile of line segments of the Natura 2000 habitat type 3260 (Watercourses of plain to montane levels with the Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitricho-Batrachion vegetation) that correspond with its presence in watercourses in the Flemish Region, identical to the shapefile Hab3260 in the original data source.

The data source is produced, owned and administered by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO, Department of Environment of the Flemish government).

SPAs are classified under the EC Birds Directive and together with SACs, form the Natura 2000 network. Proposed Special Protection Areas (pSPA) may be subject to change prior to classification.Complete metadata on spatialdata.gov.scot

Natura 2000 is het samenhangend netwerk van beschermde natuurgebieden in de Europese Unie bestaande uit Vogelrichtlijn- en Habitatrichtlijngebieden. Natura 2000-gebieden zijn een samenvoeging van beide en de daarin gelegen beschermde natuurmonumenten. In totaal gaat het om 160 gebieden waarvan drie mariene gebieden in de Exclusieve Economische Zone (EEZ) op de Noordzee (incl. een voorgenomen Vogelrichtlijngebied in de EEZ: Friese Front). De Vogelrichtlijngebieden zijn merendeels aangewezen in de periode 1986-2000. De Habitatrichtlijngebieden worden aangewezen met de aanwijzing van de betreffende Natura 2000-gebieden. De aanwijzing van deze gebieden is begonnen in 2008 en wordt naar verwachting voltooid in 2015. Op 15 juli 2015 zijn met de aanwijzing van het Noordhollands Duinreservaat, het Geuldal en Kolland & Overlangbroek in totaal 154 Natura 2000-gebieden definitief aangewezen. Dit bestand bevat de grenzen van de definitief aangewezen gebieden (stand van zaken 15 juli 2015) en de grenzen conform het ontwerp-besluit van de meeste overige gebieden. Twee gebieden zijn voorlopig aangewezen: Spanjaards Duin en de Hertogin Hedwigepolder als onderdeel van het gebied Westerschelde & Saeftinghe. Voor twee Habitatrichtlijngebieden (Krammer-Volkerak en Zoommeer) op land en twee mariene Habitatrichtlijngebieden buiten de territoriale wateren (EEZ) waarvoor nog geen ontwerp-besluiten zijn gepubliceerd, bevat deze dataset de grenzen zoals die aan de Europese Commissie gemeld zijn. In deze dataset zijn voor het eerst gebieden met ondergrondse kalksteengroeven aan de gebieden Geuldal, Sint Pietersberg & Jekerdal, Bemelerberg & Schiepersberg en Savelsbos toegevoegd (code 'HR groeve' in het attribuut BESCHERMIN). In tegenstelling tot het regulier Habitatrichtlijngebied maken in deze gebieden alleen de ondergrondse kalksteengroeven deel uit van het Habitatrichtlijngebied.

Avgränsning av naturtyper i av Regeringen beslutade Natura 2000-områden. Uppgifter om naturområden i F-län som av regeringen beslutats ingå i nätverket Natura 2000 och som förslås/antagits av EU-kommissionen. Utgör samtidigt riksintressen enligt 4 kap 8 § Miljöbalken. Krav från EU. Säkerställande av naturvärden. Naturvårdsplanering, ärendehandläggning. Grund för ansökan ur EU:s Life-fond. Inventerade: 2002-2006

Directive européenne visant à préserver la diversité de la nature en Europe en constituant un réseau européen de sites abritant des habitats et/ou des espèces d'importance communautaire.

The data, range, delimits the special protection areas according to the Birds Directive 2009/147/EC (ex 79/409/EEC) on the conservation of all species of naturally living birds in the wild in the European territory. The objective of protecting these sites is the conservation of nature. The sites are designated in accordance with the Natura 2000 network legislation. The data derives from the shape file present on the web page of the Regional Sector Biodiversity and Natural Areas, but it has been modified by the Area Territory and Landscape excluding areas that cross the regional borders

Nature parks, biosphere reserves, Natura 2000 sites, areas under strict protection, green and blue belts Sources: GDI-SL 2018; SPF-DGO3 2018; MNHN Service du Patrimoine 2018; OGC-Geodatendienste LANIS RLP 2018. Harmonization: IGEAT 2018

General

The data source is a geospatial collection of polygons that correspond with the presence or absence of the Natura 2000 Annex I habitat type 8310 (Caves not open to the public) in the Flemish Region (and border areas), Belgium.

The dataset contains all known, not collapsed, underground marl quarries in Flanders. Several of these quarries have their entrance in or run underground to the neighboring regions/countries.

In general, different polygons represent different quarry units with their own internal climatic environment. Units that cross Flemish borders have been split into separate polygons. Exceptionally they may overlap if such units are situated above each other.

For safety reasons, the dataset only contains the contour of the quarries, and no details like floor plans or entrances. For admission to research the indoor climate, please contact the Quarries and Safety Department of the municipality of Riemst (https://www.riemst.be/nl/wonen/groeven; mike.lahaye@riemst.be).

The data source is produced, owned and administered by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO, a scientific institute of the Flemish government).

Technical aspects

The data source is a GeoPackage that contains:

a spatial polygon layer ‘habitatquarries’ in the Belgian Lambert 72 coordinate reference system (EPSG-code 31370);

a non-spatial table ‘extra_references’ with site-specific bibliographic references.

The data source has been based on an unpublished shapefile used in De Saeger & Lahaye (2019) and on a BibTeX bibliography file. See R-code in the GitHub repository 'n2khab-preprocessing' at commit c0821eb for the creation.

A reading function to return habitatquarries (this data source) in a standardized way into the R environment is provided by the R-package n2khab.

The attributes of the spatial polygon layer ‘habitatquarries’ are:

polygon_id: a unique number per polygon;

unit_id: a unique number for each quarry unit. Quarry units consisting of several polygons (= partly outside the Flemish region) have a number greater than 100;

name: name of the site;

habitattype: either:

8310 (habitat type 8310)

gh (no Natura 2000 type)

missing (outside of the Flemish Region);

extra_reference: extra reference with more information.

The non-spatial table extra_references provides the bibliography referred to by the spatial attribute extra_reference. It was derived from a BibTeX bibliography file by using the R-package bib2df, and it is back-convertible into one (see R-package n2khab). The original bibliography file is also available in the above linked ‘n2khab-preprocessing’ repository.

The aim of the NPWS Seabird Foraging Radii Project was to create a number of polygon shapefiles describing the geographic foraging range of 20 seabird species identified by the National Parks and Wildlife Service Birds unit. The polygons were centred around Natura 2000 SPA (Special Protection Areas) centroids created by the Birds Unit. The foraging radii polygons were created to represent mean, mean-max and maximum foraging range journeys undertaken by the bird species of interest. The foraging range polygon shapefiles created during the process to geographically describe seabird foraging activity were merged into a single polygon shapefile.. This Project generated following datasets: An Excel spreadhseet 1 point shapefile representing the centroid location of Special Protected Area's (SPA) for all seabird species listed in the SBFR21_Foraging_range.xls One polygon shapefile representing the geographic extent of seabird foraging radii at mean, mean-max and maximum extent. The foraging radii were applied to centroids within the SPA network where a given seabird species was listed. Several species of seabird have foraging ranges outside Irish territorial limits.

Natura 2000 -lintujensuojelualueet ovat yksi kolmesta kansainvälisestä luonnonsuojelualueesta, joita kutsutaan yhteisesti Natura 2000 -alueiksi. Natura 2000 -verkostoon kuuluvat: Natura 2000 -lintujensuojelualueet, Natura 2000 -luontotyyppialueet ja Ramsar-alueet. Lintujensuojelualueet auttavat ylläpitämään ja turvaamaan elinympäristöjä. Tanskassa alueet ovat erityisen tärkeitä monille vesilinnuille. Teema näyttää, mitkä tiedot olivat voimassa 1.5.2020. Tiedoston nimi: np3b2020_linnut_protect.shp Natura 2000 -lintujensuojelualueet ovat yksi kolmesta kansainvälisestä luonnonsuojelualueesta, joita kutsutaan yhteisesti Natura 2000 -alueiksi. Natura 2000 -verkostoon kuuluvat:Natura 2000 -lintujensuojelualueet, Natura 2000 -luontotyyppialueet ja Ramsar-alueet. Lintujensuojelualueet auttavat ylläpitämään ja turvaamaan elinympäristöjä. Tanskassa alueet ovat erityisen tärkeitä monille vesilinnuille. Teema näyttää, mitkä tiedot olivat voimassa 1.5.2020.

Tiedoston nimi: np3b2020_linnut_protect.shp

Le jeu de données contient les sites Natura 2000 au titre de la directive Habitat dans le Grand Est également appelés zones spéciales de conservation (ZSC).

Ces zones font partie du réseau Natura 2000, réseau des espaces communautaires de protection des habitats et des espèces d''intérêt communautaire. Les zones spéciales de conservation (ZSC) sont des sites maritimes et terrestres qui comprennent des habitats naturels ou des habitats d''espèces de faune et de flore sauvages dont la liste est fixée par arrêté du ministre en charge de l''environnement et dont la rareté, la vulnérabilité ou la spécificité justifient la désignation de telles zones et par là même une attention particulière. (source : ATEN, fiches juridiques 2005).

A noter la création de deux champs permettant d'accéder, par sites aux fiches DREAL et INPN.

A noter que le réseau NATURA 2000 contient également des sites au titre de la directive Oiseaux ZPS dans le Grand Est.

Nom de la couche SIG : NATURA2000_ZSC_S_R44.shp

This Shapefile contains Special Protection Areas (SPAs) with marine components are defined as those sites with qualifying Birds Directive (2009/147/EC) Annex I species or regularly occurring migratory species that are dependent on the marine environment for all or part of their lifecycle, where these species are found in association with intertidal or subtidal habitats. More information can be located on the ReadMe tab within the spreadsheet linked as an additional information source below. The shapefile is the new official top layer with an update covering: - the revision to Natura 2000 Standard Data Forms and the submission of data to the European Commission in December 2015 - new species features, in particular those introduced via the SPA extension work in Scotland - removal of 9 SPAs from the list following reviews by the country agencies of which sites contain marine components. These sites remain designated for terrestrial/freshwater features but are no longer considered to have marine components. - addition of Northumbria Coast SPA which is now considered to contain marine components. - Extension and reclassification of Dungeness to Pett Level SPA. The site name is now 'Dungness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SPA'. Boundary, area, latitude, longitude and qualifying features have been amended.