The above-mentioned umbrella organization of German ornithologists

[suchona.kani.z]

A key indicator for the sustainability of land use is called “ Biological Diversity and Landscape Quality ”. It was the first indicator that made it possible to make statements about the state of nature and landscape nationwide. Since then, it has been updated annually and published in various publications by federal authorities.

Recording the condition of landscapes with different uses across the board sounds like a huge amount of continuous measurements. But the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation uses an indirect method: the indicator assesses population changes of selected bird species. The data for this comes from monitoring common breeding birds.

For this purpose, the landscape and habitat types in Germany were peru consumer email list divided into five categories: agricultural land, forests, settlements, inland waters, and coasts and seas. Certain bird species can be expected in each of these habitat types. If the quality of the habitat improves, this leads to an increase in populations. However, if a habitat is damaged by environmental pollution or unsustainable use, this quickly results in a decline in bird populations.

monitoring of common breeding birds
As an example of the collection of raw data, we will take a closer look at the monitoring of common breeding birds, usually referred to as MhB for short. It provides data for indicators that are used both by the federal government itself and reported to the EU.

based in Münster, is responsible for this. It looks after a total of 2,637 sample areas, each one square kilometer in size, which were selected as representative by the Federal Statistical Office.

Volunteers count the birds on each sample area four times a year, monthly from March to June. The method is called line mapping: a fixed route of around 3 kilometers is slowly walked. Each individual bird that is seen on the sample area is entered into the field map with a species and behavioral abbreviation.

At the end of the mapping season, the four field maps are used to determine the probable breeding territories of each pair of birds. At the end, an Excel table with the number of territories per bird species and landscape type is sent to the DDA. The path from the field maps to the finished table has been gradually digitized in recent years.