EcoCertified: A cameraTrap survey in solar field and control grasslands

Occurrence
Latest version published by Wageningen Environmental Research on May 19, 2025 Wageningen Environmental Research
Publication date:
19 May 2025
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 107,608 records in English (68 MB) - Update frequency: not planned
Metadata as an EML file download in English (13 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (11 KB)

Description

These camera trap datasets are derived from the Agouti project EcoC Inventory 2022 - Impact of photovoltaic park in the Netherlands and EcoC Inventory 2024 - Impact of photovoltaic park in the Netherlands. Data have been standardized to Darwin Core using the camtraptor R package and only include observations (and associated media) of animals. Excluded are records that document blank or unclassified media, vehicles, and observations of humans. Geospatial coordinates are rounded to 0.001 degrees. The original dataset description follows. EcoC Inventory 2022/2024 - Impact of photovoltaic park in the Netherlands are occurrence dataset published by Wageningen University and Research (WUR), which was funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency under grant number MOOI22004 and is part of the EcoCertified Solar Parks project. Both data sets are monitoring of the effect of solar fields on species in solar fields, extensive meadow controls, and intensive grassland controls. Data were collected by the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation chair group. The cameras used are all Reconix HF2X. All species were annotated to the species level if possible; if not genus level was accepted. The inventory happened in 15 solar fields with their paired controls, an extensive and an intensive grassland. AI (MegaDetector V6) was used to annotate blank pictures only.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 107,608 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Occurrence (core)
107608
Multimedia 
2337913

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Tavernier C, de Vries S, Marmara A, Willers H, Tavernier D (2025). EcoCertified: A cameraTrap survey in solar field and control grasslands. Version 1.0. Wageningen Environmental Research. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.nlbif.nl/resource?r=ecocertified_cameratrap_solarfields&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Wageningen Environmental Research. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 4b377669-f4a2-4953-abd9-6628ab9302a5.  Wageningen Environmental Research publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Netherlands Biodiversity Information Facility.

Keywords

Samplingevent; Observation

Contacts

Chloé Tavernier
  • Point Of Contact
Wageningen University and Research
Sylvia de Vries
  • Originator
University of Groningen
Aliki Marmara
  • Originator
Hanna Willers
  • Originator
Dimitri Tavernier
  • Originator
Chloé Tavernier
  • Point Of Contact
Wagneningen University and Research
Chloe Tavernier
  • Author
Wageningen University and Research
Rascha Nuijten
Wageningen University and Research
Ralph Buij
Wageningen University and Research
Karen Krijgveld
Wageningen University and Research
Frank van Langevelde
Wageningen University and Research

Geographic Coverage

The Netherlands

Bounding Coordinates South West [51.138, 3.582], North East [53.527, 7.053]

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 2022-04-01 / 2022-12-01
Start Date / End Date 2024-04-01 / 2024-12-01

Project Data

As an answer to energy transition goals, there are more and more solar fields being built in the landscape. In contrast with other renewable energy utilities like wind farms, the impact of solar fields on biodiversity is still unknown. However, this impact should not be overlooked, as they may have a large land requirement. With the EcoCertified project, the goal is to understand the current effect of solar fields on local biodiversity, from the soil to the larger mammal taxa.

Title EcoCertified: Assessing the impact of solar fields on biodiversity
Funding Netherlands Enterprise Agency under grant number MOOI22004
Study Area Description The Netherlands

The personnel involved in the project:

Chloé Tavernier
Karen Krijgsveld
  • Originator

Sampling Methods

A block-plot design was applied (15 block and 3 plot per block). Locations were selected based on access permission given by the solar field asset manager. The cameras were set up at 40 cm above the ground and took 3 to 5 picture by detection with a 30s interval between two detections. Once a month, the cameras were moved around the fields to avoid over- or under-sampling the fields due to micro-habitat features. Images were collected from the camera traps and uploaded to Agouti. Students and project members annotated the pictures on agouti.

Study Extent 15 locationscomprising 15 solar fields and 30 controls, in the Netherlands were sampled using 80 camera traps (2 in each field). The cameras were randomly placed in the field and moved around once a month.

Method step description:

  1. - Randomly selecttwo points in each field 100 m away - Set-up the camera with a unique identifier - Parameter the trigger: 10 pictures, no quiet period, high sensitivity, a wide range of view, and 24 hours of activity - Place the camera 40 cm (knee height) from the ground. - Calibrate the camera using a 1 m stick marked every 10 cm by taking 15 pictures at different points in front of the camera - Parameter the trigger: three pictures, a quiet period of 30 seconds, high sensitivity, a wide range of view, and 24 hours of activity - Leave the camera for at least three weeks - Collect the pictures and move the cameras 50 m from their previous location - Upload the camera on Agouti, use the AI to annotate the blanks, annotate pictures

Additional Metadata

Acknowledgements This project was funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency under grant number MOOI22004 and is part of the EcoCertified Solar Parks project. We greatly thank the many students who have helped with the annotation of the pictures, in particular, Aliki Marmara, Dimitri Tavernier, and Hanna Willers. We express our gratitude to all asset managers, farmers, and Natuurmonumenten and Staatsbosbeheer field managers for facilitating our entry to their fields. Finally, we thank Sebastiaan Forouzan Fard of Eelerwoude for facilitating communication with the solar field managers.
Purpose The impact of solar fields on farmland species is uncertain. They may threaten local species by reducing habitat quality, but they could also enhance landscape heterogeneity and thus biodiversity. The purpose of this study was to compare the biodiversity within solar fields and two control fields: an intensive grassland from a dairy farm and an extensive meadow managed to increase biodiversity.
Alternative Identifiers https://ipt.nlbif.nl/resource?r=ecocertified_cameratrap_solarfields