Topic: Presence abundances.
Would you please consider the following change in a future release.
For a few years now, I have been importing records for which there is no abundance count, just presence. The problem being at some point in time I dropped using the phrase 'Present' in the import file Abundance field, for reasons which I cannot recall, and imported data with no abundance data at all i.e. no numerical value, just the lifestage i.e. Adult. As there was no numerical abundance data, I assumed this would be written as 'Present' but to my dismay it has give all the records a value of '1' which is now causing a problem with statistical analysis. I now find in the Help file this is by design!
Surely, if a record has no numerical value attached to it (not a zero-abundance record which is a negative record) but a valid stage this would indicate a presence, not an actual count of '1'. This in my view is quite a dangerous assumption, one I've just fallen foul for which there isn't an easy fix.
Are there any others who have the same problem or am I the only numpty?
Senior Data Officer
Butterfly Conservation, Butterflies for the New Millennium and National Moth Recording Scheme