Scholars and naturalists from UWI St Augustine have co-authored the latest major release of the largest biodiversity time-series database on the planet. The BioTIME database, an over 150-year ecological record of how biodiversity is changing across the globe, now includes data from Trinidad and Tobago’s Northern Range collected by the Department of Life Sciences (DLS) in the Faculty of Science and Technology.

The DLS’s Professor Indar Ramnarine, Dr Amy Deacon, Mr Raj Mahabir and Mr Kharran Deonarinesingh collected data on freshwater biodiversity from the Northern Range for inclusion in the BioTIME database, which was published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Their work is now part of a dataset of 553,000 locations, tracking species abundances from the Arctic to the Amazon, helping researchers, policymakers, and the public better understand the complex dynamics that species face in a rapidly changing world. Over 485 co-authors from more than 400 institutions in 40 countries contributed to the work.

“Our dataset is of particular significance,” said Dr Deacon, “given how few long- term tropical freshwater datasets exist, joined with the fact that they are also among the most threatened habitats in the world.”

BioTIME 2.0, as this update is called, includes nearly 12 million records representing more than 56,000 species across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. The project was created in 2010 by the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and includes data collected as long ago as 1874.

Professor Maria Dornelas, who leads the project, said, “Because we cannot travel in time, biodiversity data from the past is precious to help us understand where and how biodiversity is changing.”

She adds, “human eyes and ears are the main instruments behind this massive data resource. This database is the collective work of hundreds of people, both scientists and citizen scientists, who systematically record species and their abundances over time.”

This is the most comprehensive collection of ecological assemblage time-series ever created. While a population tracks individuals of a single species, an assemblage includes multiple species living together in the same place, such as all the different flocks of birds you see at your local park. Assemblage-level data is essential for calculating biodiversity metrics like species richness and diversity.

Since its initial release, BioTIME has already underpinned influential studies in biodiversity science and global policy. Researchers have used the database to challenge assumptions about how biodiversity is changing, uncovering more complex patterns of ecological change and also informing conservation strategies.

The BioTIME 2.0 database is freely available for use by researchers, conservationists, educators, and the general public at the project website: https://biotime.st-andrews.ac.uk/

For more information on the Department of Life Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Technology, visit https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/