The Renfrew County Biotabase (RCB)

Biodiversity is more than just a buzz word. We are taking it to the field. We now want to know what species we have in Renfrew County and how the species are distributed. This database, the Renfrew County Biotabase, is meant to give us a means for obtaining this information on a county level.

This is a public participation project (citizen scientist) and it is hoped that you will share your field information on an ongoing basis and/or enter historical data that has been kicking around in scribbles in your field guides or stored in excellent databases on your computer.

Renfrew is one of Ontario’s largest counties. While we can name most of the birds that nest and pass through Renfrew County, other groups of animals and plants are not well known and if they have been recorded in the county, their distribution is poorly known.

Participation is easy. Registration is straightforward. Then access the database for viewing and for loading your information. You can report multiple species from one location, or record species as individual sightings at many locations. For use in the field, download a single location checklist and/or a multiple location checklist. A participant’s manual is being developed. Use the updates link on this page to keep you up to date on changes.

The RCB is in the early stages of development, but bird data entry is now available. More groups of animals will be added and a plant database. I would like to thank Denis Lepage of Bird Studies Canada for his willingness to venture into unknown territory. Certainly, a database of all life is an ambitious undertaking.

We are developing an information resource website: http://www.renfrewcountybiotabase.on.ca. This will present many resources for species identification and in the near future a blog will be available to allow for discussion.

Coordinator information:

Ted Hiscock
571 Russham Road
Pembroke, ON K8A 6W6
email: tnhiscock@gmail.com

Recent updates 10 Jun: A new tool is available for the Biotabase! You can now view the seasonal bar charts of everything reported to date in the biotabase. Those will be updated once a week as new data is being submitted. 30 Mar: More lists have been added including plants and spiders. 19 Jan: More species lists have been added with more to come, including plants. A search function has been added and can be used when you are wanting to enter a species from another group, say moths or odonates. The checklist for a location can include various flora and fauna that were surveyed. 30 Aug: Data collected through the Renfrew County Biotabase is now available for download through the NatureCounts portal, which is part of the Avian Knowledge Network. The database available for download will be updated periodically as new data gets continously added. You can also look at the data from all other participants by using the data review tool. 16 Jun: Bird data is now available for online entry.