REC Database

The REC database is a collection of datasets with long-term species observations in Finland for the exclusive use of REC researchers.

These datasets have been curated into a single harmonized format by REC at the University of Helsinki. REC was established in 2018 with the aim of producing a coordinated analysis of long-term ecological data to understand the impacts of global change on biodiversity. 

Long-term nature observation series are vital records of how communities of organisms and the ecosystem services they provide react to environmental change. Finland is one of the world’s leading countries in this area — we have a unique knowledge reserve made up of long-term series of nature observations

This knowledge has been gathered by universities, volunteers and, especially, Finnish research institutes. Consequently, we have unique observational datasets on, for example, game, timber reserves, birds, voles and their predators, butterflies and moths, moose damage, and fish stocks. 

Most data were added between 2018 and 2021. REC is continually updating the existing data and adding new datasets. 

These data have been collected and are owned by six institutions:

  • Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
  • Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS)
  • Natural Resources Institute (LUKE)
  • University of Eastern Finland (UEF)
  • University of Helsinki (UH)
  • Åbo Akademi University (ÅA)