Structured Data
Some taxa are monitored by structured monitoring schemes that have a unified sampling protocol. These structured surveys may often have a spatial design that specifies targeted or random sampling locations. In the UK, these schemes include:
UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS)
The United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) is one of the longest running insect monitoring schemes in the world. The scheme began in 1976 and now records data on over 3,000 sites per year across the UK; incorporating traditional butterfly transects, Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS), and targeted surveys
Occurrence data from UKBMS is on GBIF. Analysis outputs, such as species abundance indices and species abundance trends, are produced annually and are available to download from the UKCEH Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC). The count data is not currently available online but is available on request from the UKBMS.
National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS)
The National Plant Monitoring Scheme aims to survey plant species across different habitats in the UK. The data collected from the survey allow us to look at the abundance and diversity of plants and help us to understand the health of different habitats.
The survey was designed, developed, and is run by the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Plantlife, and UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).
Occurrence data from the NPMS is available on GBIF or the NBN atlas. The NPMS survey data is available as citeable data products from the UKCEH Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC).
UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS)
The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS) aims to establish how insect pollinator populations are changing over time across the UK. UK PoMS was started in 2017 and runs two main surveys; Flower-Insect Time Counts (FIT counts) and systematic 1km square surveys.
UK PoMS is a partnership funded jointly by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)) (partly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of the NC-UK programme delivering National Capability) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (through funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland).
The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme data are available to download from the UKCEH Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC).
BeeWalk Survey Scheme
BeeWalk is a national recording scheme run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to collect data to monitor the abundance of bumblebees on transects across Britain. The data collection would be impossible without volunteer BeeWalkers, who identify and count the bumblebees they see on a monthly walk (a fixed route of around 1 to 2 km, determined by the volunteer) from March to October.