Field data obtained from the implementation of the Field Protocols (1, 2, and 3) from WP3 in B-GOOD Project

Dataset of the field data obtained from the implementation of the field protocols 1, 2, and 3, developed under B-GOOD (Giving Beekeeping Guidance by cOmputatiOnal-assisted Decision making, Grant agreement No. 81762) project in WP3.

The primary goal of field data collection was to gather data that could be used for the validation of floral resources maps and models developed across the various tasks within WP3, and also to fill specific information gaps during the development of the phenological model. The fieldwork was conducted in three countries (Portugal, Belgium, and the United Kingdom) using three field protocols developed under B-GOOD and described in Milestone MS15.

These protocols are part of Tasks 3.1 and 3.3 and serve various purposes. The primary goal of Field Protocol 1: "Assessment of plant species composition on key landscape elements/habitats important for bees" was to determine the species composition in selected key plant communities (i.e. landscape elements or habitats) important for bees. Field Protocol 1 was used to determine the plant species composition of specific ALMaSS landscape elements and to confirm/validate the plant composition of some BIOEUNIS habitat types, developed in Task 3.1. The main goal of Field Protocol 2: "Assessment of Phenology of Floral Resources for Bees" was to determine the flower phenology of targeted plant species to construct flowering phenological curves for targeted plant species. Field Protocol 2 was used to validate the floral resource models developed in Task 3.2 (see Section 2.4). The primary goal of Field Protocol 3: "Floral resources evaluation (detailed method)" was to conduct a detailed evaluation of the floral resources in each landscape window with B-GOOD mini-apiaries to map resource availability. Field protocol 3 was divided into two parts: Part 1 - “Assessment and quantification of floral resources”, aiming to determine the species composition, species cover, and flower abundance; and Part 2 - “Flowering species characterization”, aiming to quantify the number of flowers per individual plant, and the nectar and pollen production of target plant species. Field Protocol 3 was also used to make a detailed assessment of plant species composition and plant resources at the landscape level, as well as to fill the gaps in knowledge about pollen and nectar production of some target plant species. The field data collected by the implementations of the field protocols could be categorized into three main groups: Plant Species Composition (Field Protocol 1 and Field Protocol 3: Part 1), Phenology of Floral Resources (Field Protocol 2), and Flowering Species Characterization (Field Protocol 3: Part 2).

Field protocols have been implemented in Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Field protocols 2 and 3 were fully implemented in the three countries. However, field protocol 1 was not implemented as a stand-alone field protocol in Portugal and the United Kingdom due to logistical and time constraints primarily caused by the COVID pandemic. However, this does not hamper our ability to obtain landscape-specific plant composition data because the information gathered in this protocol can be derived entirely from the implementation of the first part of Field Protocol 3. As a result, for Portugal and the United Kingdom, Field Protocol 1 data was derived from the first part of Field Protocol 3. The full dataset gathered by the implementation of these three protocols is available here.

The files “field-data-protocol-1-be.xlsx”, “field-data-protocol-1-pt.xlsx” and “field-data-protocol-1-uk.xlsx” have the field data obtained from the implementation of Field Protocol 1: "Assessment of plant species composition" in Belgium, Portugal, and the UK, respectively.

The files “field-data-protocol-2-be.xlsx”, “field-data-protocol-2-pt.xlsx” and “field-data-protocol-2-uk.xlsx” have the field data obtained from the implementation of Field Protocol 2: "Assessment of Phenology of Floral Resources" in Belgium, Portugal, and the UK, respectively.

The files “field-data-protocol-3-part-1-be.xlsx”, “field-data-protocol-3-part-1-pt.xlsx “and “field-data-protocol-3-part-1-uk.xlsx” have the field data obtained from the implementation of Field Protocol 3 - Part 1 “Assessment and quantification of floral resources” in Belgium, Portugal, and the UK, respectively.

The file “field-data-protocol-3-part-2-be-pt-uk.xlsx” have the field data obtained from the implementation of Field Protocol 3 - Part 2 - “Flowering species characterization” in Belgium, Portugal, and the UK.

For further details, see Alves da Silva et al. 2020. Field protocols for the assessment of Floral Resources. Milestone MS15 EU Horizon 2020 B-GOOD Project. GA No. 817622 and Ziółkowska et al 2022. Floral Resource Models Validation Deliverable D3.4 EU Horizon 2020 B-GOOD Project, GA No. 817622.