The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

An assessment of the state of nature in the United Kingdom: A review of findings, methods and impact

An assessment of the state of nature in the United Kingdom: A review of findings, methods and impact
An assessment of the state of nature in the United Kingdom: A review of findings, methods and impact

Clear, accessible, objective metrics of species status are critical to communicate the state of biodiversity and to measure progress towards biodiversity targets. However, the population data underpinning current species status metrics is often highly skewed towards particular taxonomic groups such as birds, butterflies and mammals, primarily due to the restricted availability of high quality population data. A synoptic overview of the state of biodiversity requires sampling from a broader range of taxonomic groups. Incorporating data from a wide range of monitoring and analysis methods and considering more than one measure of species status are possible ways to achieve this. Here, we utilise measures of species’ population change and extinction risk to develop three species status metrics, a Categorical Change metric, a Species Index and a Red List metric, and populate them with a wide range of data sources from the UK, covering thousands of species from across taxonomy. The species status metrics reiterate the commonly reported decline in freshwater and terrestrial species’ status in the UK in recent decades and give little evidence that this rate of decline has slowed. The utility of species status metrics is further improved if we can extrapolate beyond the species sampled to infer the status of the community. For the freshwater and terrestrial species status metrics presented here we can do this with some confidence. Nevertheless, despite the range and number of species contributing to the species metrics, significant taxonomic bias remained and we report weighting options that could help control for this. The three metrics developed were used in the State of Nature 2016 report and indications are they reached a large number of audience members. We suggest options to improve the design and communication of these and similar metrics in the future.

Biodiversity, Great Britain, Index, Indicator, Metric, Species
1470-160X
226-236
Burns, F.
645be80d-dc85-4ae5-bd62-bb56f964a20c
Eaton, M. A.
a4a5c7f6-3b34-4ea5-8327-5224668038a5
Hayhow, D. B.
36e1d936-39cf-46b1-9a16-9e4982192093
Outhwaite, C. L.
3e7e609f-7157-485d-8d43-9404169bffd5
Al Fulaij, N.
7a38a01c-79e9-4704-8c0f-95634c1d89a3
August, T. A.
89ab9d94-6483-4a33-be0a-c50d29b71e72
Boughey, K. L.
ad77e8d6-4731-4eba-b51f-228662196203
Brereton, T.
6046592c-99ef-4c48-b7cf-408128458891
Brown, A.
0e6a956e-bb48-429a-a912-ad2c39de26e7
Bullock, D. J.
35a0c39a-f48e-4525-9fce-7c756fc94340
Gent, T.
1c04b361-5fa7-4837-91aa-b1c08c07b1be
Haysom, K. A.
ea45d008-7e8d-4310-abaf-f3e4b945fde1
Isaac, N. J.B.
88718abc-d327-4b09-9051-ae59ec4a95bc
Johns, D.G.
31ee9c6c-77b0-41f6-94e5-f541c5989731
Macadam, C. R.
6870951d-5563-4411-9d4d-a697b6814c15
Mathews, F.
1b8bd9d0-a517-4f5d-9353-896635435d32
Noble, D. G.
a759abc7-fa53-49aa-b21f-e0797618f947
Powney, G. D.
7a4dbb31-354e-4455-bd6d-f1196f740297
Sims, D. W.
7234b444-25e2-4bd5-8348-a1c142d0cf81
Smart, S. M.
77bff149-790c-49b6-9c57-6954608b2ad2
Stroh, P.
03e46692-a9da-40ff-946e-6f6e84057a29
Walker, K. J.
21dc24b5-2e72-44b9-b4de-73f47a918eec
Webb, J. R.
9a6cd8d8-f605-4331-9b46-5ee6a0803551
Webb, T. J.
7338bb86-6437-4612-9927-d2902bee5cdb
Gregory, R. D.
8f23bd1a-e9d3-455e-8b46-fb82389579fc
Burns, F.
645be80d-dc85-4ae5-bd62-bb56f964a20c
Eaton, M. A.
a4a5c7f6-3b34-4ea5-8327-5224668038a5
Hayhow, D. B.
36e1d936-39cf-46b1-9a16-9e4982192093
Outhwaite, C. L.
3e7e609f-7157-485d-8d43-9404169bffd5
Al Fulaij, N.
7a38a01c-79e9-4704-8c0f-95634c1d89a3
August, T. A.
89ab9d94-6483-4a33-be0a-c50d29b71e72
Boughey, K. L.
ad77e8d6-4731-4eba-b51f-228662196203
Brereton, T.
6046592c-99ef-4c48-b7cf-408128458891
Brown, A.
0e6a956e-bb48-429a-a912-ad2c39de26e7
Bullock, D. J.
35a0c39a-f48e-4525-9fce-7c756fc94340
Gent, T.
1c04b361-5fa7-4837-91aa-b1c08c07b1be
Haysom, K. A.
ea45d008-7e8d-4310-abaf-f3e4b945fde1
Isaac, N. J.B.
88718abc-d327-4b09-9051-ae59ec4a95bc
Johns, D.G.
31ee9c6c-77b0-41f6-94e5-f541c5989731
Macadam, C. R.
6870951d-5563-4411-9d4d-a697b6814c15
Mathews, F.
1b8bd9d0-a517-4f5d-9353-896635435d32
Noble, D. G.
a759abc7-fa53-49aa-b21f-e0797618f947
Powney, G. D.
7a4dbb31-354e-4455-bd6d-f1196f740297
Sims, D. W.
7234b444-25e2-4bd5-8348-a1c142d0cf81
Smart, S. M.
77bff149-790c-49b6-9c57-6954608b2ad2
Stroh, P.
03e46692-a9da-40ff-946e-6f6e84057a29
Walker, K. J.
21dc24b5-2e72-44b9-b4de-73f47a918eec
Webb, J. R.
9a6cd8d8-f605-4331-9b46-5ee6a0803551
Webb, T. J.
7338bb86-6437-4612-9927-d2902bee5cdb
Gregory, R. D.
8f23bd1a-e9d3-455e-8b46-fb82389579fc

Burns, F., Eaton, M. A., Hayhow, D. B., Outhwaite, C. L., Al Fulaij, N., August, T. A., Boughey, K. L., Brereton, T., Brown, A., Bullock, D. J., Gent, T., Haysom, K. A., Isaac, N. J.B., Johns, D.G., Macadam, C. R., Mathews, F., Noble, D. G., Powney, G. D., Sims, D. W., Smart, S. M., Stroh, P., Walker, K. J., Webb, J. R., Webb, T. J. and Gregory, R. D. (2018) An assessment of the state of nature in the United Kingdom: A review of findings, methods and impact. Ecological Indicators, 94 (Part 1), 226-236. (doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.033).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Clear, accessible, objective metrics of species status are critical to communicate the state of biodiversity and to measure progress towards biodiversity targets. However, the population data underpinning current species status metrics is often highly skewed towards particular taxonomic groups such as birds, butterflies and mammals, primarily due to the restricted availability of high quality population data. A synoptic overview of the state of biodiversity requires sampling from a broader range of taxonomic groups. Incorporating data from a wide range of monitoring and analysis methods and considering more than one measure of species status are possible ways to achieve this. Here, we utilise measures of species’ population change and extinction risk to develop three species status metrics, a Categorical Change metric, a Species Index and a Red List metric, and populate them with a wide range of data sources from the UK, covering thousands of species from across taxonomy. The species status metrics reiterate the commonly reported decline in freshwater and terrestrial species’ status in the UK in recent decades and give little evidence that this rate of decline has slowed. The utility of species status metrics is further improved if we can extrapolate beyond the species sampled to infer the status of the community. For the freshwater and terrestrial species status metrics presented here we can do this with some confidence. Nevertheless, despite the range and number of species contributing to the species metrics, significant taxonomic bias remained and we report weighting options that could help control for this. The three metrics developed were used in the State of Nature 2016 report and indications are they reached a large number of audience members. We suggest options to improve the design and communication of these and similar metrics in the future.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 14 June 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 July 2018
Published date: 1 November 2018
Keywords: Biodiversity, Great Britain, Index, Indicator, Metric, Species

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 424946
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/424946
ISSN: 1470-160X
PURE UUID: 3af63835-242f-4abc-a420-0f927696859f
ORCID for D. W. Sims: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0916-7363

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Oct 2018 16:30
Last modified: 19 Jun 2024 01:45

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: F. Burns
Author: M. A. Eaton
Author: D. B. Hayhow
Author: C. L. Outhwaite
Author: N. Al Fulaij
Author: T. A. August
Author: K. L. Boughey
Author: T. Brereton
Author: A. Brown
Author: D. J. Bullock
Author: T. Gent
Author: K. A. Haysom
Author: N. J.B. Isaac
Author: D.G. Johns
Author: C. R. Macadam
Author: F. Mathews
Author: D. G. Noble
Author: G. D. Powney
Author: D. W. Sims ORCID iD
Author: S. M. Smart
Author: P. Stroh
Author: K. J. Walker
Author: J. R. Webb
Author: T. J. Webb
Author: R. D. Gregory

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×