The Database of Pollinator Interactions (DoPI) documents European pollinator-plant associations. DoPI unites the disparate publications currently scattered throughout the scientific literature with unpublished reports and databases into a single online scientific-quality depository.

The paper outlining the initial construction and contents of this database was published in the journal Ecology in 2022. The entire DoPI dataset is available in the Supporting Information of this paper and in a Zenodo repository. Please cite this paper when using the data in publications and individual studies when appropriate.

The data comprises records of pollinator and plant interactions from the published scientific literature or submitted datasets. The taxonomy of European (native, naturalised and exotic) plant and pollinator species follows those of the National Biodiversity Network and the Catalogue of Life. Currently, users may search and filter the stored data via the online interface using five categories: (a) pollinators (groups, common names or taxonomic rank), (b) plants (groups, common names or taxonomic rank), (c) habitat type, (d) location, and (e) date (years, months and months in years). Initially, searches return a table summary. Further details (including date, location, source publication details etc.) can be viewed by selecting entries in the ‘Interaction’ column or downloaded as comma separated values (CSV) files. Data will continue to be added, and we welcome any further contributions. Please report factual errors, dubious records, missing data, and web errors to dopi.contact@gmail.com.

DoPI was constructed by Drs Nick Balfour, Maria Clara Castellanos and Chris Johnson, and Profs Dave Goulson and Andrew Philippides of the University of Sussex, with financial support from the British Beekeepers Association and the Eva Crane Trust. The expansion of DoPI to include Europe-wide records is funded by the European Union, Horizon project Butterfly (2025-2029).

We thank our funders and the researchers and organisations who have kindly contributed their data.

Table 1 Details of output in comma separated values (CSV) files available from the Database of Pollinator Interactions. Data are given in 36 columns (Column) with headers (Title) and accompanying notes (Notes). Also provided are the suggested mapping to controlled vocabulary terms to facilitate the sharing, integration, and reuse of our biodiversity data. Terms follow those of Darwin Core (dwc), Dublin Core (dcterms) and the Brazilian Interactions Network (ppi).

Title	Notes	Suggested Mapping
publication	Publication author(s), title, journal, year and volume	dcterms:bibliographicCitation
doi	Publication Digital Object Identifier or, if unavailable, a web address (URL)	dcterms:identifier
methodology	Methodology used in data collection	dwc:samplingProtocol
pollinator_survey	Survey effort in data collection (All, Group, Single Species)	NA
plant_survey	Survey effort in data collection (All, Group, Single Species)	NA
nbn_pollinator_code	Pollinator species code from the NBN Atlas	dwc:taxonID
col_pollinator_code	Pollinator species code from the Catalogue of Life	dwc:taxonID
pollinator_species	Scientific name of the animal participant in the interaction from the NBN Atlas or Catalogue of Life	ppi:Animal | dwc:scientificName
pollinator_family	The name of the pollinator species family	dwc:family
pollinator_order	The name of the pollinator species order	dwc:order
pollinator_verbatim_name	Original identification of the pollinator species given in the publication	dwc:verbatimIdentification
pollinator_sex	Caste or gender of pollinator	dwc:sex
nbn_plant_code	Plant species code from the NBN Atlas	dwc:taxonID
col_plant_code	Plant species code from the Catalogue of Life	dwc:taxonID
plant_species	Scientific name of the plant participant in the interaction from the NBN Atlas or Catalogue of Life	ppi:Plant | dwc:scientificName
plant_family	The name of the plant species family	dwc:family
plant_verbatim_name	Original identification of the plant species given in the publication	dwc:verbatimIdentification
interactions	Number of interactions recorded	dwc:individualCount
date	Day of the month of interaction	dwc:day
month	Month of interaction	dwc:month
year	Year of interaction	dwc:year
grid_letter	Location of interaction. Letters from the Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system, only relevant for British data	dwc:verbatimLocality
grid_code	Location of interaction. Numbers from the Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system, only relevant for British data	dwc:verbatimLocality
latitude	Location of interaction given in geographic coordinates	dwc:decimalLatitude
longitude	Location of interaction given in geographic coordinates	dwc:decimalLongitude
country	Country in which the data were collected	dwc:country
habitat	Habitat type in which the interaction was recorded. Loosely based on those used on the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology Land Cover Map 2007	dwc:habitat
pollination	Pollination quality of interaction, i.e. effectiveness of interaction to pollinate flower. Based on Ollerton et al. (2019), originally based on Adams & Lawson (1993). 1 - pollination confirmed, visitors with pollen attached and observed to produce pollination of a flower (e.g. transferring pollen to stigmas and/or leading to seed set); 2 - pollination inferred, visitors observed with pollen attached (but not confirmed to transfer pollen to stigmas); 3 - pollination inferred from circumstantial evidence (e.g. visitors observed on flowers, but evidence of picking up pollen is missing); 4 - no pollination, the flower visitor is a nectar or pollen thief, a herbivore, a predator, or a parasite of insects in the flowers.	ppi:ReproductiveSuccess
resource_collected	Resource collected by pollinator species reported (nectar, pollen)	ppi:resourceCollected
record	Dataset unique key	dwc:catalogNumber
article_url	Publication web address or article URL	dcterms:identifier

References

Adams, P.B., and Lawson, S.D. 1993. Pollination in Australian orchids: a critical-assessment of the literature 1882-1992. Australian Journal of Botany 41:553-575. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT9930553

Ollerton J, et al. 2019. The diversity and evolution of pollination systems in large plant clades: Apocynaceae as a case study. Annals of Botany 123: 311-325. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcy127