[en] A recent paper has suggested that NA2RE, the New Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe, does not provide a reliable basis for ecological niche modelling studies due to errors flagging introductions and missing data for the native range of the pond turtle genus Emys. We point out that the original NA2RE paper already acknowledged that it was not aimed for fine-scale ecological distribution modelling and that it had the objective of stimulating research for improving the maps. New works now complement the Atlas in improving the coverage and providing new distribution maps for species within species complex. Moreover, we stress that the NA2RE web platform at present hosts only the distribution data compiled in 2014 from different sources, using the taxonomy adopted by the authors at the time. As with any large database, it is advisable that these data are carefully evaluated and quality-filtered before their use in scientific studies. We defend the reliability of the NA2RE web platform as the currently most comprehensive resource for the comparative chorological study of amphibians and reptiles in Europe, and encourage publication of updates and additions following the most recent taxonomic changes, to continuously improve this database and the Atlas.
Research Center/Unit :
FOCUS - Freshwater and OCeanic science Unit of reSearch - ULiège
Disciplines :
Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Sillero, Neftali; Centro de Investigação em Ciências Geo-Espaciais
Campos, João; CIBIO, University of Porto
Bonardi, Anna; Università degli Studi di Milano & Universite Grenoble Alpes
Corti, Claudia; Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Firenze
Creemers, Raymond; RAVON
Crochet, Pierre-Andre; University Montpellier
Crnobrnja Isailović, Jelka; Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics University of Niš
Denoël, Mathieu ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Biologie, Ecologie et Evolution > Biologie du comportement - Ethologie et psychologie animale
Ficetola, Gentile Francesco; Università degli Studi di Milano & Universite Grenoble Alpes
Gonçalves, João; CIBIO, University of Porto
Kuzmin, Sergei; Russian Academy of Sciences
Lymberakis, Petros; University of Crete
de Pous, Philip
Rodríguez, Ariel; Institut für Zoologie, Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover
Sindaco, Roberto; Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Carmagnola
Speybroeck, Jeroen; Research Institute for Nature and Forest
Toxopeus, Bert; University of Twente
Vieites, David R.; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)
Vences, Miguel; Technische Universität Braunschweig
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