Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland

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The Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland (short: BDM ) is a program of the Swiss Confederation for long-term monitoring of biodiversity in Switzerland.

introduction

Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland records the long-term development of the biodiversity of selected groups of organisms in Switzerland . The focus is on the survey of common and widespread species in order to make well-founded statements about the development of species diversity in the “normal” landscape.

Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland is a program of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) . It is a long-term project for environmental monitoring , comparable to other national programs, for example the Swiss National Forest Inventory (LFI) , the National Surface Water Quality Monitoring (NAWA), the National Soil Monitoring (NABO) and the Effect Control of Biotope Protection Switzerland (WBS). Similar programs to monitor biodiversity exist in the United Kingdom (UK Countryside Survey) and parts of Canada (Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring).

tasks and goals

The data from Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland, together with other environmental information, form an important basis for national nature conservation policy and other policy areas relevant to biodiversity, such as agriculture and forestry. By signing the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Switzerland is also obliged under international law to monitor the development of biological diversity over the long term.

Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland has the following objectives:

  • To enable representative statements on biodiversity for the whole of Switzerland (partially broken down according to biogeographical regions or main types of use such as meadows, forests, settlements, etc.).
  • To monitor the development of biodiversity everywhere, i.e. also on intensively used areas, in order to make statements about the normal landscape.
  • To fully record the development of the taxonomic groups, i.e. including all species , and thus to supplement the existing knowledge on rare and endangered species.
  • Document the change in biodiversity and show long-term trends .

methodology

Test area of ​​one square kilometer for the indicator “Biodiversity in Landscapes” with a marked transect
Test area of ​​10 square meters for the indicator "biodiversity in habitats"

Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland comprises three measurement networks on different scales, which cover the whole of Switzerland and result in a representative sample .

The monitoring network for biodiversity in landscapes consists of around 450 test areas, each one square kilometer in size. Vascular plants , butterflies and breeding birds are surveyed on a precisely specified section of the route through this quadrant . The breeding birds are recorded by the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach . These recordings are coordinated with the Monitoring Frequent Breeding Birds (MHB) project. The measuring network was consolidated in the Jura and southern Switzerland in order to obtain reliable data for these regions.

The measuring network for biodiversity in habitats comprises around 1,450 measuring points of ten square meters each. A distinction is made between forests, meadows and pastures, settlements, fields, alpine pastures and mountain areas as habitats. All vascular plants occurring are recorded on a circular area. In addition, mosses are collected, which are later determined by a team of specialists, and soil samples are taken in order to determine the mollusc diversity in the laboratory .

The measuring network for recording the diversity of aquatic insects comprises around 500 sections of approx. 5-100 meters in length in smaller rivers . The larvae of mayflies , stoneflies and caddis flies (so-called EPT species group) are determined.

  • Monitoring network for biodiversity in landscapes

  • Monitoring network for biodiversity in habitats

  • Monitoring network for biodiversity in rivers

The sample areas can be precisely localized, they are so-called permanent observation areas. One fifth of all areas are sampled each year, i. H. after five years, a recording is repeated at the same location. The routine recordings of vascular plants, mosses, molluscs and breeding birds began in 2001, the butterfly surveys were added in 2003 and since 2010 the data set has been completed with the survey of river invertebrates . The locations of the species that are recorded flow into the databases of InfoSpecies, the Swiss information center for species.

Indicators

The data obtained are used to calculate four standard indicators :

  • The biodiversity indicator in landscapes shows how diverse the flora and fauna are in the landscape. He describes the influence of the habitat mosaic on biodiversity.
  • The indicator of species diversity in habitats characterizes the small-scale species diversity of a habitat type, for example of meadows, forests or settlements.
  • The indicator population of common species documents changes in widespread species. These are ecologically important because they make up the bulk of living biomass , provide an important part of ecosystem services and provide a rich source of food for other organisms. They shape the appearance of their living spaces and the character of entire landscapes.
  • The indicator diversity of species communities examines whether the habitats and landscapes in Switzerland are becoming more and more similar. It thus provides information on the heterogeneity or homogeneity of species diversity.

In addition, the data is also available for various special evaluations. They form the basis of numerous scientific research projects. Thanks to the systematic sample design, the standardized methodology and the long-term nature of the program, the data can also be used for new questions that are still unknown today. The data is also incorporated into European biodiversity indicators, e. B. in the European Butterfly Index for grassland of the European Environment Agency EEA .

particularities

The special contribution of Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland to the investigation of species diversity in Switzerland is that species lists as complete as possible are drawn up on all sample areas, so that there is a high probability that the absence of species will be detected. In addition, not only well-known, very species-rich areas or sites of rarities are visited, but also random places that would otherwise hardly be examined. Frequent and widespread species are also surveyed. Recurring recordings at exactly the same place with exactly the same method also allow precise statements to be made about changes in species diversity.

Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland provides a general cross-section of the entire landscape with a wide variety of uses. It serves as a reference for programs that investigate the development in selected habitats or of specially rare species, for example the Biotope Protection Switzerland (WBS) impact control launched by the FOEN and the WSL Research Institute or the Swiss Red Lists .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI). Website of the Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape WSL. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  2. ↑ National Surface Water Quality Monitoring (NAWA). Website of the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  3. ↑ National Soil Monitoring (NABO). Agroscope website. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b Effect control of biotope protection Switzerland (WBS). Website of the Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape WSL. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  5. ↑ Countryside Survey - Measuring Change in Our Countryside. Website of the Center for Ecology & Hydrology (Natural Environment Research Council NERC, United Kingdom). Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  6. ^ Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring. Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute ABMI website. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  7. ↑ Convention on Biological Diversity of June 5, 1992. Systematic Collection of Laws of Switzerland SR 0.451.43. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  8. ↑ FOEN: Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland BDM. Description of the methods and indicators. Environmental Knowledge No. 1410, Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, Bern, 2014.
  9. ↑ Monitoring Frequent Breeding Birds (MHB). Website of the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  10. ↑ InfoSpecies. Website of InfoSpecies, the umbrella organization of the national data and information centers and the coordination offices for species conservation in Switzerland. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  11. ↑ a b BDM coordination office: Sample design of Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland (BDM) . Publicly available report , 2011.
  12. ^ BDM coordination office: List of scientific publications from the BDM . Publicly available list .
  13. ↑ European Environment Agency: The European Grassland Butterfly Indicator: 1990–2011. EEA Technical Report No 11/2013 , 2013.
  14. ↑ Red Lists of Switzerland. Website of the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN. Retrieved January 17, 2019.

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