IMIS

The checklist is published here as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each (sub)species: the scientific name and classification (in the taxon core), the presence in Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region, year of first and last observation in Belgium (given as a year range in the event date in the distribution extension), coarse habitat information (in the species profile extension), and the degree of establishment, pathway(s) of introduction and native range(s) (in the description extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/trias-project/alien-herpetofauna-belgium.
We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the GBIF citation guidelines (https://www.gbif.org/citation-guidelines) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don’t hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via https://twitter.com/trias_project.
This dataset was published as open data for the TrIAS project (Tracking Invasive Alien Species http://trias-project.be, Vanderhoeven et al. 2017), with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It is selected as one of the authoritative sources for the compilation of a unified and reproducible checklist of alien species in Belgium.
The dataset includes information on the presence of alien herpetofauna species in Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels Capital Region (the three main political regions in Belgium).
In total, this dataset includes over 100 alien herpetofauna species.
The data for this checklist are curated from several sources: literature, a citizen science portal, animal shelter databases, news articles, firsthand accounts and own records. The majority of the data for all three political regions is derived from the citizen science portal https://waarnemingen.be/, available through GBIF (Vanreusel et al. 2020). For Flanders, a considerable second source of data are the various animal shelters, operating under Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen, and SOS Reptiel, a non-profit animal shelter specialized in reptiles and amphibians. For Wallonia, data is shared by Natagora, a non-profit nature conservation organisation. Literature, firsthand accounts, news articles and own records constitute a minority of the data in the checklist.