Remarkable data treasure: 180-year-old data collection mobilized for biodiversity research

Thanks to the cooperation of several partners in the NFDI4Biodiversity network, a data set with 5,467 georeferenced animal observations from Bavarian forestry offices was digitized and prepared for scientific use.

Biodiversity research thrives on data that makes developments over time visible. However, historical data on species occurrences is rare. However, a unique example from Bavaria offers a valuable insight into the biodiversity of the 19th century: the systematic recording of animal species by Bavarian forestry offices in 1845.

The commission in 1845: Survey of Bavaria's biodiversity

In 1845, the Bavarian Ministry of Finance instructed Bavaria's 119 forestry offices to document the animal species found in their forest districts. The basis for this were standardized record sheets on which the occurrence of 44 animal species was recorded (figure above right). The motivation is clear from the letter of commission (top left): the aim was to scientifically document the distribution of the animal species. The survey, which was initiated by Crown Prince Maximilian (1811-1864) – later King Maximilian II – was carried out under the scientific direction of zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner (1797-1861). By involving the forestry offices, he relied on the expertise of the forestry officials, who were considered competent observers thanks to their training and proximity to nature.

The documents were initially stored at the Bavarian State Zoological Collection in Munich and transferred to the Bavarian Main State Archives in 2013. In total, the files comprise around 520 pages - a remarkable treasure trove of historical biodiversity data (BayHStA, Zoologische Staatssammlung, 208-217).

The result: a dataset with more than 5000 georeferenced animal observations – a remarkable treasure trove of historical biodiversity data

For the first time, these historical records have now been digitized and the species recorded by the forestry officials have been systematically processed for research purposes. The result: a data set with 5,467 georeferenced animal observations. This data is integrated into the Living Atlas of Nature Germany via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) biodiversity portal and is available to researchers worldwide. This enables trend analyses of the development of species occurrences over almost two centuries.

The digitization and processing of the data was the result of close cooperation between the Chair of Computational Humanities at the University of Passau, the Directorate General of the Bavarian State Archives, the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the NFDI4Biodiversity consortium.

Malte Rehbein (University of Passau) was involved in the mobilization and was a guest at the BiodiversiTea

Malte Rehbein from the University of Passau provided in-depth information on the topic in his contribution to the NFDI4Biodiversity exchange format BiodiversiTea (in German). In addition to the genesis of the dataset, he provides examples of its analytical potential and describes how the mobilization was made possible through intensive collaboration between scientists from the archives, history and ecology.

More on the topic

• Digitized documents in the Findemitteldatenbank of the Bavarian State Archives
• Dataset in GBIF
• Data publication on Zenodo
• Dataset in the Living Atlas of Nature in Germany (LAND)