Biological recording

Biological recording is the collection, collation and dissemination of information about the occurrence of animal and plant species in the environment. It encompasses everything from an individual naturalist recording species seen on a favourite walk to major national systematic surveys of particular species or habitats.

At its most basic level, a biological record is the documented occurrence of a particular species in a particular location on a certain date, identified by a named person. This is often referred to as the “what, where, when and who said so” of biological recording. No record is considered to be complete without this basic set of information. There is a variety of information that links directly to each of these four components and remains the same for all records. So, for example, the name of a species carries with it information about the authority who first described it and when, any synonyms, its relative rarity and conservation status. Likewise, the location will be associated with a modern county and/or a Watsonian Vice-County, a grid-reference (which may be a central one for the site), an altitude, one or more habitat types, and so on. The important point is that all this information does not have to be repeatedly documented for every record, thus saving considerable time and space.

There are many other pieces of information that naturalists record that add extra value to individual biological records. The specific nature of these varies enormously across different taxonomic groups. For the Auchenorrhyncha, and indeed many other insects, some of the more useful elements are:

• a precise grid-reference for where the species was found
• the name of the person who identified (determined) the specimen, which may well be different to the person who caught it
• the number of adult males, adult females and nymphs recorded
• the species of host plant from which it was collected, if the recorder can be reasonably confident that it was feeding on it (e.g. a particular tree species)
• whether or not a specimen was determined by dissection
• whether or not a voucher specimen has been retained and, if so, where it is held

All of this information can be recorded on the downloadable recording form that has been customised for recording this group. It includes a complete list of species known to occur in Britain and Ireland.

The structure of biological recording in Britain

Naturalists and field recorders are often confused by the large array of schemes and organisations that receive, collate and use biological records. They include: national recording schemes such as this one, local records centres, the national Biological Records Centre, county Wildlife Trusts, local natural history societies, local and national museums; the list seems endless. In theory, all these organisations should be able to exchange their data seamlessly, so that it wouldn’t matter where you sent your records. However, this ideal is still some way off in the future. The National Biodiversity Network’s Gateway is designed to provide a central repository for all biological records which is accessible to everyone.