Marine and terrestrial species occurrence data for French Polynesia
Published in Seanoe, 2024
✦ Abstract
The ongoing biodiversity crisis calls for a complete biodiversity inventory of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The task is particularly challenging for fragmented island territories, where baseline biodiversity information is often difficult to procure. Using data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), we curated the first biogeographic dataset for both marine and terrestrial animal species in French Polynesia.
This curated dataset centralises information from different sources (museums, research institutions, citizen scientists) that can be used to evaluate species biodiversity across an understudied region composed of 119 islands and atolls, belonging to a marine biodiversity hotspot facing pressing conservation challenges.
The dataset enabled investigation of inherent sampling biases (taxonomic, spatial) and quantification of island-specific accessibility biases. Overall, the biases quantified here challenge our ability to conduct biogeographic analyses that integrate the land-sea meta-ecosystem. Our database identifies taxa and sampling locations that require urgent attention, and highlights comprehensively recorded species that can serve as indicators of environmental degradation.
Explicitly acknowledging the inherent biases of biodiversity datasets is the first step towards a more comprehensive characterisation of species diversity across fragmented territories — crucial for guiding sound adaptive-management and conservation planning strategies. Detailed results from these analyses will soon be disclosed in a peer-reviewed article.