Beyond spatial bias: understanding the colonial legacies and contemporary social forces shaping biodiversity data

Taxonomic bias in biodiversity data and societal preferences

Troudet, J., Grandcolas, P., Blin, A., Vignes‐Lebbe, R., & Legendre, F. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09084-6 · Cited by 902 · see citing works

Sampling biases shape our view of the natural world

Hughes, A. C., Orr, M. C., Ma, K., Costello, M. J., Waller, J., Provoost, P., Yang, Q., Zhu, C., & Qiao, H. (2021) · Ecography · doi:10.1111/ecog.05926 · Cited by 648 · see citing works

Geographical sampling bias and its implications for conservation priorities in Africa

Reddy, S., & Dávalos, L. M. (2003) · Journal of Biogeography · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2003.00946.x · Cited by 454 · see citing works

What do conservation biologists publish?

Fazey, I., Fischer, J., & Lindenmayer, D. B. (2005) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.01.013 · Cited by 378 · see citing works

The tropical biodiversity data gap: addressing disparity in global monitoring

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Interoperability of Biodiversity Databases: Biodiversity Information on Every Desktop

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Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity

Raja, N. B., Dunne, E. M., Matiwane, A., Khan, T. M., Nätscher, P., Ghilardi, A. M., & Chattopadhyay, D. (2021) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01608-8 · Cited by 263 · see citing works

Four barriers to the global understanding of biodiversity conservation: wealth, language, geographical location and security

Amano, T., & Sutherland, W. J. (2013) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2649 · Cited by 262 · see citing works

The Quiet Revolution: Biodiversity Informatics and the Internet

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Smart forests and data practices: From the Internet of Trees to planetary governance

Gabrys, J. (2020) · Big Data & Society · doi:10.1177/2053951720904871 · Cited by 239 · see citing works

Geographies of conservation II: Technology, surveillance and conservation by algorithm

Adams, W. M. (2017) · Progress in Human Geography · doi:10.1177/0309132517740220 · Cited by 178 · see citing works

The data void in modeling current and future distributions of tropical species

Feeley, K. J., & Silman, M. R. (2010) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02239.x · Cited by 172 · see citing works

A global biodiversity observing system to unite monitoring and guide action

Gonzalez, A., Vihervaara, P., Balvanera, P., Bates, A. E., Bayraktarov, E., Bellingham, P. J., Bruder, A., Campbell, J., Catchen, M., Cavender-Bares, J. M., et al. (2023) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02171-0 · Cited by 153 · see citing works

V-Dem Dataset v13

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Is research effort allocated efficiently for conservation? Felidae as a global case study

Brodie, J. F. (2009) · Biodiversity and Conservation · doi:10.1007/s10531-009-9617-3 · Cited by 137 · see citing works

Correlates of Research Effort in Carnivores: Body Size, Range Size and Diet Matter

Brooke, Z. M., Bielby, J., Nambiar, K. Z., & Carbone, C. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093195 · Cited by 130 · see citing works

A political ecology of data

Nost, E., & Goldstein, J. E. (2021) · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · doi:10.1177/25148486211043503 · Cited by 116 · see citing works

Biodiversity monitoring for a just planetary future

Chapman, M., Goldstein, B. R., Schell, C. J., Brashares, J. S., Carter, N., Ellis‐Soto, D., Faxon, H. O., Goldstein, J. E., Halpern, B. S., Longdon, J., et al. (2024) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.adh8874 · Cited by 109 · see citing works

Restoring indigenous names in taxonomy

Gillman, L. N., & Wright, S. D. (2020) · Communications Biology · doi:10.1038/s42003-020-01344-y · Cited by 97 · see citing works

Data justice and biodiversity conservation

Pritchard, R., Sauls, L. A., Oldekop, J. A., Kiwango, W. A., & Brockington, D. (2022) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/cobi.13919 · Cited by 93 · see citing works

The colonial legacy of herbaria

Park, D., Feng, X., Akiyama, S., Ardiyani, M., Avendaño, N., Barina, Z., Bärtschi, B., Belgrano, M. J., Betancur, J., Bijmoer, R., et al. (2023) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01616-7 · Cited by 92 · see citing works

Treating gaps and biases in biodiversity data as a missing data problem

Bowler, D. E., Boyd, R. J., Callaghan, C. T., Robinson, R. A., Isaac, N. J. B., & Pocock, M. J. O. (2024) · Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · doi:10.1111/brv.13127 · Cited by 90 · see citing works

Funding begets biodiversity

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Effects of publication bias on conservation planning

Hickisch, R., Hodgetts, T., Johnson, P. J., Sillero‐Zubiri, C., Tockner, K., & Macdonald, D. W. (2019) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/cobi.13326 · Cited by 73 · see citing works

Understanding sampling and taxonomic biases recorded by citizen scientists

Ward, D. F. (2014) · Journal of Insect Conservation · doi:10.1007/s10841-014-9676-y · Cited by 72 · see citing works

A framework for contextualizing social‐ecological biases in contributory science data

Carlen, E. J., Estien, C. O., Caspi, T., Perkins, D., Goldstein, B. R., Kreling, S. E. S., Hentati, Y., Williams, T. D., Stanton, L. A., Des Roches, S., et al. (2024) · People and Nature · doi:10.1002/pan3.10592 · Cited by 57 · cited 1× · see citing works

Historical redlining is associated with increasing geographical disparities in bird biodiversity sampling in the United States

Ellis-Soto, D., Chapman, M., & Locke, D. (2023) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01688-5 · Cited by 55 · see citing works

Making global oceans governance in/visible with Smart Earth: The case of Global Fishing Watch

Drakopulos, L., Silver, J. J., Nost, E., Gray, N. J., & Hawkins, R. (2022) · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · doi:10.1177/25148486221111786 · Cited by 53 · see citing works

New data infrastructures for environmental monitoring in Myanmar: Is digital transparency good for governance?

Goldstein, J. E., & Faxon, H. O. (2020) · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space · doi:10.1177/2514848620943892 · Cited by 47 · see citing works

Recognizing the equity implications of restoration priority maps

Schultz, B., Brockington, D., Coleman, E. A., Djenontin, I. N. S., Fischer, H. W., Fleischman, F. D., Kashwan, P., Marquardt, K., Pfeifer, M., Pritchard, R., et al. (2022) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac9918 · Cited by 45 · see citing works

Between monitoring and surveillance: Geographies of emerging drone technologies in contemporary conservation

Millner, N., Newport, B. J., Sandbrook, C. G., & Simlai, T. (2024) · Progress in Environmental Geography · doi:10.1177/27539687241229739 · Cited by 42 · see citing works

Territorializing spatial data: Controlling land through One Map projects in Indonesia and Myanmar

Faxon, H. O., Goldstein, J. E., Fisher, M. R., & Hunt, G. (2022) · Political Geography · doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102651 · Cited by 41 · see citing works

Algorithmic conservation in a changing climate

Scoville, C., Chapman, M., Amironesei, R., & Boettiger, C. (2021) · Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability · doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2021.01.009 · Cited by 37 · see citing works

Monitor biodiversity for action

Gonzalez, A., & Londoño, M. C. (2022) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.adg1506 · Cited by 33 · see citing works

Setting data free: The politics of open data for food and agriculture

Fairbairn, M., & Kish, Z. (2023) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448231174520 · Cited by 30 · see citing works

B io ‐D em , a tool to explore the relationship between biodiversity data availability and socio‐political conditions in time and space

Zizka, A., Rydén, O., Edler, D., Klein, J. T., Perrigo, A., Silvestro, D., Jagers, S. C., Lindberg, S. I., & Antonelli, A. (2021) · Journal of Biogeography · doi:10.1111/jbi.14256 · Cited by 28 · see citing works

Re-centering social justice in conservation science: Progressive policies, methods, and practices

Montgomery, R. A., Kabra, A., Kepe, T., Garnett, S. T., & Merino, R. (2024) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110600 · Cited by 20 · see citing works

Justice-oriented Design Listening: Participatory Ecoacoustics with a Ghanaian Forest Community

Longdon, J., Westerlaken, M., Blackwell, A. F., Gabrys, J., Ossom, B., Ashton‐Butt, A., & Acheampong, E. (2024) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3643044 · Cited by 18 · see citing works

Colonial Dates Dataset (COLDAT)

Becker, B. (2019) · Harvard Dataverse · doi:10.7910/dvn/t9sdew · Cited by 17 · see citing works

Collective Science to Inform Global Ocean Protections

Oestreich, W. K., Czapanskiy, M. F., Katija, K., Record, N. R., & Chapman, M. (2025) · Ecology Letters · doi:10.1111/ele.70168 · Cited by 6 · see citing works

Capacity building needed to reap the benefits of access to biodiversity collections

Groom, Q., Meeus, S., Bárrios, S., Childs, C., Clubbe, C. P., Corbett, E., Francis, S., Gray, A. J., Harding, L., Jackman, A., et al. (2025) · Plants People Planet · doi:10.1002/ppp3.70029 · Cited by 4 · see citing works

Capacity building needed to reap the benefits of access to biodiversity collectionsPreprint

Groom, Q., Meeus, S., Bárrios, S., et al. (2024) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2024.11.12.623213 · Cited by 2 · see citing works

GBIF Strategic Framework 2023-2027

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Collective science to inform global ocean protectionsPreprint

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Occurrence Download

User, G. O. (2024) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility · doi:10.15468/dl.t4762c · Cited by 1 · see citing works

Toward better conservation: a spatial analysis of species occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Dasgupta, S., Blankespoor, B. A., & Wheeler, D. R. (2026) · Earth system science data · doi:10.5194/essd-18-2371-2026 · Cited by 2 · see citing works

Integrating specimen and citizen science data reveals climatic niche expansion and shifts of naturalized plants in China

Yang, Y., Shrestha, N., Song, X.-J., Ni, M., Liu, X., Wu, J., Liu, J., & Svenning, J. (2025) · New Phytologist · doi:10.1111/nph.70680 · Cited by 1 · see citing works

Scrutinizing the Wallacean shortfall: global gaps in snake occurrence data across space and environment

Frateles, L. E. F., Ronquillo, C., Nakamura, G., Diniz‐Filho, J. A. F., Ladle, R. J., & Hortal, J. (2026) · Ecography · doi:10.1002/ecog.08589 · Cited by 1 · see citing works

Subspecies taxonomy reflects social and geographic patterns of taxonomic effort in tetrapods

Guedes, J. J. M., Diniz‐Filho, J. A. F., Freitas, A. V. L., & Moura, M. R. (2026) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/cobi.70356 · Cited by 1 · see citing works

Biodiversity material remains where capacity and governance are strong, but taxonomic resources concentrate with geopolitical powerPreprint

Moura, M. R., da Silva, R. H. P., Pedrozo, M., Guedes, J. J. M., Uetz, P., & Moroti, M. D. T. (2026) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2026.06.23.734087 · Cited by 1 · see citing works

Listening forward: emerging roles of bioacoustics in ecology, evolution, and conservation

Zsebők, S. (2026) · Biologia Futura · doi:10.1007/s42977-026-00322-5

Decolonizing biodiversity data: a call for equitable science

Mozol, A. G. (2025) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/adff9b

A systematic map of methods for assessing societal benefits of Earth science information

O’Hara, C. C., Báez, M. C., Chaplin‐Kramer, R., Cheng, S. H., Echeverri, A., Galford, G. L., Gould, R. K., Mancilla, C., Muldoon, M. C., Singh, G. G., et al. (2026) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2524370123

Characterizing tree species richness in Indigenous Peoples’ lands: addressing often-overlooked data limitations and biases

Kock, S., Llopis, J. C., Fernández, M., Mónica Moraes, R., & Fernández‐Llamazares, Á. (2026) · npj Biodiversity · doi:10.1038/s44185-026-00153-6

Mobilizing bibliographic, natural history collections and citizen science data for addressing biodiversity biases: A case study with the herpetofauna of an endemic rich island nation

de Sousa, A. C. A., Santos, B. S., Parrinha, D., BARBOSA, M., Marques, M. P., Passos, P., & Ceríaco, L. M. P. (2026) · Natural History Collections and Museomics · doi:10.3897/nhcm.3.184711

Gaps, lags and other shortfalls besetting the digital accessible knowledge of biodiversity

Escribano, N. (2018) · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja)

The biased distribution of existing information on biodiversity hinders its use in conservation, and we need an integrative approach to act urgently

García‐Roselló, E., González‐Dacosta, J., & Lobo, J. M. (2023) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110118 · Cited by 85 · see citing works

Data integration enables global biodiversity synthesis

Heberling, J. M., Miller, J. T., Noesgaard, D., Weingart, S., & Schigel, D. (2021) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · doi:10.5281/zenodo.13536512

The social and political dimensions of biodiversity monitoring

Chapman, M., Goldstein, B. R., Schell, C. J., Brashares, J. S., Xu, L., Ellis‐Soto, D., Norman, K., Longdon, J., Scoville, C., Faxon, H. O., et al. (2023) · doi:10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10547

Globally aggregated biodiversity data impact predictive and descriptive research

Steinke, D., Gemeinholzer, B., Martínez‐Meyer, E., Noesgaard, D., Young, A., & Schigel, D. (2025) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2519119122 · Cited by 11 · see citing works