RINSE - pathways and vectors of biological invasions in Northwest Europe is a species checklist dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It contains detailed information on 359 taxa, comprising all non-native Mollusca, Osteichthyes (bony fish), Anseriformes (wildfowl), Mammalia and all non-native, invasive Angiospermae occurring in the wild in the Two Seas region countries (Great Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands). This dataset is the result of the screening of 33 national and international print and online sources by Zieritz et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1278-z), where it was originally published as supplementary material (Table S2). Here it is published as a standardized Darwin Core Archive and includes for each taxon: the scientific name, higher classification and stable taxon identifier (in the taxon core), the country where it is established as a non-native taxon, the year of first introduction and last assessment in that specific country (given as a year range in the event date in the distribution extension), coarse habitat information (in the species profile extension), the pathway(s) of introduction and native range(s) (in the description extension) and an overview of the consulted literature for each taxon (in the literature references extension). Issues with the dataset can be reported at: https://github.com/trias-project/rinse-pathways-checklist
We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate it if you follow the INBO norms for data use (https://www.inbo.be/en/norms-data-use) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don't hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO.
This dataset was published as open data for the TrIAS project (Tracking Invasive Alien Species http://trias-project.be, Vanderhoeven et al. 2017), with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). It is selected as one of the authoritative sources for the compilation of a unified and reproducible checklist of alien species in Belgium.
Zieritz A, Gallardo B, Baker S J, Britton R, van Valkenburg J L, Verreycken H, Aldridge D, Desmet P, Reyserhove L (2021). RINSE - Pathways and vectors of biological invasions in Northwest Europe. Version 1.4. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/guejza accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-14.
