Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring
Biodiversity monitoring (Tomas Easdale).
There is an urgent need for cost-effective, co-ordinated biodiversity monitoring tools that encompass the full diversity of species and habitats.
We developed a ‘big picture’ biodiversity monitoring framework that measures multiple biodiversity components at the same sampling points, maximising interpretative power while minimising the cost to individual agencies of sourcing and merging data sources. The framework and analysis tools have been adopted by the Environmental Monitoring and Reporting (EMaR) group within the Natural Resources Sector and Statistics NZ, and the BioHeritage National Science Challenge. All agencies are now using similar consistent methods and compatible indicators.
Inevitably, plot-based biodiversity and carbon field surveys miss some species and individuals, names are unwittingly misapplied or measurements noted incorrectly. A new step has been to quantify the degree of uncertainty and confidence in measurements, thus saving unnecessary time in the field. This framework has been adopted by DOC for Tier 1 monitoring, MfE for International Carbon Accounting, and is available to regional councils for use in future State of the Environment reports.