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Much of the information in the FinBIF database consists of metadata that helps provide context for occurrence records and other information in FinBIF.

General metadata

You can see some of the metadata available in finbif by calling the finbif_metadata function without any arguments.

Click to show/hide output.

#>                metadata_name
#> 1          regulatory_status
#> 2                   red_list
#> 3                    country
#> 4                     region
#> 5               bio_province
#> 6       finnish_municipality
#> 7            bird_assoc_area
#> 8  finnish_occurrence_status
#> 9               habitat_type
#> 10         habitat_qualifier
#> 11                life_stage
#> 12              record_basis
#> 13         restriction_level
#> 14        restriction_reason
#> 15              sex_category
#> 16                    source
#> 17                taxon_rank


Calling finbif_metadata() and specifying one of the metadata categories will display a data.frame with the requested metadata.

finbif_metadata("red_list")
Click to show/hide output.

#>           code name                 
#> MX.iucnCR CR   Critically Endangered
#> MX.iucnDD DD   Data Deficient       
#> MX.iucnEN EN   Endangered           
#> MX.iucnEX EX   Extinct              
#> MX.iucnEW EW   Extinct in the Wild  
#> MX.iucnLC LC   Least Concern        
#> MX.iucnNT NT   Near Threatened      
#> MX.iucnNA NA   Not Applicable       
#> MX.iucnNE NE   Not Evaluated        
#> MX.iucnRE RE   Regionally Extinct   
#> MX.iucnVU VU   Vulnerable           


Special cases

Some more complex metadata is accessed with other finbif functions

Informal groups

Informal taxonomic groups and their relationships can be displayed with finbif_informal_groups()

finbif_informal_groups(limit = 2)
#> Birds
#>   --Birds of prey and owls
#>       --Owls
#>       --Birds of prey
#>   --Waterbirds
#> Mammals
#>   --Small mammals
#>   --Bats
#> ...150 more groups

You can select a subgroup by specifying a parent informal group as a function argument.

finbif_informal_groups("Crustaceans")
#> Crustaceans
#>   --Macrocrustaceans
#>       --Crabs, shrimps and crayfishes
#>       --Amphipods, isopods, opossum shrimps
#>       --Woodlice
#>       --Other macrocrustaceans
#>   --Microcrustaceans
#>       --Copepods
#>       --Branchiopoda
#>       --Seed shrimps

Collections

Another special case of metadata is finbif_collections(). Collections are the highest level of record aggregation in the FinBIF database.

You can subset collection metadata by using the filter and select arguments.

finbif_collections(
  filter = geographic_coverage == "Finland",
  select = c(
    "collection_name", "taxonomic_coverage", "geographic_coverage", "count"
  )
)
Click to show/hide output.

#>         collection_name        taxonomic_coverage     geographic_coverage count  
#> HR.1227 Priv. coll. Mikko Hei… Biota                  Finland                  48
#> HR.1349 JYV - Fungal collecti… <NA>                   Finland               14486
#> HR.1350 JYV - Lichen collecti… <NA>                   Finland                 825
#> HR.1351 JYV - Bryophyte colle… <NA>                   Finland               11214
#> HR.1467 Per-Eric Grankvist´s … Lepidoptera            Finland                   5
#> HR.1487 JYV - Fish collections <NA>                   Finland                1371
#> HR.1507 Lingonblad Birger och… Lepidoptera            Finland                2799
#> HR.157  Point counts of breed… Birds, landbirds       Finland              425914
#> HR.1592 Main herbarium of The… <NA>                   Finland                7832
#> HR.1687 Papilionoidea of Coll… Papilionoidea          Finland                 550
#> HR.1688 Noctuidae I of Coll. … Noctuidae              Finland                 614
#> HR.1689 Noctuidae II of Coll.… Noctuidae              Finland                 839
#> HR.1690 Noctuidae III, Bombyc… Noctuidae, Bombycoide… Finland                 521
#> HR.1691 Drepanidae & Geometri… Drepanidae, Geometrid… Finland                1408
#> HR.175  National Butterfly Re… Lepidoptera            Finland              549592
#> HR.1916 Wildlife triangle      Siberian flying squir… Finland               18560
#> HR.200  Finnish Insect Databa… Insecta                Finland             3725313
#> HR.2009 Fish observation data… invasive alien fish s… Finland               35854
#> HR.2029 LajiGIS: Miscellaneou… Biota                  Finland               44432
#> HR.2049 Invasive alien specie… Invasive species       Finland                3908
#> HR.206  The Finnish Nature As… biota                  Finland              141107
#> HR.2089 Håkan Lindberg collec… Hymenoptera            Finland                2435
#> HR.209  Atlas of Finnish Macr… Macrolepidoptera       Finland             1218546
#> HR.2129 The Atlas of Finnish … fungi                  Finland              181432
#> HR.2209 KUO Arachnida collect… Arachnida              Finland                   3
#> HR.2289 Specimens that lack c… <NA>                   Finland                 109
#> HR.2691 Luomus line transect … Aves                   Finland              580918
#> HR.2692 Censuses of breeding … Aves                   Finland               14996
#> HR.3051 Finvasive LIFE projec… <NA>                   Finland                2604
#> HR.3071 Biodiversity observat… <NA>                   Finland                 529
#> HR.3211 iNaturalist Suomi Fin… biota                  Finland             1670979
#> HR.3431 Butterflies in Finnis… Papilionoidea, Others  Finland              732007
#> HR.3491 LajiGIS: Species surv… Biota                  Finland              759186
#> HR.3553 LajiGIS: Species moni… Biota                  Finland              797208
#> HR.3691 eBird                  Aves                   Finland             2417556
#> HR.3791 Finnish invasive spec… Biota                  Finland                8099
#> HR.39   Winter Bird Census     Aves, Mammalia         Finland             1608783
#> HR.3911 Bumblebee census       Bumblebees             Finland               52893
#> HR.3991 Waterbird counts, Luo… Aves                   Finland               54931
#> HR.3992 Waterbird counts, Luk… Aves                   Finland               54782
#> HR.4011 Salmonidae in streams  Salmonoidei            Finland               25263
#> HR.4051 LajiGIS: Species moni… Aquila chrysaetos; Ha… Finland                9812
#> HR.4091 Retkikasvio            <NA>                   Finland                 220
#> HR.4191 Porvoo Museum / Colle… Lepidoptera            Finland               10417
#> HR.4251 LajiGIS: Species mapp… Biota                  Finland              638169
#> HR.435  Löydös Open Invasive … Biota                  Finland               27935
#> HR.4352 NFI rare tree species  <NA>                   Finland                 992
#> HR.4374 Porvoo Museum / Pisces <NA>                   Finland                   1
#> HR.4379 Porvoo Museum / Amphi… <NA>                   Finland                   5
#> HR.4386 Porvoo Museum / Oology <NA>                   Finland                 522
#> HR.4412 Tiira.fi: The Fourth … Aves                   Finland              819404
#> HR.4471 Fourth Finnish Bird A… Aves                   Finland              365368
#> HR.4511 Finnish National Moth… Bombycoidea, Noctuoid… Finland             1224173
#> HR.4611 Observations by FCG F… <NA>                   Finland                1591
#> HR.4612 Pollinator monitoring… Insecta                Finland               16692
#> HR.4672 Observations from pub… Biota                  Finland                 127
#> HR.4711 Flying squirrel monit… Pteromys volans        Finland                2509
#> HR.49   Finnish birds of prey… Accipitridae, Falconi… Finland              193879
#> HR.4991 Bird atlas observatio… Aves                   Finland               15757
#> HR.50   White-tailed Sea Eagl… Haliaeetus albicilla   Finland               32090
#> HR.5095 Dragonfly - complete … Odonata                Finland                1066
#> HR.5155 Observations from ele… Biota                  Finland                1423
#> HR.5196 Pollinator monitoring… Insecta                Finland               16571
#> HR.5235 Finnish butterflies -… Lepidoptera, Papilino… Finland                 751
#> HR.5236 Charismatic flowering… Tracheophyta           Finland               16849
#> HR.5255 Diurnal moths - compl… Lepidoptera            Finland                  36
#> HR.5256 Bumblebees - complete… Hymenoptera            Finland                 461
#> HR.5257 Amphibia and reptilia… Chordata               Finland                  91
#> HR.5258 Subarctic plants - co… Tracheophyta           Finland                  66
#> HR.5259 Macrolichens - comple… <NA>                   Finland                 286
#> HR.5260 Bracket fungi, redlis… <NA>                   Finland                  33
#> HR.5535 Observations of invas… <NA>                   Finland                6656
#> HR.5555 Observations by the f… <NA>                   Finland                3729
#> HR.5575 Noteworthy macrofungi… Fungi                  Finland                 816
#> HR.5795 Dataset from Luke to … Aves                   Finland               22536
#> HR.5835 Crowdsorsa mapping an… Plantae                Finland               41425
#> HR.5895 Oma riista -observati… Aves                   Finland               35965
#> HR.5938 Willow grouse countin… Lagopus lagopus        Finland                1067
#> HR.60   Monitoring scheme of … Aves, Mammalia         Finland              956964
#> HR.6058 Coll. Lilja Insects    <NA>                   Finland                 111
#> HR.627  Alien mammal species … Invasive alien mammal… Finland                4255
#> HR.64   Finnish bird nest rec… Aves                   Finland              973502
#> HR.6678 Finnish Hemiptera Wor… Hemiptera              Finland              142664
#> HR.6778 Line transect censuse… Aves                   Finland             1188179
#> HR.7080 LajiGIS: Species surv… Biota                  Finland              140389
#> HR.808  E. Sjöholm's butterfl… Lepidoptera            Finland                4946
#> HR.847  Atlas of amphibians a… Amphibia, Reptilia     Finland                7747
#> HR.95   Osprey monitoring      Pandion haliaetus      Finland              102550


By default, finbif_collections() only displays the lowest level collections. Higher level, “supercollections” can be viewed by setting supercollections = TRUE and you can limit the output to collections with a minimum number of records in them with the nmin argument.

collections <- finbif_collections(supercollections = TRUE, nmin = 10000)

The finbif_collections() function returns a data.frame where the row names are the ID number of the collection.

finbif_collections(supercollections = TRUE)["HR.128", "collection_name"]
Click to show/hide output.

#> Collections of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus


You can see the child collections of a supercollection by specifying the ID as a filter. Note that the children of supercollections may also be supercollections.

finbif_collections(is_part_of == "HR.128", supercollections = TRUE)
Click to show/hide output.

#>         collection_name abbreviation description online_url has_children is_part_of
#> HR.129  Collections of… <NA>         Herbarium … <NA>        TRUE        HR.128    
#> HR.160  Zoological col… <NA>         The collec… http://ww…  TRUE        HR.128    
#> HR.173  Luomus monitor… <NA>         Monitoring… <NA>        TRUE        HR.128    
#> HR.1849 Genomic resour… <NA>         Genomic re… <NA>        TRUE        HR.128    
#> HR.203  Löydös Open Fi… <NA>         A service … https://l… FALSE        HR.128    
#> HR.2169 Geological col… <NA>         All the ge… <NA>        TRUE        HR.128    
#> HR.435  Löydös Open In… <NA>         A service … https://l… FALSE        HR.128    
#> HR.447  Hatikka.fi obs… <NA>         Hatikka.fi… http://ha… FALSE        HR.128    
#> HR.48   Bird ringing a… TIPU         Dataset co… <NA>       FALSE        HR.128    
#> HR.7443 Luomus Botanic… <NA>         Living col… <NA>        TRUE        HR.128    
#>         data_quality methods   collection_type taxonomic_coverage geographic_coverage
#> HR.129  MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… <NA>               <NA>               
#> HR.160  MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… Animalia           World              
#> HR.173  MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… <NA>               Finland            
#> HR.1849 MY.dataQual… Sampling… MY.collectionT… Biota              World              
#> HR.203  <NA>         <NA>      MY.collectionT… biota              world              
#> HR.2169 MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… <NA>               <NA>               
#> HR.435  MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… Biota              Finland            
#> HR.447  MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… Biota              World              
#> HR.48   MY.dataQual… <NA>      MY.collectionT… Aves               Ringing data: Finl…
#> HR.7443 <NA>         <NA>      MY.collectionT… <NA>               <NA>               
#>         temporal_coverage secure_level count   
#> HR.129  <NA>              <NA>           679165
#> HR.160  1700 to present   MX.secureLe…      632
#> HR.173  1950-             <NA>          5898405
#> HR.1849 2000-             <NA>                1
#> HR.203  2013-             <NA>            71709
#> HR.2169 <NA>              <NA>                0
#> HR.435  2015-             <NA>            27935
#> HR.447  <NA>              <NA>          2011828
#> HR.48   1913-             <NA>         15792308
#> HR.7443 <NA>              <NA>                0