Take the tetrad challenge

The ‘tetrad challenge’ is a recording initiative that we hope will contribute towards improving our knowledge of the distribution of plants in Ireland.  A tetrad is a 2km2 area and is commonly used as a recording unit by the BSBI.

Tetrad challenge tutorial_June 2012:  This pdf guide is 2.5MB in size

 Tetrad N54X no plants recorded

  • To participate you need to pick a tetrad that you’re interested in.  It could be one near to where you live, or somewhere that you’re planning to visit.
  • Using Biodiversity Maps, find out what vascular plant species are known from your tetrad based on data currently in the National Vascular Plant Database.
  • Help to update our knowledge. Use the downloadable list of species from your tetrad to check if these species are still there and to let us know if there is anything that hasn’t yet been recorded.
  • Regardless of your skill level, you can make a very valuable contribution to the national database.  For many of the tetrads in Ireland, the NVPD doesn’t have data of even the very common species.
  • We are calling this the tetrad challenge because thanks to the BSBI tetrad database you can download a list of previously recorded species at that level.  It is important to stress that, where possible, we would encourage you to collect and submit your records at the 1km2 level or lower as this generates even more valuable data.

Find out what’s known from your tetrad?

  1. Login to Biodiversity Maps (if you’re not a registered user this just involves setting up a user name and password).  If possible use Firefox or Chrome to view Biodiversity Maps.
  2. Go to live maps
  3. Zoom in to the area you’re interested in
  4. Select the advanced reporting tab at the top of the screen
  5. Select the 2km grid square tool and double click on the 2km2 on the map that you are interested in
  6. An excel report will be generated showing all species recorded from that tetrad (species are listed in worksheet 2)
  7. Extract the vascular plant list

You can submit any data collected to the National Vascular Plant Database using our online record submission system

Submitting plant data online:  this pdf tutorial on how to submit plant data online is 1.4MB in size

B93F: 4 plant species recorded