Escribano Nora, Ariño Arturo H, Galicia David
Department of Environmental Biology, Universidad de Navarra , Pamplona , Spain.
PeerJ. 2016 Dec 13;4:e2743. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2743. eCollection 2016.
Primary biodiversity records (PBR) are essential in many areas of scientific research as they document the biodiversity through time and space. However, concerns about PBR quality and fitness-for-use have grown, especially as derived from taxonomical, geographical and sampling effort biases. Nonetheless, the temporal bias stemming from data ageing has received less attention. We examine the effect of changes in land use in the information currentness, and therefore data obsolescence, in biodiversity databases.
We created maps of land use changes for three periods (1956-1985, 1985-2000 and 2000-2012) at 5-kilometres resolution. For each cell we calculated the percentage of land use change within each period. We then overlaid distribution data about small mammals, and classified each data as 'non-obsolete or 'obsolete,' depending on both the amount of land use changes in the cell, and whether changes occurred at or after the data sampling's date.
A total of 14,528 records out of the initial 59,677 turned out to be non-obsolete after taking into account the changes in the land uses in Navarra. These obsolete data existed in 115 of the 156 cells analysed. Furthermore, more than one half of the remaining cells holding non-obsolete records had not been visited at least for the last fifteen years.
Land use changes challenge the actual information obtainable from biodiversity datasets and therefore its potential uses. With the passage of time, one can expect a steady increase in the availability and use of biological records-but not without them becoming older and likely to be obsolete by land uses changes. Therefore, it becomes necessary to assess records' obsolescence, as it may jeopardize the knowledge and perception of biodiversity patterns.
原始生物多样性记录（PBR）在许多科学研究领域至关重要，因为它们记录了生物多样性在时间和空间上的变化。然而，人们对PBR的质量和适用性的担忧与日俱增，尤其是由于分类学、地理和采样努力偏差导致的问题。尽管如此，数据老化导致的时间偏差却较少受到关注。我们研究了土地利用变化对生物多样性数据库中信息时效性以及数据过时情况的影响。
我们创建了三个时期（1956 - 1985年、1985 - 2000年和2000 - 2012年）分辨率为5公里的土地利用变化地图。对于每个单元格，我们计算了每个时期内土地利用变化的百分比。然后我们叠加了小型哺乳动物的分布数据，并根据单元格内土地利用变化的数量以及变化是否发生在数据采样日期或之后，将每个数据分类为“非过时”或“过时”。
在考虑了纳瓦拉地区的土地利用变化后，最初的59,677条记录中共有14,528条记录被证明是非过时的。这些过时数据存在于所分析的156个单元格中的115个单元格中。此外，持有非过时记录的其余单元格中，超过一半在过去至少十五年内没有被访问过。
土地利用变化对从生物多样性数据集中可获得的实际信息及其潜在用途构成了挑战。随着时间的推移，可以预期生物记录的可用性和使用将稳步增加——但前提是它们不会随着时间推移而变得陈旧，并且可能因土地利用变化而过时。因此，有必要评估记录的过时情况，因为这可能会危及对生物多样性模式的认识和理解。
