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Abstract:
The Sea Bird Colony Database contains current and historical data for all known seabird colonies in Svalbard and around the Barents Sea, including total counts, surveillance data, photographic documentation and references. The database is owned and annually maintained by the Norwegian Polar Institute in partnership with seven Russian institutions.
MS Access database, originally created by Vidar Bakken.
Quality
The data quality is “best available”, and highly variable as the database contains historical data, as well as data from recent surveys and censuses. A few, selected colonies are revisited and counted annually, while others are rarely revisited due to their remote locations. A substantial number of colonies are registered with historically recorded positions that are not accurate.
A brief explanation of all the fields in the seabird-colony database:
colony_name - Colony’s name.
colony_alternative_name - Colony’s alternative name.
region - the region the colony belongs to.
zone:The zone the colony belongs to which could be f.ex. Hornsund, Bellsund, Isfjorden, Prins Karls Forland etc. From a collection of names.
latitude: The colony’s latitude.
longitude: The colony’s longitude.
location_accuracy: How accurate is the given latitude/longitude? Measured in meters, by GPS or on digital map.
conservation_type: Is the colony located in an area which holds a particular conservation status?
colony_type: The type of terrain the colony is situated in.
ownership: Who owns the colony location.
island: Name of island if colony not situated on the mainland.
island_size: Size of island if colony not situated on the mainland.
island_archipelago: The island belongs to this archipelago.
length: Length of coastline where the colony is situated - usually applies to coast colonies.
distance: Distance from colony to closest coastline.
distance_mainland: Distance from colony to the mainland.
exposure: Direction of the colony- south, west, etc.
area: Area of cliff wall if situated on a vertical cliff (or hillside).
confirmed: Year the colony first were described in literature.
map: The map that shows the colony place, for Svalbard typically numbered maps f.ex. “E8-BARENTSJØKULEN”.
comment: Comment about the colony.
geometry: GeoJSON object outlining the colony
historical_colony: Where the colony first was described - field used f.ex. if colony can’t be found anymore to keep old data.
colony_area: 1 if there exists a location area polygon for the colony an 0 if not.
predators: Who is predating the colony.
access_id: The corresponding MS access database id for count.
species: Which species.
start_date: Start date of counting.
end_date: End date of counting.
mean: Mean count value for the species in the colony.
max: Max count value for the species in the colony.
min: Min count value for the species in the colony.
accuracy: Count accuracy.Exact or rough estimate.
unit: Unit used for counting - pair, individual, nest, apparently occupied nest etc
method: Counting method used - direct count, from photograph, extrapolated, combination etc.
platform: Viewed from platform - land, boat, helicopter etc.
breeding: Stage of breeding - pre-laying period, eggs only, hatching period etc.
useful: Useful as total count.
count_comment: comment about the count.
colony_reference: This is one or more literature references where the colony has been described.
colony_reference.ref_id: RefenceID from MS database.
colony_reference.ref_unique_id: refence id most likely from the old DBase database.
colony_reference.authors: Publication authors.
colony_reference.title: Publication title.
colony_reference.year: Year publication was published.
colony_reference.volume: Publication volume.
colony_reference.pages: Publication pages.
colony_reference.journal: Publication journal.