The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing
Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a
large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity
from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to
land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical
models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and
make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2
million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000
species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in
ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most
geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of
biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and
international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of
biodiversity