The state of pan-species listing at the end of 2017

Posted by Graeme Lyons , Tuesday 2 January 2018 19:34

Time for my annual post of how things are going in the PSL community. We didn't have a field meeting in 2017, the first year since we started having field meetings in 2012 but it looks like the Cornwall one planned this year by Sally Luker is going to be awesome. I'm looking forward to meeting many of you then. I will be going whatever this time having not made one for some time. 

The 1000 species challenge was also a great boost for pan-species listing, we raised over a £1000 for our Trust. I'm also hoping that listing the whole Sussex Wildlife Trust reserve network will encourage other conservation organisations to do the same thing. So who is going to have a go next? Could the National Trust beat the RSPB's 16000+?

First up, what's happening in the top ten. 

2016 2017 Change
1 Jonty Denton 12399 12483 84
2 Dave Gibbs 11327 11327 0
3 Mark Telfer 7478 7603 125
4 Nicola Bacciu 6515 7045 530
5 Brian Eversham 6650 7030 380
6 The late Eric Philp 6878 6878 0
7 Graeme Lyons 6515 6840 325
8 Simon Davey 6722 6722 0
9 Matt Prince 6142 6483 341
10 Richard Comont 5919 6362 545

First up it looks like Jonty and Mark have slowed down a little. Dave Gibbs hasn't updated his totals in over a year and neither has Simon. Richard Comont has entered the top ten (with the highest increase in the top ten over the period) and Malcolm Storey has departed. Nicola continues to shoot up the rankings as the highest female lister. I've over taken Simon Davey making me the top Sussex lister.

Now for the 100th lister. In 2015 it was Rowan Alder on 903 species, last year it was Adam Harley on 1183 and this year it's Stephen O'Donnell (someone else who hasn't updated for over two years) on 1371. That means that everyone in the top 100 has now seen 1371 species. Pretty impressive!

The youngest lister is now only nine! The oldest is 73. There are 219 people on the rankings (up from 192 last year) and 464 users on the website (up from 300). There are 356 members on the Facebook page (up from 288).

Now for the site rankings (changes in bold).

2016 2017
1 Wicken Fen 8674 Wicken Fen 8674
2 Esher Commons 7945 Esher Commons 7945
3 RSPB Minsmere 5928 RSPB Minsmere 5928
4 Thorn Moors 5052 Thorn Moors 5052
5 RSPB Abernethy 4735 RSPB Abernethy 4735
6 RSPB The Lodge 4290 SWT Rye Harbour 4324
7 SWT Rye Harbour 4274 RSPB The Lodge 4290
8 Hatfield Forest 4184 Hatfield Forest 4184
9 SWT Ebernoe Common 3708 SWT Ebernoe Common 3900
10 Northwich Community Woodlands 3118 Sutton Fen 3708

So nothing has changed in the top five. As predicted, Rye Harbour has over taken the Lodge into 6th place. Sutton Fen has joined the top ten ranks and then Ebernoe Common has replaced it. This has pushed Northwich Community Woodlands out of the top ten. There are 63 locations on the rankings (something I didn't note down the last couple of years).

Now for the top taxa listers (again changes in bold).

2016 2017
Algae Jony Denton 288 288
Slime Moulds Malcolm Storey 51 51
Protists Jony Denton 24 24
Lichens Simon Davey 1228 1228
Fungi Malcom Storey 1391 1391
Bryophytes Paul Bowyer 480 503
Vascular Plants John Martin 2278 2292
Sponges Richard Comont 12 12
Comb-jellies Lee Johnson 3 3
Cnidarians Richard Comont 44 45
Molluscs Richard Comont 222 224
Bryozoans Richard Comont 27 30
Annelids Richard Comont 51 55
Platyhelminth worms Brian Eversham 18 18
Sea-spiders Richard Comont 4 4
Arachnids Jonty Denton 493 499
Myriapods Keith Lugg 77 81
Crustaceans Richard Comont 99 100
Springtails Richard Comont 44 45
3-tailed Bristletails Mark Telfer 8 8
Odonata Mark Telfer, Dave Gibbs 48 48
Orthopteroids Mark Telfer 41 41
Hemipteroids Jonty Denton 861 875
Hymenoptera Dave Gibbs 809 809
Coleoptera Mark Telfer 2632 2739
Diptera Dave Gibbs 3146 3146
Butterflies Seth Gibson, Stuart Read 62 62
Moths Tony Davis 1628 1635
Remaining small  Jonty Denton 195
195
Echinoderms Richard Comont 19 20
Tunicates Richard Comont 22 24
Fish Richard Comont 97 98
Reptiles Richard Comont 9 10
Amphibians Jonty Denton 13 13
Birds Dave Gibbs 527 527
Mammals Mark Telfer 64 64
Other animals Jonty Denton 36 36
Paul Bowyer has set a new record for bryophytes in only around three years, this is really impressive. Mark's added over a 100 beetles. Richard's somehow managed 10 reptiles. I'm still not top lister for anything.

So there we are, lots of new records being made and some interesting changes in the top ten. Maybe next year I will open it up to the top 20, what do you think? Oh and I hope 2018 is an awesome listing year.

1 Response to "The state of pan-species listing at the end of 2017"

Steve Gale Says:

PSL Cornish meeting? Might be up for that and massage my list back into life...

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