bdagley
commented
1 year ago Although the following isn't exactly what you were looking into, it is possible to make such updates on iNaturalist, which are then reflected to GBIF when the Research Grade records are matriculated to it.
(from helpdesk)
I am the (volunteer) developer for the UK's Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) data management system, as well as being independently contracted to assess Aculeate Hymenoptera for a GB Red List. I was looking at the potential to use GBIF data as a proxy for the non-existent 'global' Red List when I noticed that there are now a number of situations where the data for GB and IE held on GBIF are definitively wrong on account of the 'taxa' they represent.
The model example I use for my BWARS work is Bombus lucorum, as the situation is very well understood, explained, and accepted. In summary, what GB and IE understood to be Bombus lucorum is actually a composite of B. lucorum, B. magnus, and B. cryptarum. Medium (at least in entomological terms) scale genetic testing has revealed an approximate split of 2/3 B. lucorum vs 1/3 B. magnus/ B. cryptarum. As such, all data of B. lucorum from GB and IE should be considered an aggregate of the three taxa.
The paper which started all this is here. I am including some non-published information from a few double-blind studies I supervised which attempted to identify the 'true' composition of species.
GBIF however still presents historic data as being that of B. lucorum, presenting a false impression of the status of the taxon and the components of the aggregate. Is there a process by which the relevant data can be re-assigned to an aggregate of B. lucorum/cryptarum/magnus? I notice that other areas have also identified differing levels of cryptic complexes within 'B. lucorum' - how would differing interpretations of B. lucorum be represented in GBIF? Is there any way I can share the BWARS nomenclature updates with GBIF to more accurately represent the state of current knowledge? One of my core goals when developing the BWARS data management system has been to create ready-to-use data for non-specialists, of which one of the largest challenges has been ensuring taxonomic stability in an unstable situation. I have now created a highly stable system and am looking to see if I can use what we have created to improve other systems and their data.
Bombus lucorum (Linnaeus, 1761) https://www.gbif.org/species/1340298 https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/MFNK