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EcoCleanR: Enhancing data quality of biogeographic ranges with application for marine invertebrates

Soni, Priyanka1; Hendy, Austin2; Bottjer, David1

Published Jan 22, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fj6q57488

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Abstract

Published distribution data, while invaluable for understanding species' biogeography, often suffer from limitations such as dated and static representations of ranges, a bias toward latitudinal information, and a lack of resolution in sampling frequency and variation in abundance throughout a species’ distribution. Extensive open-source biodiversity data now allow us to construct biogeographic ranges with more modern observations, which can be useful in conservation, evolution, and ecological studies. However, data quality remains a persistent challenge, hampering data reliability and usability. We introduce EcoCleanR, an R package that integrates existing tools with new functionalities to address data integration and quality assessment through a systematic, step-by-step approach for marine occurrence data. This package enhances the process of identifying and resolving common issues in biodiversity data, including taxonomy and georeferencing errors. It provides: (a) example scripts to guide users, (b) functionalities to flag problematic occurrence records from multiple databases, and (c) outputs that include species-specific distribution ranges and their corresponding environmental conditions, to facilitate accurate biogeographic and ecological analyses.