Monitoring the effectiveness of habitat conservation in Switzerland

Alpine alluvial area. Photo: Angéline Bedolla (WSL)

Bog in the Swiss alps. Photo: Ariel Bergamini (WSL)

Dry meadow in the Swiss alps. Photo: Ariel Bergamini (WSL)

Amphibian spawning area in the Swiss lowlands. Photo: Ariel Bergamini (WSL)

The project "Monitoring the effectiveness of habitat conservation in Switzerland" has been initiated by the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN to study whether habitats of national importance (dry meadows and pastures, bogs and fens, alluvial zones, amphibian spawning areas) are developing according to conservation targets. For this, a long-term monitoring project is established.

Framework and targets

The habitats of national importance are a crucial element of the Swiss protected sites network. It is thus important to know if conservation values off these habitats are maintained or not. The project "Monitoring the effectiveness of habitat conservation in Switzerland" is a long-term monitoring study initiated by the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN and lead jointly by FOEN and WSL. Specifically, the project will inform about trends in area and conservation values in dry meadows and pastures, alluvial areas, bogs and fens and amphibian spawning areas of national importance. For this we study all objects of national importance of these four habitat types by remote sensing (about 6000 objects). In a sample of these objects we conduct detailed field studies. In the amphibian spawning areas data we sample data on amphibian populations and in the other three habitat types we collect vegetation data on permanent plots. At the moment, we are also evaluating the inclusion of other animal groups like dragonflies or grasshoppers in the monitoring.

The project's results will serve as an early-warning system on the national level as well as in the main biogeographical regions of Switzerland, i.e. trends within these regions should be recognized early to enable adaptations in the conservation schemes. Data from long-term monitoring should also be very flexible so that they enable a range of analyses and thus the possibility to be used also for newly emerging questions (e.g. due to new priorities in environmental policy). Methodological coordination with other monitoring projects in Switzerland like the Swiss Biodiversity Monitoring BDM-CH or the Swiss agro-environmental monitoring (ALL-EMA) enables data integration among projects and comprehensive analyses.

The pilot phase of the project started in 2011 and will end in 2014.

More information:

• Article about the project published in NL-Inside (March 2012; in german and french)
  
• Webpage of Federal Office for the Environment about habitat inventories

Contact

• Ariel Bergamini
  

• Nicola Indermühle (FOEN)
  nicola.indermuehle@bafu.admin.ch