biodumpy: A Comprehensive Biological Data Downloader

Abstract

In recent years, the expansion of public biodiversity platforms and associated datasets has greatly improved access to ecological and biological information. These resources now cover vast geographic areas, extended temporal scales, and diverse taxonomic groups, becoming essential for ecological studies by enabling more comprehensive analyses and novel hypotheses testing. Concurrently, the development of programming packages has facilitated data access and interaction, streamlining their retrieval processes. However, most existing tools are limited to specific databases, posing challenges for studies requiring seamless integration of data from multiple sources. The growing availability of biodiversity data highlights the urgent need for robust tools to efficiently process, analyse, and interpret ecological and biological information. To address this limitation, we introduce biodumpy, a new Python package developed for the retrieval, management, and integration of biological data from various public databases. biodumpy provides access to up-to-date and comprehensive datasets spanning genetic, distributional, taxonomic, and bibliographic sources. It includes specialized modules for efficient data retrieval across taxonomic lists, with the capability to process multiple modules simultaneously. By integrating diverse data sources, biodumpy enhances data acquisition, providing researchers with a powerful framework for comprehensive analyses and supporting ecological research to tackle complex environmental challenges.