Biodiversity monitoring of island ecosystems (BioMonI)

Le résumé fourni par la source

Oceanic islands contribute disproportionately to global biodiversity and contain many endemic species carrying unique evolutionary and functional adaptations that reflect life in isolation (Schrader et al. 2024). For instance, islands that are part of the European Union contribute significantly to the biodiversity of the EU and are thus essential for reaching European and global biodiversity targets. To give an example, the Canary Islands, representing only 1.5% of Spain’s land area, are home to 50% of its endemic species (Petit and Prudent 2010). Regrettably, islands are also epicenters of biodiversity change, particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances such as the introduction of non-native species, habitat loss, and climate change (Harter et al. 2015, Fernández-Palacios et al. 2021, Dawson et al. 2017, Bellard et al. 2017). Islands contain the majority of documented species extinctions and threatened species (Fernández-Palacios et al. 2021). Because of their biological uniqueness and high vulnerability, powerful monitoring tools are needed to inform conservation and restoration initiatives, ecosystem managers, policy-makers, and other stakeholders about the status and trends of biodiversity. Thus, in BioMonI, we are building the foundations for a global, long-term, easily accessible monitoring network tailored explicitly to the pressing needs of biodiversity conservation and monitoring on islands. This effort aligns with the concept of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) developed by the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) to offer a standardized framework for tracking biodiversity change across spatial and temporal scales. Specifically, in BioMonI, we are: elucidating spatiotemporal biodiversity trends (e.g. Borges (2025)), including elusive dimensions of biodiversity, broadening the spectrum of monitoring and conservation by integrating evolutionary and functional perspectives; mobilizing existing monitoring data, identifying gaps, co-designing work-flows to strengthen (existing) monitoring efforts, developing a harmonized monitoring scheme, and working to make monitoring information easily accessible across archipelagos for stakeholders including researchers, citizen scientists, conservation managers, (non-)governmental organizations and public institutions. elucidating spatiotemporal biodiversity trends (e.g. Borges (2025)), including elusive dimensions of biodiversity, broadening the spectrum of monitoring and conservation by integrating evolutionary and functional perspectives; mobilizing existing monitoring data, identifying gaps, co-designing work-flows to strengthen (existing) monitoring efforts, developing a harmonized monitoring scheme, and working to make monitoring information easily accessible across archipelagos for stakeholders including researchers, citizen scientists, conservation managers, (non-)governmental organizations and public institutions. To do that, we are reviewing current and past global monitoring schemes on islands (e.g. Borges et al. (2018)); leveraging long-term palaeoecological investigation of natural archives; integrating emerging genetic monitoring tools; assembling BioMonI-Plot, a vegetation plot network to understand biodiversity and ecosystem change; providing biodiversity informatics and developing e-infrastructures; and scaling up the monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem structure and functioning using remote sensing, macroecological modeling, and future scenarios. The BioMonI team includes Holger Kreft, Nathaly Guerrero, and Wolf Wildpret at the University of Göttingen (Germany), Bernd Lenzner, Franz Essl, and Fabio Mologni at the University of Vienna (Austria), Paulo A. V. Borges, Rosalina Gabriel, Leila Morgado, and Rui Bentos Elias at the University of the Azores (Portugal), Lea de Nascimento, José Maria Fernández-Palacios, and Rüdiger Otto at the University of La Laguna (Spain), Clara Zemp, Samantha Suter, Vladimir Wingate, and Giorgia Camperio at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), Claudine Ah-Peng and Dominique Strasberg at the University of La Réunion (France), Jairo Patiño and Brent Emerson at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Spain) and Patrick Weigelt at Radboud University (Netherlands).

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