Dataset associated with "Snapshot Europe 2021-2022: The first public dataset from a Europe-wide camera-trap survey of terrestrial vertebrates"

This dataset is associated with the publication Iannarilli et al. Snapshot Europe 2021-2022: The first public dataset from a Europe-wide camera-trap survey of terrestrial vertebrates published in Ecology (in press at 27 Feb 2026). The dataset contains camera-trap observations collected during the first two years of Snapshot Europe, a coordinated wildlife monitoring initiative conducted by camera-trap researchers across Europe. Data were collected simultaneously between mid-August and mid-November in 2021 and 2022. In total, more than 160 researchers deployed camera traps at 1,198 locations in 2021 and 967 locations in 2022 across 81 and 55 sampling arrays in 22 and 23 countries, respectively, producing 90,230 camera-trap days (49,033 in 2021 and 41,197 in 2022). Thirty of the 106 arrays were sampled in both years, enabling comparisons over time. All records were managed and processed using Wildlife Insights, where images were initially classified using an AI model and subsequently reviewed by at least one participant. The final dataset includes 94,441 observations of 64 mammal species and 5,022 detections of 77 bird species. These standardized data represent a broad snapshot of European wildlife communities and can be used to investigate patterns of species distribution, activity, and relative occurrence across the continent.