Effective Biodiversity Monitoring Needs a Culture of Integration
Hjalmar S. Kühl, Diana E. Bowler, Lukas Bösch, Helge Bruelheide, Jens Dauber, David Eichenberg, Nico Eisenhauer, Néstor Fernández, Carlos A. Guerra, Klaus Henle, Ilka Herbinger, Nick J. B. Isaac, Florian Jansen, Birgitta König‐Ries, Ingolf Kühn, Erlend B. Nilsen, Guy Pe’er, Anett Richter, Ralf Schulte, Josef Settele, Nicole M. van Dam, Maria Voigt, Wolfgang J. Wägele, Christian Wirth, Aletta Bonn
Abstract
Despite conservation commitments, most countries still lack large-scale biodiversity monitoring programs to track progress toward agreed targets. Monitoring program design is frequently approached from a topdown, data-centric perspective that ignores the socio-cultural context of data collection. A rich landscape of people and organizations, with a diversity of motivations and expertise, independently engages in biodiversity monitoring. This diversity often leads to complementarity in activities across places, time periods, and taxa. In this Perspective, we propose a framework for aligning different efforts to realize large-scale biodiversity monitoring through a networked design of stakeholders, data, and biodiversity schemes.We emphasize the value of integrating independent biodiversity observations in conjunction with a backbone of structured core monitoring, thereby fostering broad ownership and resilience due to a strong partnership of science, society, policy, and individuals. Furthermore, we identify stakeholder-specific barriers and incentives to foster joint collaboration toward effective large-scale biodiversity monitoring.