Deliverables Potential use of birds as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, birds were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of birds were collected in 1km{2} sites, or �land use units� in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol and quantified the impacts of land use intensity and biogeography. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, birds were found to be a potentially useful indicator of biodiversity, a significant predictor of the richness of butterflies, lichens and plants but not a good indicator of soil biodiversity. The LUU gradient did not provide a good predictor of bird biodiversity. All parts of the gradient contribute to overall avian biodiversity. All stages of the gradient should be regarded as complementary in terms of avian biodiversity. Habitat heterogeneity was consistently associated with bird diversity and species richness. Conservation of a diversity of landscapes, encompassing all parts of the land-use gradient, is therefore necessary to maintain bird diversity. Vegetation and habitat structure and landscape composition were significantly associated with bird diversity, species richness and abundance and therefore provide potential tools for assessing landscapes in terms of avian biodiversity. Potential for assembling indicators in a biodiversity assessment tool-kit None of the potential indicators evaluated, whether derived from biological or remote sensing data, was found to be an adequate predictor of all components of biodiversity measured. Some indicators demonstrated better potential than others. Plants, birds, butterflies and lichens all demonstrated potential as indicators of above-ground biodiversity. None of the soil taxa was a good indicator of below-ground biodiversity but soil macrofauna showed the most potential. No single landscape metric was shown to be a reliable indicator of all components of biodiversity but a few indices showed potential as indicators of more than one group of species. The results strongly support the use of two or more indicators in a biodiversity assessment tool-box. The choice made will depend on the particular requirement of the user but the results of the project show which combinations are likely to be optimal. Biogeography was shown to have a significant effect on the potential effectiveness of the indicators evaluated implying that repeated testing of indicators is required, particularly as Europe experiences climate change and other aspects of global change. A network of biodiversity observation sites would permit the testing of indicators and, therefore, greatly increase the confidence in their application. Potential use of plants as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, plants were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of plants were collected in 1km{2} sites, or �land use units� in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol and quantified the impacts of land use intensity and biogeography. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, plants were found to be a potentially useful indicator of biodiversity, a significant predictor of the richness of birds, butterflies, and lichens but not a good indicator of soil biodiversity. Plants have a number of other advantages and disadvantages as indicators of biodiversity. Plant sampling for biodiversity monitoring is cost-efficient and accurate, although it has some seasonal constraints for certain plant groups and regions. The structural component of vegetation showed the more direct responses to land use gradients and is also related to plant diversity itself and to other components of biodiversity like e.g. birds. Total vascular plant diversity was consistently associated to habitat heterogeneity, and the different components of the land-use gradient were complementary in their contributions to plant species richness. But different patterns were found for plant species according to their life forms. Herbaceous plants, that account for the main part of plant diversity, reached their maximum values of species richness and diversity in mixed landscapes. Woody plants, being a minor component of the European flora but playing a major role in structuring habitats, showed peaks of richness in forested landscapes, and their diversity was strongly related to the vertical complexity of the vegetation. Hence the potential of plants as indicators of biodiversity requires the consideration of their structural and compositional components. Potential use of lichens as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, lichens were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of lichens were collected in 1km{2} sites, or land use units in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol and quantified the impacts of land use intensity and biogeography. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, lichens were found to be a potentially useful indicator of biodiversity, a significant predictor of the richness of birds, butterflies and plants, but not a good indicator of soil biodiversity. The strengths of lichens as indicator of biodiversity is their high local species richness and that they can be observed during all seasons. Further, only one site visit is needed to sample all lichen species present at the site. Lichen diversity and composition significantly depended on landscape structure, climate and land-cover. Species composition significantly differed between natural and secondary forests. Furthermore, lichens were able to indicate land-use continuity e.g. in natural forests and wooded pastures. Potential use of remote sensing indices as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, landscape indices derived from remote sensing were identified as a potential indicators of biodiversity. Furthermore, the NDVI index was derived from satellite images as an additional biodiversity indicator. In the test sites, landscape composition was assessed based on remote sensing data. A fused Landsat-IRS image was selected as standard dataset to guarantee the comparability of the results. A hierarchic classification system was defined based on the CORINE database up to four hierarchical levels. The first two hierarchical levels gave land use classes identical for all sites across the countries while additional levels were adjusted for local landscape descriptions. For the remote sensing based mapping a visual interpretation protocol was developed that local specialist used to delineate land use classes. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, -several indices shown to be potentially useful indicators of the richness of single taxa and although no single index was correlated with the diversity of all components of biodiversity studied, a few indices correlated with more than one taxon: total core area, disjunct core area density, patch richness and landscape evenness. Furthermore, also the NDVI index proved to be potential indicator of species richness. In the Swiss test site, additionally three spatial resolutions were investigated. Results showed, that very high spatial resolution did not improve classification if land-use classes were not refined. Highest potential of remote sensing indicators was found to predict birds, plants, carabids, and lichens biodiversity. Potential use of soil Collembola as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, soil Collembola were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of soil Collembola were collected in 1km{2} sites, or land use units in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol and quantified the impacts of land use intensity and biogeography. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, soil Collembola were found to be a potentially useful indicator of biodiversity, a significant predictor of the richness of butterflies, lichens and plants but not a good indicator of the other soil groups sampled. Soil Collembola have a number of other advantages and disadvantages as indicators of biodiversity. Besides being ecologically relevant in the soil and sensitive to changes in land use and management practices, they are easy to sample (ISO draft guideline under expert revision) and to identify, existing good prospects to work at genus level, requiring less taxonomical skills. Large data sets exist (national and European), with the potential to integrate information on a spatial and time scales in monitoring programmes. Their indicator value is, however, almost limited to changes in species assemblages, with a few species capable of indicating changes in specific environmental parameters or being correlated with plant associations. Potential use of butterflies as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, butterflies were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of butterflies were collected in 1km{2} sites, or �land use units� in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol and quantified the impacts of land use intensity and biogeography. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, butterflies were found to be a potentially useful indicator of biodiversity, a significant predictor of the richness of birds, lichens and plants but not a good indicator of soil biodiversity. Butterflies have a number of other advantages and disadvantages as indicators of biodiversity. Potential use of soil macrofauna as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, soil macrofauna were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of soil macrofauna were collected in 1km{2} sites, or "land use units" in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol and quantified the impacts of land use intensity and biogeography. After statistical evaluation with data on other components of biodiversity, soil macrofauna were found to be the most promising of the three groups of soil (or soil-surface) dwelling organisms as an indicator of the richness of other taxa, showing weak correlations with butterflies and carabids and stronger correlation with plants. However, only two of the invertebrate groups that comprise soil macrofauna - soil Coleoptera and earthworms - evaluated, leaving the potential of this taxon least well understood. Soil macrofauna have a number of other advantages and disadvantages as indicators of biodiversity. Potential use of ground beetles as indicators of biodiversity After a consideration of the policy framework for the development of monitoring and indicators of biodiversity in Europe, the major biogeographic influences on biodiversity and the major key factors (or drivers) of biodiversity, ground beetles (Carabidae) were identified as a potential indicator of biodiversity. Data on the diversity of ground beetles were collected in 1km{2} sites, or land use units in eight European countries - Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Finland and the UK. Six sites were established along land use intensity gradients. Data were obtained by a standardised protocol using pitfall trapping and quantified the impacts of land use and biogeography. After statistical evaluation, ground beetles were found to be a poor indicator of other components of biodiversity, only showing a weak correlation with soil macrofauna. The main factor affecting carabid species richness among the land use units was the amount of forest. Carabid species richness was negatively correlated with area of forest consistently among the countries. As carabids responded in a predictable manner to land use and certain landscape metrics, it is concluded that carabids reliably signal landscape changes. Ground beetles have a number of advantages and disadvantages as indicators of biodiversity land-use changes. The group is ecologically and taxonomically well known, and collecting is easily standardizable. Furthermore, their distribution, habitat preferences and use as indicators of land-use change in various ecosystems is well studied. The main disadvantage is that as generalist arthropod predators in the litter layer, their diversity may not correlate with that of taxonomic groups having other kinds of life history characteristics, as demonstrated in this study. Searching for OpenAIRE data... 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