A biodiversity dashboard for Switzerland

Rapidly growing biodiversity databases and advances in machine learning have enabled a new generation of versatile species distribution models with high spatial and temporal resolution. Their complexity opens up a broad range of potential applications, but also poses challenges for making them accessible to users. We are developing a web application that makes the capabilities of such modern models directly available to a broad user community.

Specifically, we are collaborating with InfoFlora, info fauna, and SwissFungi to design an accessible web interface that combines three approaches:

1. Nationwide maps of key biodiversity statistics, optimized for large-scale overviews
2. A dynamic application interface for highly flexible, small-scale queries, allowing users to retrieve predictions for specific species at selected locations and over selected time periods

3. A simulation tool that allows users to simulate environmental changes at a given location and assess their effects on species observation probabilities

    

Designed as a permanent, modular infrastructure, the Swiss Biodiversity Dashboard can integrate a range of models covering different taxonomic groups and spatio-temporal extents, while enabling efficient model updates and extensions.

The current capabilities hosted by the dashboard and introduced in the videos below are the following:

1. Finding the most probable species for a selected point or polygon
2. Inspecting seasonal patterns in observation probabilities for species at a selected point
3. Inspecting spatial patterns in observation probabilities for species within a polygon
4. Simulating how environmental change (meteorology, land use and vegetation) affects observation probability, utilizing highly granular environmental and satellite data