Key biodiversity data repositories and data in Europe

The effectiveness of management and conservation actions relies, among other factors, on the availability of biodiversity data. For these data to be effectively utilized, their accuracy, completeness, and accessibility are essential prerequisites. Over the years, various datasets focusing on different aspects and levels of ecosystems have been developed and launched to meet these requirements.

In this context, the aim of the report "Review of key biodiversity data in Europe - doi:10.2760/1700453" is to provide a critical analysis of biodiversity datasets in Europe. To achieve this, opportunistic and targeted searching procedures were employed, using the geographical nature, accessibility, and coverage of the data as criteria. As a result, 29 data repositories were assessed, from which 102 datasets were selected and further evaluated.

Here, we provide the catalog of data repositories and datasets that were assessed and included in the report. This file contains an overview of the data related to the report.

The Excel file "Key Biodiversity Data Repositories and Data in Europe" consists of three sheets:

1. READ_ME

   • Description: This sheet provides information about the fields of information extracted per data repository and dataset.
   • Purpose: To help users understand the structure and content of the other sheets in the file.

2. BiodivDataRepositories

   • Description: This sheet lists and describes all the data repositories included in the report. The given index is formed using the repositories’ acronyms.
   • Purpose: To provide the main information for the datasets mentioned in the report.

3. BiodivData

   • Description: This sheet presents the selected and assessed data retrieved from the repositories. The index of the data uses the reference from the BiodivDataRepositories sheet, with a suffix referring to the individual subsets of data.
   • Suffixes:
     • HM: Marine Habitat
     • HT: Terrestrial Habitat
     • HMu: Multiple/Transitional Habitat
     • SM: Marine Species
     • ST: Terrestrial/Freshwater Species
     • SMu: Species in Multiple/Transitional Realms
   • Purpose: To provide detailed information about the data retrieved from the selected datasets.

Related Report:

Kefalas, G., Lorilla, R.S., Bormpoudakis, D. and Drakou, E.G., Review of key biodiversity data in Europe, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/1700453, JRC141166.