Institute of Terrestrial Ecology atlases

The "Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Atlases" form a series of distribution atlases of the fauna and flora of Britain. Each atlas presents 10km² distribution maps for the species within its scope. Maps typically use different symbols to signify records from differing time-periods - solid symbols for 10-km squares (hectads) that have recent records, and unfilled symbols for 10-km squares for which only older records exist, according to a defined cut-off date.

The atlases are produced by the Biological Records Centre (BRC), which is run by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, part of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, based at Monks Wood Experimental Station, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdonshire, England. The data used to produce the maps is gathered by volunteer biological recorders and collated by the BRC Recording Schemes.

The atlases fall into two groups:

* Main Atlases are commercially published books, presenting the current state of knowledge for well-recorded groups. They typically include text information about the species, and other supporting material such as analyses of trends. They are usually produced only where a well-established recording scheme has been in operation for a significant period of time, and the scheme organisers believe that the data represent a comprehensive picture of the distribution of each species.

* Provisional Atlases give recorders an indication of progress and illustrate early results. Some of the later ones are quite detailed and less "provisional" - for example the Hoverfly Atlas, which provides charts of flight-period as well as text, and the Atlas of Aquatic Bugs, which has biological information and identification aids for some of the animals.

List of atlases

The main atlases in chronological order are:

* Arnold, H. R. (1993) "Atlas of mammals in Britain" HMSO (ISBN 0-11-701667-5)
* Arnold, H. R. (1995) "Atlas of amphibians and reptiles in Britain" HMSO (ISBN 0-11-701824-4)
* Merritt, R., N. W. Moore and B. C. Eversham (1996) "Atlas of the dragonflies of Britain and Ireland", HMSO (ISBN 0-11-701561-X)
* Haes, E. C. M. and P. T. Harding (1997) "Atlas of grasshoppers, crickets and allied insects in Britain and Ireland", HMSO (ISBN 0-11-702117-2)

Similar publications have been produced by other organisations for other taxonomic groups, some of them using BRC-supplied data - see Atlases of the flora and fauna of Britain and Ireland.

The provisional atlases are:

* Alexander, Keith N. A. (2003) "Provisional atlas of the Cantharoidea and Buprestoidea (Coleoptera) of Britain and Ireland" Biological Records Centre (ISBN 1-870393-69-4)
* Huxley, Thomas (2003) "Provisional atlas of the British aquatic bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera)" Biological Records Centre (ISBN 1-870393-67-8)
* Twinn, P.F.G and P.T. Harding "Provisional Atlas of the longhorn beetles of Britain"
* Luff, Martin L. "Provisional Atlas of the Ground Beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of Britain"
* Stubbs, Alan E. "Provisional Atlas of the long-palped craneflies (Diptera, Tipulinae) of Britain and Ireland"
* Plant, Colin W. "Provisional Atlas of the lacewings and allied insects (Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Rhaphidioptera and Mecoptera) of Britain and Ireland"
* Edwards, Robin (Ed.) "Provisional Atlas of the aculeate Hymenoptera of Britain and Ireland Part 1. and subsequent parts
* Martyn, K. P. "Provisional Atlas of the ticks (Ixoidea) of British Isles"
* Barber, A.D. & A.N. New "Provisional Atlas of the Centipedes of the British Isles"

External links

* [http://www.brc.ac.uk/ Biological Records Centre website]