Mapping Ireland’s Biodiversity

An introduction to Biodiversity Maps maps.biodivers..., Ireland’s biodiversity mapping and data portal.
Introducing ‘Biodiversity Maps’
In order to conserve all of Ireland’s biodiversity, we need to first know what we have and where it is found. We need accurate data on all our plants and animals in order to better understand our natural surroundings, to track changes in our environment, and to gain a greater insight into how we benefit from, and impact upon, the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, a national asset, which contributes at least €2.6 Billion each year to the Irish economy.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre is the national centre for the collection, collation, management, analysis and dissemination of data on Ireland’s biodiversity. It serves as a national archive for over 4 million records of more than 16,000 species, gathered by individuals, ecologists, NGOs, institutions, and universities, who provide data to help build a detailed picture of the species we have, how they are distributed and how their populations is changing, and the threats they are facing. This information is then made available by the National Biodiversity Data Centre through its portal ‘Biodiversity Maps’, which can be freely accessed by anyone interested in finding out about Ireland’s biodiversity.
Biodiversity Maps allows Ireland’s data to be shared internationally with scientists around the world, through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility
All data is available for species health-checks, conservation assessments, and to ensure that the needs of biodiversity can be understood when making decisions around issues like land use, planning and protected area management.
The platform shows: what species have been recorded in an area, - highlights areas that are particularly important to biodiversity, and allows this scientific data to be easily downloaded so that the information can directly input into decisions on the conservation of biological diversity.
The homepage provides statistics on the number of records in the database, the number of species and the number of different datasets.
There are different ways to search for data. By browsing through the protected, threatened or invasive species; by searching through the different taxonomic groups, or datasets, or by species.
For example, all Irish data for the Red Squirrel can be searched, and ‘Live Map’ shows the distribution of records across the country. To view Red Squirrel records for one area, you can zoom into that location or enter the address in the map search bar. Records can be plotted on a map or on an aerial photograph.
Details for each record can be viewed. Activating relevant habitat layers shows, for instance, locally mapped woodland habitats, or the extent of protected sites in the area.
Data on a second species of interest can be added - for instance, the related invasive Grey Squirrel, which reveals that the Grey Squirrel is now found in this woodland, having extended its range west of the River Nore.
Biodiversity Maps can provide a list of all the species recorded at a given site. For instance, a protected site by generating a special biodiversity site report that can be downloaded to your desktop. The report includes information on what species have been recorded, and when they were last recorded.
It also highlights which protected, threatened or invasive species have been recorded at the site, making it easy to flag the species that are most important for protection, regulatory and reporting purposes.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre supports the work of local conservation groups, ecologists, NGOs and state agencies, who have a role to play in protecting Ireland’s wildlife, including the National Parks and Wildlife Service and provides data to inform the conservation actions of the Government of Ireland.
Biodiversity Maps is a national resource that can be used by anyone to find out what is known about the biodiversity of any part of Ireland, to showcase the state of knowledge on Ireland’s rich biological diversity, and to allow easy access to high quality scientific data to help its conservation.
It is an essential national infrastructure, underpinning research, environmental monitoring, conservation planning and management, education and citizen science activities.
Produced by Juanita Browne
Script: Juanita Browne, Ben Malone, Liam Lysaght
Direction: Randi Luna Lofstedt
Illustration: Javier Andrés Gamboa
Animation: Andrés Felipe Caro C
Voiceover: Neil Kavanagh
The National Biodiversity Data Centre is an Initiative of the Heritage Council and is operated under a service level agreement by Compass Informatics. The data centre is funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Heritage Council.