{"id":7,"date":"2011-04-15T14:41:56","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T22:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/?page_id=7"},"modified":"2026-07-06T22:53:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:53:44","slug":"bien-home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\nbody.page-id-7{overflow-x:hidden;}\nbody.page-id-7 #sitemain{float:none !important;width:100% !important;}\nbody.page-id-7 #sidebar{display:none !important;}\nbody.page-id-7 .entry-header{display:none !important;}\n.bien-root{--line:#dfe6e1;color:#1c2b24;line-height:1.6;}\n.bien-band{width:100vw;margin-left:calc(50% - 50vw);padding:56px 0;}\n.bien-wrap{max-width:1120px;margin:0 auto;padding:0 28px;}\n.bien-grid{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(12,1fr);gap:24px;}\n.bien-col3{grid-column:span 3;}.bien-col5{grid-column:span 5;}.bien-col6{grid-column:span 6;}.bien-col7{grid-column:span 7;}\n.bien-eyebrow{font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0.1em;text-transform:uppercase;margin:0 0 8px 0;}\n.bien-h2{font-size:28px;line-height:1.2;margin:0 0 6px 0;}\n.bien-btn{display:inline-block;padding:11px 22px;border-radius:6px;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;font-size:15px;}\n.bien-card{background:#fff;border:1px solid var(--line);border-radius:10px;padding:20px;}\n.bien-root p:empty{display:none;}\na.bien-card:hover{border-color:#2d6a4f;box-shadow:0 4px 14px rgba(15,61,46,0.10);}\n@media(max-width:900px){.bien-col3{grid-column:span 6;}.bien-col5,.bien-col6,.bien-col7{grid-column:1 \/ -1;}.bien-band{padding:40px 0;}}\n@media(max-width:560px){.bien-col3{grid-column:1 \/ -1;}}\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"bien-root\">\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,#0f3d2e 0%,#1b5e43 55%,#2d6a4f 100%);\">\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\">\n<div class=\"bien-grid\" style=\"align-items:center;\">\n<div class=\"bien-col7\">\n<p class=\"bien-eyebrow\" style=\"color:#bcd8c8;\">Botanical Information and Ecology Network<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"color:#ffffff;font-size:34px;line-height:1.15;margin:0 0 12px 0;\">Reproducible infrastructure for plant biodiversity science<\/h2>\n<p style=\"color:#e4efe8;font-size:17px;margin:0 0 20px 0;\">BIEN is an integrated, version-controlled data ecosystem for plant occurrence, vegetation-plot, and standardized trait data. A shared taxonomic and geographic validation layer makes provenance and data quality auditable, so analyses can be filtered transparently and reproduced.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0;\">\n     <a class=\"bien-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/data-and-access\/\" style=\"background:#ffffff;color:#0f3d2e;margin-right:10px;\">Explore BIEN data<\/a><br \/>\n     <a class=\"bien-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/methods-and-workflow\/\" style=\"background:transparent;color:#ffffff;border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.55);\">Methods &amp; workflow<\/a>\n    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col5\">\n<figure style=\"margin:0;background:#fbf8f1;border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.28);border-radius:10px;overflow:hidden;box-shadow:0 12px 32px rgba(0,0,0,0.24);\">\n     <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bien-pd-cactaceae-plate-viii.jpg\" alt=\"Historical color botanical illustration of a cactus (Cactaceae) from The Cactaceae by Britton and Rose, 1919-1923.\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto;\" \/><figcaption style=\"padding:9px 13px;font-size:11.5px;color:#5b4a2f;background:#fbf8f1;border-top:1px solid #ece3d0;\">Illustration by Mary Emily Eaton, in Britton &amp; Rose, <em>The Cactaceae<\/em> (1919&ndash;1923). Public domain &middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/image-credits\/\" style=\"color:#8a6d3b;\">Image credits<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:#f6f9f7;\">\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\">\n<p class=\"bien-eyebrow\" style=\"color:#b8863b;\">BIEN 4.2 in numbers<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"bien-h2\" style=\"color:#163f31;\">Scope of the current release<\/h2>\n<div class=\"bien-grid bien-start-here\" style=\"margin-top:20px;\">\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #2d6a4f;\">\n<div style=\"font-size:30px;font-weight:700;color:#0f3d2e;\">284M<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin-top:4px;\">plant occurrence records<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #40916c;\">\n<div style=\"font-size:30px;font-weight:700;color:#0f3d2e;\">363,258<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin-top:4px;\">vegetation plots<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #52796f;\">\n<div style=\"font-size:30px;font-weight:700;color:#0f3d2e;\">25.9M<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin-top:4px;\">trait observations (54 standardized traits)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #74a57f;\">\n<div style=\"font-size:30px;font-weight:700;color:#0f3d2e;\">98,829<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin-top:4px;\">species with modeled range maps<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin:16px 0 0 0;max-width:960px;\">Counts reflect the BIEN 4.2 release (Enquist et al. 2026, Table 3) and are version-dependent. The range database indexes 289,743 species; 98,829 of these met the data-sufficiency criteria required to produce modeled range maps. Under BIEN&rsquo;s combined taxonomic and geographic validation, roughly half of contributed occurrence records fail one or more checks and are flagged or excluded. Modeled range maps are statistical predictions of potential distribution, not verified occupancy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:#ffffff;\">\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\">\n<p class=\"bien-eyebrow\" style=\"color:#b8863b;\">Using BIEN<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"bien-h2\" style=\"color:#163f31;\">Start here<\/h2>\n<div class=\"bien-grid bien-start-here\" style=\"margin-top:20px;\">\n<article class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\">\n<h3 style=\"margin:0; font-size:16px; line-height:1.25; color:#124734;\">\n     <a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/bien-overview\/\" style=\"color:inherit; text-decoration:none;\">BIEN Overview<\/a><br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#4a5c52;margin:8px 0 0 0;\">What BIEN is and the science it supports.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:12px 0 0 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/bien-overview\/\" style=\"color:#2d6a4f;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;\">Explore &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<article class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\">\n<h3 style=\"margin:0; font-size:16px; line-height:1.25; color:#124734;\">\n     <a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/data-and-access\/\" style=\"color:inherit; text-decoration:none;\">Data &amp; Access<\/a><br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#4a5c52;margin:8px 0 0 0;\">Data portal, BIEN R package, and applications.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:12px 0 0 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/data-and-access\/\" style=\"color:#2d6a4f;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;\">Explore &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<article class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\">\n<h3 style=\"margin:0; font-size:16px; line-height:1.25; color:#124734;\">\n     <a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/methods-and-workflow\/\" style=\"color:inherit; text-decoration:none;\">Methods &amp; Workflow<\/a><br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#4a5c52;margin:8px 0 0 0;\">The four validation services and QA logic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:12px 0 0 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/methods-and-workflow\/\" style=\"color:#2d6a4f;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;\">Explore &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<article class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\">\n<h3 style=\"margin:0; font-size:16px; line-height:1.25; color:#124734;\">\n     <a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/citation-and-publications\/\" style=\"color:inherit; text-decoration:none;\">Citation &amp; Publications<\/a><br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#4a5c52;margin:8px 0 0 0;\">How to cite BIEN and its source datasets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:12px 0 0 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/citation-and-publications\/\" style=\"color:#2d6a4f;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;\">Explore &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:#f6f9f7;\">\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\">\n<div class=\"bien-grid\">\n<div class=\"bien-col7\">\n<p class=\"bien-eyebrow\" style=\"color:#b8863b;\">Data quality and scope<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"bien-h2\" style=\"color:#163f31;\">Validated, flagged, and auditable<\/h2>\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 12px 0;\">BIEN standardizes plant names, screens coordinates, and flags cultivated versus wild records, so data arrive analysis-ready with explicit quality-control information rather than hidden assumptions. It integrates vegetation-plot and standardized trait data alongside occurrence records, and is complementary to aggregators such as GBIF rather than a replacement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0;\"><strong>Scope and limitations.<\/strong> Coverage is strongest for New World vascular plants, and sampling effort is spatially and taxonomically uneven. Modeled range maps are statistical predictions of potential distribution, not verified occupancy. Analyses should report filters, provenance, and uncertainty explicitly.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col5\">\n<figure style=\"margin:0;border:1px solid #dfe6e1;border-radius:10px;overflow:hidden;background:#fff;box-shadow:0 6px 18px rgba(24,52,40,0.06);\">\n<div style=\"background:#0f3d2e;padding:8px 14px;\"><span style=\"font-size:11px;letter-spacing:0.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#cfe3d6;\">Figure 6 &middot; Species richness<\/span><\/div>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bien_mee_fig6_richness_maps-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Global maps of modeled plant species richness derived from BIEN range products.\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto;\" \/><figcaption style=\"padding:10px 14px;font-size:12px;color:#3d5a4f;background:#fbfcfb;border-top:1px solid #e6efe9;\">Modeled richness from BIEN range products; the range database indexes 289,743 species. <span style=\"color:#8a6d3b;\">Source: Enquist et al. (2026), <em>MEE<\/em> 17(5), Fig. 6. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:#ffffff;\">\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\">\n<p class=\"bien-eyebrow\" style=\"color:#b8863b;\">Nomenclatural and geographic resolution<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"bien-h2\" style=\"color:#163f31;\">Four core services<\/h2>\n<p style=\"max-width:840px;margin:0 0 6px 0;\">Every record passes through four services, accessible via APIs and the BIEN R package. Each augments records with quality-control flags for transparent filtering.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bien-grid\" style=\"margin-top:18px;\">\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-top:4px solid #2d6a4f;\">\n<div style=\"font-weight:700;color:#124734;\">TNRS<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin:4px 0 8px 0;\">Taxonomic Name Resolution Service &mdash; maps synonyms and corrects misspellings.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tnrs.biendata.org\/\" style=\"font-size:13px;\">Open service<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-top:4px solid #40916c;\">\n<div style=\"font-weight:700;color:#124734;\">GNRS<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin:4px 0 8px 0;\">Geographic Name Resolution Service &mdash; standardizes political-division names.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gnrs.biendata.org\/\" style=\"font-size:13px;\">Open service<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-top:4px solid #52796f;\">\n<div style=\"font-weight:700;color:#124734;\">GVS<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin:4px 0 8px 0;\">Geocoordinate Validation Service &mdash; flags coordinate errors and centroids.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gvs.biendata.org\/\" style=\"font-size:13px;\">Open service<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"bien-col3 bien-card\" style=\"border-top:4px solid #74a57f;\">\n<div style=\"font-weight:700;color:#124734;\">NSR<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size:13px;color:#4a5c52;margin:4px 0 8px 0;\">Native Species Resolver &mdash; infers likely native vs. introduced status by region; assignments are probabilistic and context-dependent.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nsr.biendata.org\/\" style=\"font-size:13px;\">Open service<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin-top:20px;\"><strong style=\"color:#124734;\">Featured applications:<\/strong><br \/>\n   <a class=\"bien-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/benquist.shinyapps.io\/bien-species-shinyapp\/_w_bf5ba9e76446492aa7d55892c21395b4\/?species=Pinus%20teocote&#038;tab=Occurrence\" style=\"background:#2d6a4f;color:#fff;margin:0 8px 0 6px;font-size:14px;padding:9px 18px;\">Species ShinyApp<\/a><br \/>\n   <a class=\"bien-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/benquist.shinyapps.io\/bien-traits-shinyapp\/\" style=\"background:#2d6a4f;color:#fff;font-size:14px;padding:9px 18px;\">Traits ShinyApp<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:#0f3d2e;padding:36px 0;\">\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\">\n<p class=\"bien-eyebrow\" style=\"color:#bcd8c8;\">Cite BIEN<\/p>\n<p style=\"color:#e4efe8;font-size:15px;max-width:960px;margin:0 0 8px 0;\">Enquist BJ, Boyle B, Maitner BS, et al. (2026). <em>BIEN: A biodiversity informatics ecosystem advancing open and reproducible workflows for plant observation, plot and trait data.<\/em> Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 17(5), 1556&ndash;1584. DOI: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/2041-210X.70274\" style=\"color:#cfe3d6;\">10.1111\/2041-210X.70274<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color:#a9c6b6;font-size:12px;margin:0;\">Coverage is strongest for New World vascular plants; sampling is spatially and taxonomically uneven; modeled ranges are predictions, not verified occupancy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"bien-band\" style=\"background:#f4f1ea;padding:34px 0;border-top:1px solid #e6ddc9;\"><!-- bien-footer-logo --><\/p>\n<div class=\"bien-wrap\" style=\"text-align:center;\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/FinalBIENLogoNoText_highres.png\" alt=\"BIEN \u2014 Botanical Information and Ecology Network\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width:170px;height:auto;opacity:0.9;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:12px 0 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5c6b62;\">Botanical Information and Ecology Network &middot; <a href=\"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/about\/\" style=\"color:#2d6a4f;\">About BIEN<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Botanical Information and Ecology Network Reproducible infrastructure for plant biodiversity science BIEN is an integrated, version-controlled data ecosystem for plant occurrence, vegetation-plot, and standardized trait data. A shared taxonomic and geographic validation layer makes provenance and data quality auditable, so analyses can be filtered transparently and reproduced. Explore BIEN data Methods &amp; workflow Illustration by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-7","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":142,"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3994,"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions\/3994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bien.nceas.ucsb.edu\/bien\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}