Resources and Publications

Each year, the National Biodiversity Data Centre publishes a report that summarises the key activities completed in the previous year and highlights progress across its work programme. The report also includes the organisation’s Financial Statement, providing a clear account of how resources were managed. This offers an accessible overview of the Centre’s performance and maintains transparency in line with good governance.

Biodiversity Ireland is the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s bi-annual magazine. It features updates on our projects and work from national organisations, along with insights into Ireland’s biodiversity. It’s an engaging way to keep up to date with what’s happening in biodiversity research, recording, and conservation.

The National Checklist refers to the checklists of Irish species, including plants, animals and fungi. These checklists act as core inventories for tracking Ireland’s biodiversity and support important conservation work, such as the development of Red Lists. They are built using data contributed by experts and citizen scientists and are available on the Centre’s website across a range of taxonomic groups.

The Red List of Threatened Species (or conservation assessment) is an objective methodology to assess the conservation status of different taxonomic groups. Guidelines for the production of Red Lists at the regional level, applying consistent categories and criteria, have been developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), and are adopted in Ireland. The National Biodiversity Data Centre has also published a standard approach for the production of Red Lists in Ireland: Ireland’s Red Lists – a national standard.

Red Lists are published on an irregular basis as datasets and the necessary national expertise for taxonomic groups become available. Red Lists are prepared and published for the island of Ireland, under the guidance of National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in the Republic and Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. Details of the Red Lists programme and the published Red Lists are available for download from the website of National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The National Biodiversity Data Centre, National Parks and Wildlife Service and other partner organisations, have developed and proposed a series of survey methodologies and guidance documents to assist standardisation of biodiversity survey and biological recording in Ireland. These contribute to delivery of Actions 3.5 & 3.6 of Actions for Biodiversity 2011-2016 – Ireland’s National Biodiversity Plan.

We do not sell our biodiversity posters, but you are more than welcome to bring the pdf to your local printing shop to get a hard copy.

We hope you enjoy them!

Biodiversity recording standards set out the best practice guidelines for collecting, verifying and managing biodiversity data in Ireland. They help ensure that species records are accurate, consistent and reliable, whether submitted by experts or citizen scientists. These standards support high quality data that can be confidently used for research, conservation planning and long term biodiversity monitoring.