The next generation of site-based long-term ecological monitoring: Linking essential biodiversity variables and ecosystem integrity

Peter Haase (1, 2) , Jonathan D Tonkin (1, 3) , Stefan Stoll (1, 4) , Benjamin Burkhard (5, 6) , Mark Frenzel (7) , Ilse R Geijzendorffer (8, 9) , Christoph Häuser (10) , Stefan Klotz (7, 11) , Ingolf Kühn (7) , William H Mcdowell (12) , Michael Mirtl (13) , Felix Müller (14) , Martin Musche (7) , Johannes Penner (15, 16) , Steffen Zacharias (17) , Dirk S. Schmeller (18, 19)

1 Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Gelnhausen, Germany
2 University of Duisburg-Essen, Department of River and Floodplain Ecology, Faculty of Biology
3 OSU - Oregon State University
4 University of Applied Sciences Trier, Environmental Campus Birkenfeld
5 Institute of Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology, Leibniz Universität Hannover
6 ZALF - Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung = Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research
7 UFZ - Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung = Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
8 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale
9 Institut de recherche de la Tour du Valat
10 Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science
11 iDiv - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
12 UNH - University of New Hampshire
13 Umweltbundesamt GmbH = Environment Agency Austria
14 Institute for Natural Resource Conservation, Kiel University
15 Museum für Naturkunde [Berlin]
16 University of Freiburg, Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management
17 Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Department of Monitoring and Exploration Technologies
18 Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Department of Conservation Biology
19 LEFE - Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement

Global change effects on biodiversity and human wellbeing call for improved long-term environmental data as a basis for science, policy and decision making, including increased interoperability, multifunctionality, and harmonization. Based on the example of two global initiatives, the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network and the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), we propose merging the frameworks behind these initiatives, namely ecosystem integrity and essential biodiversity vari-ables, to serve as an improved guideline for future site-based long-term research and monitoring in terrestrial, freshwater and coastal ecosystems. We derive a list of specific recommendations of what and how to measure at a monitoring site and call for an integration of sites into co-located site networks across individual monitoring initiatives, and centered on ecosystems. This facilitates the generation of linked comprehensive ecosystem mon-itoring data, supports synergies in the use of costly infrastructures, fosters cross-initiative research and provides a template for collaboration beyond the ILTER and GEO BON communities.

Keywords: Long‐term ecosystem research; EBV; LTER; Research infrastructure; Site networks

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Peter Haase, Jonathan D Tonkin, Stefan Stoll, Benjamin Burkhard, Mark Frenzel, et al.. The next generation of site-based long-term ecological monitoring: Linking essential biodiversity variables and ecosystem integrity. Science of the Total Environment, 2018, 613-614, pp.1376-1384. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.111⟩. ⟨hal-02081188⟩