An analysis of trends, uncertainty and species selection shows contrasting trends of widespread forest and farmland birds in Europe

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15310%2F19%3A73598329" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15310/19:73598329 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1470160X19303103" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1470160X19303103</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.04.064" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.04.064</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

An analysis of trends, uncertainty and species selection shows contrasting trends of widespread forest and farmland birds in Europe

Original language description

Composite, multispecies biodiversity indices are increasingly used to report against international and national environmental commitments and targets, the Wild Bird Index being a prominent example in Europe, but methods to assess trends, error and species selection for such indices are poorly developed. In this study, we compare methods to compute multispecies supranational indices and explore different approaches to trend and error estimation, the presentation of indices, and species selection. We do so using population trend data on forest and farmland birds from 28 European countries, 1980–2015. We find relative stability in common European forest bird populations over this period, but a severe decline in farmland bird populations. Altering the benchmark year affects index characteristics and ease of interpretation. We show that using annual species’ indices and their SEs to calculate confidence intervals delivers greater precision in index estimates than bootstrapping across species. The inclusion of individual species within indices has limited leverage on index characteristics, but subjective selection of species based on specialisation has the potential to generate bias. Multispecies indices are valuable policy-relevant tools for describing biodiversity health. Their calculation and presentation need to be tailored to meet specific policy objectives, and they must be supported by clear interpretative information. We recommend methods for indicator analysis, forms of presentation, and the adoption of an objective species selection protocol to ensure indicators are representative and sensitive to environmental change.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS

ISSN

1470-160X

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

103

Issue of the periodical within the volume

AUG

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

10

Pages from-to

"676–687"

UT code for WoS article

000470965300065

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85064660743