Analysis of biodiversity spatial patterns across multiple taxa, in Sweden

Abstract (French)

L’objectif de cet article est dans un premier temps d’analyser la répartition de la biodiversité de différents groupes taxonomiques terrestres, à l’échelle des municipalités suédoises. Et dans un deuxième temps d’analyser la localisation des aires protégées afin de comparer leur distribution spatiale avec nos résultats de biodiversité. Ce papier suggère un nouveau plan d’aménagement environnemental pour les communes ayant une importante biodiversité, mais comprenant peu de mesures de protection tels que les parcs nationaux ou les réserves naturelles, afin d’améliorer la conservation de leur biodiversité. The Global Biodiversity Information est une base de données en ligne, que nous avons utilisée pour collecter les données. Dans cette étude nous nous sommes focalisés sur l’analyse de trois règnes, les champignons, les animaux et les plantes. Pour obtenir des résultats, deux logiciels ont été utilisés : Le logiciel R (R development team 2008) pour calculer les indices de biodiversité, et ArcGIS pour analyser la répartition de la biodiversité des communes suédoises.
Tout d’abord, les données ont été analysées et critiquées afin d’évaluer la qualité des données prélevées sur The Global Biodiversity Information, et améliorer la méthode de collecte. En effet, une évaluation des données inutilisables et des possibles biais qui peuvent fausser les résultats a été élaborée. Ensuite, l’analyse se focalise sur la répartition de la biodiversité des communes suédoises grâce aux indices de biodiversité. La richesse spécifique et l’indice de Shannon, calculés grâce au logiciel R, ont été sélectionnés pour calculer la biodiversité suédoise. Il est fréquent que l’indice de richesse soit combiné avec un indice d’entropie comme l’indice de Shannon, un des plus connu et utilisé par la communauté scientifique pour montrer l’hétérogénéité de la biodiversité d’une aire d’étude. Cette combinaison permet une analyse globale de la distribution de la biodiversité, mais aussi d’évaluer leur efficacité afin d’améliorer la recherche des indices de mesure de la biodiversité. La dernière partie de cet article évalue les résultats obtenus sur la biodiversité et compare sa répartition avec l’actuel distribution des aires protégées suédoises. Une comparaison est alors faite afin de proposer l’aménagement d’aires protégées dans certaines communes pour conserver leur biodiversité.

Abstract

While many studies have shown the importance to understand biodiversity patterns, it is still rare to find comparisons of different taxa. The aim of this thesis is to identify the biodiversity distribution of different terrestrial taxa in Swedish municipalities with a volunteer collection method, and compare it with the protected areas localization. This analysis suggests a new environmental planning for townships which have high biodiversity and low protection measures, in order to improve their biodiversity conservation.
This study presents four objectives:
- Analysis of data quality.
- Analysis of biodiversity indices with their limits.
- Observation of biodiversity distribution.
- Comparison between municipality with the highest biodiversity indices and municipality with the highest percentage of protected areas in its territory.
All data comes from The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an international database in free access online, used to obtain data on species presence. This paper focuses on analysis of Fungi, Animals and Plantae, with the help of two software: the R software to calculate biodiversity indices, and ArcGIS to analyze biodiversity distribution by municipalities.
Firstly, the species presence data used is analyzed and criticized in order to evaluate its quality and improve collecting methods. The data comes from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, a useful tool, but is biased due to volunteers’ collection methods, which limit obtaining of a rigorous data and illustrate the real biodiversity distribution. Improvement in collection method should be realized, taking example of standardized collection methods, where expert volunteers used routes at fixed locations sampled, and have to collect all species. With this method presence and absence of species distribution can be analyzed.
Biodiversity patterns within municipalities are measured using biodiversity indices (species richness and Shannon index). It is often that species richness is combined with an evenness index, such as Shannon index, one of the most know and used, in order to obtain a global evaluation of biodiversity distribution. The usefulness of these indices is discussed, and even if these indices are efficient some points can be improved such as ecosystem health information.
The last purpose of this study is to evaluate the match between biodiversity distribution and protected areas localization. A measure of overlap of areas of high biodiversity and national parks or natural reserves is realized within ArcGIS, and results show that areas with the highest biodiversity are not necessarily the ones with a high level of protection. Some municipalities, mainly in the southern Sweden could beneficiate higher biodiversity protection.
Biodiversity understanding is complex, and still debate. Different approach and method exist to evaluate biodiversity, such as in this study where two biodiversity indicators are combined and tested with an online data based on volunteer collect. To improve biodiversity protection different measures of biodiversity must be combined and effort is needed for less charismatic species.

Popular Abstract

While many studies have shown the importance to understand biodiversity patterns, it is still rare to find a global point of view of terrestrial biodiversity distribution of a country. In this study, we focus on Swedish biodiversity by analyzing Fungi, Animal and Plants distribution.
All data comes from The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an international database in free access online, based on biodiversity data, used to obtain data on species localization. Two software are used to see how distributed biodiversity is: the R software to calculate biodiversity indices, which is programming software used for statistical computing and graphics, and ArcGIS, which is a set of Geographic Information System applications, to analyze biodiversity distribution by municipalities. Biodiversity indices are useful tool to calculate biodiversity. In this study, two indices are combined: the Species richness which is the number of different species that can be found in a particular area, and the Shannon index which identifies the community heterogeneity of a group of species in a defined area. With the help of these two biodiversity indices, biodiversity distribution is compared with protected areas localization in order to suggest a new environmental planning at municipalities scale for the ones which have high biodiversity and low protection measures, in order to improve their biodiversity conservation.
However, the results show that even if The Global Biodiversity Information facility is a useful tool, data is biased due to volunteer’s collection methods, which limit obtaining of a rigorous data. In fact, volunteers only collect species of interest: absence of observation does not necessarily reflect absence of a species; it can be that no volunteer went in this area to observe it. Our results do not represent the real biodiversity distribution due to its biased; this tool should be improved in order to be useful for scientific research.
In this study not all components of biodiversity are taken in consideration, and future perspectives to improve biodiversity protection are suggested.
Many studies exist about biodiversity and to improve this research it is important to try different approach and method, such as in this study where two biodiversity indicators are combined and tested with an online data based on volunteer collect, in order to evaluate its efficiency. However, biodiversity definition is still debated which made its evaluation more complex. With climate change and its impacts on biodiversity it has become urgent to properly measure biodiversity in order to conserve and protect the threatened ecosystems.

• author: Marcon, Manon
• supervisor: Paul Caplat
• organization: Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
• course: NGEM01 20131
• year: 2013
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• keywords: Sweden, protected areas, Shannon Index, species richness, geographic information system, biodiversity, physical geography, geography
• publication/series: Student thesis series INES
• report number: 287
• language: English
• id: 5152521
• date added to LUP: 2015-03-09 15:44:41
• date last changed: 2015-03-09 15:44:41