Table 2.
Operational biodiversity monitoring programs in North America and Europe with relevance for farming landscapes, in the sequence of their year of establishment
| Monitoring scheme | Why? Motivation and purpose |
For whom? Main stakeholders and funders |
What? Indicator groups |
Where? Scope, scale, and sampling design |
When? Temporal intervals |
Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (a) Bird and arthropod citizen science monitoring programs | ||||||
| Pan-European bird monitoring scheme | Track bird populations as indicators for the state of nature | Volunteer surveys and composite funding from NGOs, foundations and mostly Ministries of Environment | Abundance of common bird species | Preferably 1 km squares, systematically and/or randomly sampled from the rural landscape | Annual repetitions, starting between 1966 (UK) and 2009 (Luxemburg) | http://www.ebcc.info/pecbm.html |
| North American Breeding Bird Survey | Estimate bird population change | Volunteer surveys and composite funding from U.S. Geological Survey, Canadian Wildlife Service | Abundance of common bird species | Entire territory of the US and of Canada, stratified random selection of 5000 transect starting points and directions, 39.2 km average length | Annual repetitions, starting in 1966 with 600 transects, now 2900 operational transects | http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/ |
| Butterfly monitoring (Europe) | Provide information on the status of butterfly species to prevent extinction | Volunteer surveys and composite funding from NGOs, private foundations and some governmental institutions | Abundance of butterfly species | Preferably transects of 1 km, mostly free choice | Annual repetitions starting between 1976 (UK) and 2010 (Sweden. Luxemburg) | http://www.bc-europe.eu/index.php?id=339 |
| Biological Survey of Canada BSC | Discover, survey, and inventory Canada’s biological diversity; detect changes and provide policy advice | NGO, foundation | Arthropods | Total national territory, sampling depending on taxon | Started 1977, intervals not specified | http://biologicalsurvey.ca |
| (b) Government-led farmland biodiversity monitoring | ||||||
| UK Countryside Survey | Provide evidence about the extent and condition of the UK’s countryside. Estimate changes to help form policies that influence management of the countryside | Ministry for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs & Natural Environment Research Council | Habitat categories, vascular plant species lists, add-ons, e.g., veteran trees, ponds, soil cores, etc. | Rural landscape; 591 1-km squares, stratified random distribution across England, Scotland, and Wales | 1978, 1984, 1990, 1998, 2007 | http://countrysidesurvey.org.uk/ |
| Northern Ireland Countryside Survey | Provide reliable information on habitats to give context to discussion on biodiversity and land use issues and indicate progress in meeting national and international obligations on wildlife conservation and sustainable development | Environment Agency and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Northern Ireland | Habitat categories | Rural landscape; 628½-km squares, stratified random distribution | 1992, 2000, 2007 (288 squares) | http://www.science.ulster.ac.uk/nics/PUBL/nicstech.pdf |
| Germany HNV farmland monitoring | Provide a baseline indicator to incorporate environmental concerns into the EU Common Agricultural Policy | Ministry of Environment | Habitat categories, ecological quality | Farmed rural landscape; 900 1-km squares, stratified random distribution | 2009, 2010–2013, 2014–2017 (rolling survey) | http://www.bfn.de/0315_hnv+M52087573ab0.html |
| Norway 3Q | Document and analyze landscape change | Ministries of Agriculture and of Environment | Land cover types, vascular plants, birds | Farmed rural landscape, 1000 1-km squares, systematic distribution (until 2002), stratified random distribution (since 2003) | 1998–2002, 2003–2007, 2008–2012, 2013–2017 (rolling survey) | http://www.nibio.no/en/topics/landscape-monitoring |
| Switzerland BDM & ALL-EMA | Evaluate whether farmland biodiversity goals are reached and whether policy measures are effective (ecological focus areas) | Ministry of Environment (BDM), Ministries of Agriculture and of Environment (ALL-EMA) | Species lists of vascular plants, birds, butterflies, land snails, context information (BDM); Habitat categories, vascular plants (ALL-EMA) | Total national territory; 500 1-km squares, regular grid; 1600 10-m2 point samples, regular grid (BDM); Farmed rural landscape; 170 1-km squares (habitat) and 3000 10-m2 point samples (plants), nested stratified random distribution (ALL-EMA) | 2001–2005, 2006–2010, 2011–2015 (BDM rolling survey) 2015–2019 (ALL-EMA rolling survey) | http://www.biodiversitymonitoring.ch/; www.ALL-EMA.ch |
| Sweden NILS | Monitor the conditions and changes in the Swedish landscape | Environmental Protection Agency and Board of Agriculture | Land cover & land use; vascular plant species, lichen, context information | Total national territory; 631 1-km squares, stratified random distribution | 2003–2007, 2008–2012, 2013–2017 (rolling survey) | http://www.slu.se/nils |
| (c) Public private partnership | ||||||
| Canada, Alberta, ABMI | Track changes in Alberta’s wildlife and their habitats to inform land use decision-makers, land stewards, and the public at large | Public private partnership | Land classes: species lists of vascular plants, lichen, mammals, birds, mites; context information | Entire territory of Alberta, 1656 nested sites of 20 km squares (aerial photo, mammal transect) and 1 ha, regular grid | 2007–ongoing (rolling survey planned, first repetitions starting 2015) | www.abmi.ca |