Autor |
van Swaay, C.A.M.; Dennis, E.B.; Schmucki, R.; Sevilleja, C.G.; Aghababyan, K.; Åström, S.; Balalaikins, M.; Bonelli, S.; Botham, M.; Bourn, N.; Brereton, T.; Cancela, J.P.; Carlisle, B.; Collins, S.; Dopagne, C.; Dziekanska, I.; Escobés, R.; Faltynek Fric, Z.; Feldmann, R.; Fernández-García, J.M.; Fontaine, B.; Goloshchapova, S.; Gracianteparaluceta, A.; Harpke, A.; Harrower, C.; Heliölä, J.; Khanamirian, G.; Kolev, Z.; Komac, B.; Krenn, H.; Kühn, E.; Lang, A.; Leopold, P.; Lysaght, L.; Maes, D.; McGowan, D.; Mestdagh, X.; Middlebrook, I.; Monasterio, Y.; Monteiro, E.; Munguira, M.L.; Musche, M.; Õunap, E.; Ozden, O.; Paramo, F.; Pavlíčko, A.; Pettersson, L.B.; Piqueray, J.; Prokofev, I.; Rákosy, L.; Roth, T.; Rüdisser, J.; Šašić, M.; Settele, J.; Sielezniew, M.; Stefanescu, C.; Švitra, G.; Szabadfalvi, A.; Teixeira, S.M.; Tiitsaar, A.; Tzirkalli, E.; Verovnik, R.; Warren, M.S.; Wynhoff, I.; Roy, D.B. |
Abstract |
There is mounting evidence of widespread declines in the
diversity and abundance of insects from
across the globe (Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys 2019, Seibold et al. 2019, van
Klink et al. 2020,
Wagner 2020). This gives a stark warning for the perilous state of biodiversity
(Díaz et al. 2019), and
demonstrates that addressing the gap in knowledge of the status of insects is
vital (Cardoso et al.
2020, Samways et al. 2020). Insects are estimated to comprise more than half of
all described species
and are a dominant component of biodiversity in most ecosystems (Bar-On et al.
2018). Insects also
provide a crucial role in the functioning of ecosystems. They are not only
related to the supply of
many ecosystem services such as pollination, biological control, soil fertility
regulation and diverse
cultural ecosystem services but also to disservices such as damage to crops and
spread of diseases to
livestock and humans (Gutierrez-Arellano and Mulligan 2018, Noriega et al.
2018). There is a
pressing need to assess the status of insects to set and evaluate conservation
targets.
At the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Nagoya (Japan), the
Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity 2011–2020 was adopted. It proposed five goals and 20 “Aichi”
biodiversity targets. In
line with this plan, a new EU biodiversity strategy was adopted by the European
Commission in May
2011. This strategy provided a framework for the EU to meet its biodiversity
targets and global
commitments as a party to the CBD. The Headline Target in the existing EU
Biodiversity Strategy 2020
is to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services
in the EU by 2020, and
restore them, in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to
averting global
biodiversity loss. Under Target 3A the EU is committed to increasing the
contribution of agriculture
to biodiversity recovery. Further, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 includes
the development of a
coherent framework for monitoring, assessing and reporting on progress in
implementing actions.
Such a framework is needed to link existing biodiversity data and knowledge
systems with the
strategy, to help assess achievement of the goals and to streamline EU and
global monitoring,
reporting and review obligations.
Some of the EU biodiversity indicators provide specific measurements and trends
on genetic, species
and ecosystem/landscape diversity, but many have a more indirect link to
biodiversity. Very few have
been explicitly established to assess biodiversity. The status indicators on
species only cover birds,
bats and butterflies, since these are the only taxa/species groups for which
reasonably harmonized
European monitoring data are available (EEA, 2012). This technical report
builds upon previous
technical reports for the EU Grassland Butterfly Indicator (e.g. van Swaay et
al., 2019) to:
1. Describe a new approach for assessing butterfly trends and developing
indicators of
European butterflies
2. Give an overview of the main results, and present a range of butterfly
indicators
3. Discuss the next steps to improve butterfly indicators for Europe
Butterflies are ideal biological indicators: they are well-documented,
measurable, sensitive to
environmental change, occur in a wide range of habitat types, represent many
other insects, and are
popular with the public because of their beauty. Field monitoring is essential
to assess changes in
their abundance. Indicators based on butterfly monitoring data are valuable to
understand the state
of the environment and help evaluate policy and implementation. Trained
volunteers are a cost-
effective way of gathering robust data on butterflies, more so when supported
by informative
materials and efficient online recording.
|
van Swaay, C.A.M., Dennis, E.B., Schmucki, R., Sevilleja, C.G., Aghababyan, K., Åström, S., Balalaikins, M., Bonelli, S., Botham, M., Bourn, N., Brereton, T., Cancela, J.P., Carlisle, B., Collins, S., Dopagne, C., Dziekanska, I., Escobés, R., Faltynek Fric, Z., Feldmann, R., Fernández-García, J.M., Fontaine, B., Goloshchapova, S., Gracianteparaluceta, A., Harpke, A., Harrower, C., Heliölä, J., Khanamirian, G., Kolev, Z., Komac, B., Krenn, H., Kühn, E., Lang, A., Leopold, P., Lysaght, L., Maes, D., McGowan, D., Mestdagh, X., Middlebrook, I., Monasterio, Y., Monteiro, E., Munguira, M.L., Musche, M., Õunap, E., Ozden, O., Paramo, F., Pavlíčko, A., Pettersson, L.B., Piqueray, J., Prokofev, I., Rákosy, L., Roth, T., Rüdisser, J., Šašić, M., Settele, J., Sielezniew, M., Stefanescu, C., Švitra, G., Szabadfalvi, A., Teixeira, S.M., Tiitsaar, A., Tzirkalli, E., Verovnik, R., Warren, M.S., Wynhoff, I., Roy, D.B. (2020):
Assessing Butterflies in Europe - Butterfly Indicators 1990-2018 Technical report
Butterfly Conservation Europe, Wageningen, 56 pp. |