GBIF taxonomic keys for taxa reported under the EU Habitats Directive (Article 17): reporting cycles 2001-2006, 2007-2012 and 2013-2018

This dataset provides the correspondence between scientific names reported by European Union Member States under the EU Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC, Article 17 reporting) and taxonomic identifiers from the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy for the following reporting cycles: 2001-2006, 2007-2012, 2013-2018. Scientific names were matched against the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy using the name_backbone() function implemented in the rgbif package (Chamberlain, 2017). For each reporting cycle, two datasets are provided: Raw datasets contain the direct output returned by the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy using name_backbone() function. Curated datasets include manual assignment of GBIF taxon keys for species that could not be matched automatically or required taxonomic review. Each dataset includes the original scientific name (input_name), the matched scientific name returned by GBIF (matched_name), taxonomic status, taxonomic rank, GBIF identifiers (usageKey, acceptedUsageKey, speciesKey) and higher taxonomic classification (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family and genus). Curated datasets include manually assigned or corrected GBIF taxon keys for species that could not be matched automatically or for which the automatically retrieved taxon key required taxonomic revision. An additional column (matching_method) indicates whether the taxon key was obtained through automatic matching using the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy or through manual curation. The datasets were generated to facilitate the integration of Habitats Directive species lists with GBIF occurrence data and other biodiversity datasets using GBIF taxonomic identifiers. Methodology 1. Scientific names were extracted from the species datasets reported under Article 17 of the EU Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC), downloaded from the European Environment Agency (EEA) Datahub: Conservation status of habitat types and species: datasets from Article 17, Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC reporting (EEA, 2021) 2. Each scientific name was queried against the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy using the rgbif::name_backbone() function in R. 3. The taxonomic information and GBIF identifiers returned by the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy were stored to produce the raw datasets. 4. Scientific names that could not be matched automatically, or for which the returned taxonomic match required verification, were manually reviewed using the GBIF species portal. Where appropriate, the corresponding GBIF taxon key was identified and added or corrected to produce the curated datasets. 5. In the curated datasets, the variable matching_method indicates whether the GBIF taxon key was obtained through automatic matching using rgbif::name_backbone() (automatic) or assigned following manual taxonomic curation (manual).