The Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland (BDM) is a

Swiss Confederation ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

programme for the long-term monitoring of

species diversity Species diversity is the number of different species that are represented in a given community (a dataset). The effective number of species refers to the number of equally abundant species needed to obtain the same mean proportional species abundan ...

in Switzerland.

Introduction

The Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland surveys the long-term development of

in selected organism groups in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The focus is on surveying common and widespread

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in order to make informed statements about the development of species diversity in common landscapes. Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland is a programme run by the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN. It is a long-term

environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterize and monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental monitoring is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, as well a ...

project, comparable with other national programmes, such as the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI), the National Surface Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NAWA), the Swiss Soil Monitoring Network (NABO) and the project “Monitoring the Effectiveness of Habitat Conservation in Switzerland” (WBS). There are similar biodiversity monitoring programmes in place in the United Kingdom (UK Countryside Survey by the

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is a centre for excellence in environmental science across water, land and air. The organisation has a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change, and its science ma ...

) and in parts of Canada (Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring run by the

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) is an agency that monitors and reports on biodiversity status throughout the province of Alberta, Canada, that is funded equally by the government of Alberta and the oil and gas industry. The Alberta ...

Tasks and objectives

Together with other environmental information, the data from the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland underpin national conservation policy and other policy areas that are relevant to

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

such as agriculture and forestry. By signing the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Switzerland also has an obligation under international law to monitor the long-term development of biodiversity. The objectives of the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland are to * draw representative conclusions about biodiversity in Switzerland as a whole (sometimes broken down by biogeographic region or main type of

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long h ...

, e.g. grassland, forests, settlements etc.); * monitor the evolution of

as a whole, i.e. including in intensively managed areas and therefore draw conclusions about the common landscape; * record the

taxonomic groups In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

in full, i.e. including all

, and thus supplement existing knowledge on rare and

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

; * document changes in

and highlight long-term trends.

Methodology

The Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland comprises three sampling grids on different scales, which cover the whole of Switzerland and yield a

representative sample In statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset (a statistical sample) of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole population. Statisticians attempt ...

. The sampling grid to observe species diversity in landscapes consists of some 450 sampling areas, each covering one square kilometre. On a precisely defined

transect A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). There are several types of transect. Some are more effective than others. It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count ...

of this quadrant,

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and breeding birds are surveyed. Data on breeding birds are collected by the Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach. These surveys are coordinated with the Monitoring of Common Breeding Birds. The density of the sampling grid in the Jura and in Southern Switzerland was increased in order to obtain reliable data for these regions. The sampling grid to observe species diversity in habitats consists of some 1,450 sampling sites, each covering ten square metres. In terms of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s a distinction is drawn between forests, meadows and pastures, settlements, farmland, alpine pastures and mountain areas. All the vascular plants found in a circular sampling area are surveyed. In addition,

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in ...

samples are collected, which are subsequently identified by a team of experts, and soil samples are taken to study

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

diversity in the laboratory. The sampling grid to survey aquatic insects comprises approximately 500 small sections of minor watercourses measuring around 5–100 metres long. It surveys the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of

mayflies Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the orde ...

stoneflies Plecoptera is an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. Some 3,500 species are described worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica. Stoneflies are believed to be one of the mo ...

and

caddisflies The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the b ...

(so-called EPT species group). File:Csm 1360 Messnetz Z7.jpg, Sampling grid for species diversity in landscapes File:Csm 1360 Messnetz Z9.jpg, Sampling grid for species diversity in habitats File:Csm 1360 Messnetz Z9EPT.jpg, Sampling grid for species diversity in watercourses The sampling areas can be precisely located as they are permanent observation plots. A fifth of all areas are surveyed every year, which means that a survey is repeated at the same location every five years. Routine surveys of vascular plants, bryophytes, molluscs and breeding birds were started in 2001, with surveys of butterflies added in 2003 and aquatic

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s added in 2010. The species’ coordinates are integrated in the databases of InfoSpecies, the Swiss Information Centre for Species.

Indicators

The data obtained are routinely used to calculate four

indicators Indicator may refer to: Biology * Environmental indicator of environmental health (pressures, conditions and responses) * Ecological indicator of ecosystem health (ecological processes) * Health indicator, which is used to describe the health o ...

: * The species diversity in landscapes indicator shows the diversity of flora and fauna in the landscape. It describes the influence of habitat mosaics on species diversity. * The species diversity in habitats indicator documents the small-scale species diversity of a habitat type, e.g. meadows, forests or settlements. * The population size of common species indicator documents changes in widespread species. They are of ecological importance as they make up the majority of living

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...

, provide a significant share of

ecosystem service Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. Th ...

s and constitute an abundant food source for other organisms. They shape the appearance of their habitats and characterise entire landscapes. * The diversity in species communities indicator looks at whether Switzerland's habitats and landscapes are becoming more similar. It therefore provides information on the heterogeneity or homogeneity of species diversity. In addition, the data can be used for various special analyses. They form the basis of numerous scientific research projects. Thanks to the systematic sampling design, the standardised methodology and the long-term nature of the programme, the data can be used to answer new, as yet undefined questions. The data are also incorporated in European biodiversity indicators, e.g. the European Grassland Butterfly Index compiled by Butterfly Conservation Europe and the European Environment Agency EEA. Furthermore, data from the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland contributed to the determination of critical loads in nitrogen deposition in Europe assessed due to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) implemented by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP).

Distinctive features of the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland

The specific contribution of the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland to the analysis of species diversity in Switzerland is the fact that species lists can be drawn up that are as comprehensive as possible for all sampling areas, which increases the probability of detecting species absences. In addition, the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland is not restricted to well-known, highly species-rich areas or sites where rarities are found, but rather monitors randomly selected locations that would hardly ever be surveyed otherwise. Common and widespread species are thus also surveyed. Repeat surveys at exactly the same location using exactly the same method allow precise conclusions to be drawn regarding changes in species diversity. Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland provides a cross section of the overall landscape covering a wide variety of uses. It serves as a reference for programmes that study the development of selected habitats or of specific rare species, e.g. the project “Monitoring the effectiveness of habitat conservation in Switzerland” (WBS), and Switzerland's Red Lists.''Rote Listen der Schweiz.''
Website of the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN (German, French and Italian only). Retrieved 2019-01-22.

Notes

* FOEN:
Swiss Biodiversity Monitoring BDM. Description of Methods and Indicators
'. Environmental Studies No. 1410, Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, Bern, 2014. * FOEN:

'. State of the Environment No 1630, Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, Bern, 2014. * Swiss Biodiversity Forum (eds.)
''20 Jahre Biodiversitätsmonitoring Schweiz BDM''
Special Issue of HOTSPOT 46, Swiss Biodiversity Forum, Bern, 2022. (in German and French only)

References

{{reflist

External links

Website of the Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland

Environmental studies Convention on Biological Diversity Conservation biology