Ecological Data Resources - BIOL 230 - Fundamentals of Ecology - Research Guides at University of British Columbia

Searching for Data

You can often find different kinds of data in research articles, however, you can also search specifically for datasets you can use for your project in several ways.

Several datasets are available on the open web, and you can use Google to find materials. Try searching your topic with search terms like data or table.

Google also has a Dataset Search engine that you can use to search specifically for data.

See the resources below to search for specific kinds of data and datasets you might use in your project.

Ecological Data - BC and Canada

Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution Rescued Datasets
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world's governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth. Includes datasets from GBIF Canada, which you can easily browse.
BC Species and Ecosystem Explorer
BC Data Catalogue
The BC Data Catalogue is the place to find B.C. Government data, applications and web services. Government ministries and many broader public sector agencies publish their data resources in the Catalogue
Government of Canada Open Data Portal
The Government of Canada's new Open Data Portal can be used to find a wide variety of Canadian data, including nature and environmental data.

Ecological Data Sources - International

Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS)
OBIS is a global open-access data and information clearing-house on marine biodiversity for science, conservation and sustainable development. Provides search options by Taxa, Common Names, and zones, as well as tools to map and visualize data.
DataOne Portal
The DataOne portal is a huge archive of environmental data that aggregates data sets from several different repositories and organizations. This is a good portal to look to if you want a very comprehensive search, or if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.
Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI) provides open access to finding species interaction data (e.g., predator-prey, pollinator-plant, pathogen-host, parasite-host) by combining existing open datasets using open source software.
Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (knb)
The Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) is an international repository intended to facilitate ecological and environmental research.
Ecological Data Wiki
The site is a source for finding ecological datasets and quickly figuring out the best ways to use them. Think of it as the Wikipedia of ecology data.
Biodiversity Observation Platforms/Social Networks
Crowd-sourced google sheet with list of biodiversity observation websites.
eBird
eBird data document bird distribution, abundance, habitat use, and trends through checklist data. They also provide birders with a suite of tools to improve the birding experience including information about bird hotspots,
iNaturalist
iNaturalist covers the terrestrial and aquatic world. Participants record an observation by taking a photograph, share it with other naturalists, and discuss the findings in order to crowdsource a correct identification. iNaturalist data is shared with data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility described above.
Seed Information Database
SID is a compilation of seed biological trait data, with records derived from measurements and observations on seed collections held in Royal Botanic Garden Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank and from other unpublished and published sources, through donation or abstraction.

more... less...

Please cite this database as: SER, INSR, RBGK, Seed Information Database (SID), 2023

Please include this database within your Acknowledgements, Bibliography or References as: Society for Ecological Restoration, International Network for Seed Based Restoration and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. (2023) Seed Information Database (SID). Available from: https://ser-sid.org/ (February 2023)