Biodiversity

What is Biodiversity monitoring?

Biodiversity is a measure of the variety and abundance of living things, and biodiversity monitoring involves quantifying and tracking this over space and time. By regularly measuring which species are present and how their populations change, we can understand whether biodiversity is increasing or declining. Biodiversity monitoring is used by governments, NGOs, and scientists, to guide conservation decisions, prioritise protected areas, manage habitats, and assess the effects of things like climate change on wildlife. 

What has CREEM contributed? 

Much of CREEM’s research is focussed on developing methods to survey species or communities. All of these methods can be used to collect data that are then aggregated into biodiversity metrics. CREEM also develops analytical approaches for citizen science data, which are often used to quantify biodiversity (e.g., Johnston et al. 2025). There are many biodiversity indices that each summarise different components of an ecological community. CREEM research over the years has contributed by developing and assessing a wide variety of methods to monitor and estimate biodiversity indices.  

What species are these methods used for? 

Biodiversity is the variety and abundance of living organisms in a place. These methods are used to track groups of related species to see how their diversity changes over time. Depending on the region and goals, this could include groups like birds, mammals, butterflies, beetles, or other species that indicate the overall health of ecosystems. 

Who in CREEM works on these methods? 

• Ali Johnston 
• Chris Sutherland
• Fergus Chadwick
• Eiren Jacobsen
• Steve Buckland – Emeritus Professor
• Anne Magurran

PhD Students: Amber Cowans 

A few relevant and recent publications by CREEM staff 

Johnston, A., Rodewald, A.D., Strimas-Mackey, M., Auer, T., Hochachka, W.M., Stillman, A.N., … & Fink, D. (2025). North American bird declines are greatest where species are most abundant. Science, 388(6746), 532-537. 

Buckland, S.T. and Johnston, A. (2017). Monitoring the biodiversity of regions: key principles and possible pitfalls. Biological Conservation 214, 23-34. 

Buckland, S.T., Yuan, Y., & Marcon, E. (2017). Measuring temporal trends in biodiversity. Advances in Statistical Analysis, 101(4), 461-474. 

Yuan, Y., Buckland, S.T., Harrison, P.J., Foss, S. and Johnston, A. (2016). Using species proportions to quantify turnover in biodiversity. Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics 21, 363-381. 

Buckland, S.T., Magurran, A.E., Green, R.E. and Fewster, R.M. (2005). Monitoring change in biodiversity through composite indices. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 360, 243-254. 

Some relevant links