Michele Walters Robert J. Scholes Editors The GEO Handbook on Biodiversity Observation Networks The GEO Handbook on Biodiversity Observation Networks Michele Walters • Robert J. Scholes Editors The GEO Handbook on Biodiversity Observation Networks Editors Michele Walters Robert J. Scholes Natural Resources and Environment Global Change and Sustainability Research Council for Scientific and Industrial Institute Research (CSIR) University of the Witwatersrand Pretoria Johannesburg South Africa South Africa and Centre for Wildlife Management University of Pretoria Pretoria South Africa Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com. ISBN 978-3-319-27286-3 ISBN 978-3-319-27288-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-27288-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016951648 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017. This book is published open access. 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All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland What gets measured, gets managed. —Peter Drucker Foreword The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is a voluntary international partnership of 102 governments and 92 participating organisations which share a vision of a future in which decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations. GEO achieves its mission largely through self-organising communities focused on important Earth observation domains where decision-making will benefit from data that is shared broadly and openly. These communities form connected systems and networks, creating a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). During its first ten-year implementation period, 2005–2015, GEO identified biodiversity as a key ‘Societal Benefit Area’, resulting in the formation of the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network, GEO BON. As GEO moves into its second, ten-year implementation period, GEO BON is recognised as one of its strongest communities. It has helped to mobilise and coordinate the data and information needed for an effective response to the global threats faced by organisms, species and ecosystems. In collaboration with inter- national treaty bodies such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, GEO BON has worked with national conservation agencies and non-governmental organisations at scales from regional to global. These efforts have revealed both the benefits of working together and the challenges of such a complex, but urgent task, not least of which is filling the remaining large gaps in data and information. The practical experience which GEO BON has accumulated through its own actions, and through the efforts of its network partners, is a valuable resource to biodiversity information systems everywhere—from those just starting out in places where there has previously been little information, to large operations holding vii viii Foreword enormous amounts of data and wishing to know how better to use it. This handbook is a powerful resource that will provide valuable guidance to those committed to protecting, sustaining and preserving biodiversity across the planet. I congratulate GEO BON on creating this powerful mechanism and wish the GEO BON community great success in each of its future endeavours. Geneva, Switzerland Barbara J. Ryan Executive Director: Group on Earth Observations Acknowledgements This book is based on the collective knowledge of the GEO BON network of volunteers, working towards the establishment of a global, sustainable observation system for monitoring changes in biodiversity. As such, a great number of col- leagues have contributed their time and energy towards the production of this handbook and huge thanks go to all of them. Chapter 6 acknowledges information obtained from the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), the European Ocean Biogeographic Information System (EurOBIS) and Marine Regions, which are supported by data and infrastructure provided by VLIZ as part of the Flemish contribution to LifeWatch, and is funded by the Hercules Foundation. Also thanks to Chap. 6 team: Jan Mees, Francisco Hernandez and Pieter Provoost (IOC) for being very helpful in accessing data from OBIS. The authors gratefully acknowledge the 30 reviewers who provided invaluable inputs and comments for individual chapters. The editors and authors offer their immense gratitude to Helen Matthey for her tireless assistance with coordination of the review and revision process, and the many other ways in which she contributed to the finalisation of the manuscript. The editors thank the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for the in-kind support provided them during the production of this work. Finally, we are thankful for the support of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118), which generously funded the open-access publication of this book. ix Contents 1 Working in Networks to Make Biodiversity Data More Available .......................................... 1 Robert J. Scholes, Michael J. Gill, Mark J. Costello, Georgios Sarantakos and Michele Walters 2 Global Terrestrial Ecosystem Observations: Why, Where, What and How? .............................. 19 Rob H.G. Jongman, Andrew K. Skidmore, C.A. (Sander) Mücher, Robert G.H. Bunce and Marc J. Metzger 3 Ecosystem Services ....................................... 39 Patricia Balvanera, Sandra Quijas, Daniel S. Karp, Neville Ash, Elena M. Bennett, Roel Boumans, Claire Brown, Kai M.A. Chan, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Benjamin S. Halpern, Jordi Honey-Rosés, Choong-Ki Kim, Wolfgang Cramer, Maria José Martínez-Harms, Harold Mooney, Tuyeni Mwampamba, Jeanne Nel, Stephen Polasky, Belinda Reyers, Joe Roman, Woody Turner, Robert J. Scholes, Heather Tallis, Kirsten Thonicke, Ferdinando Villa, Matt Walpole and Ariane Walz 4 Monitoring Essential Biodiversity Variables at the Species Level ....................................... 79 Henrique M. Pereira, Jayne Belnap, Monika Böhm, Neil Brummitt, Jaime Garcia-Moreno, Richard Gregory, Laura Martin, Cui Peng, Vânia Proença, Dirk Schmeller and Chris van Swaay 5 Monitoring Changes in Genetic Diversity ..................... 107 Michael W. Bruford, Neil Davies, Mohammad Ehsan Dulloo, Daniel P. Faith and Michele Walters xi xii Contents 6 Methods for the Study of Marine Biodiversity ................. 129 Mark J. Costello, Zeenatul Basher, Laura McLeod, Irawan Asaad, Simon Claus, Leen Vandepitte, Moriaki Yasuhara, Henrik Gislason, Martin Edwards, Ward Appeltans, Henrik Enevoldsen, Graham J. Edgar, Patricia Miloslavich, Silvia De Monte, Isabel Sousa Pinto, David Obura and Amanda E. Bates 7 Observations of Inland Water Biodiversity: Progress, Needs and Priorities .............................. 165 Eren Turak, David Dudgeon, Ian J. Harrison, Jörg Freyhof, Aaike De Wever, Carmen Revenga, Jaime Garcia-Moreno, Robin Abell, Joseph M. Culp, Jennifer Lento, Brice Mora, Lammert Hilarides and Stephan Flink 8 Remote Sensing for Biodiversity............................. 187 Gary N. Geller, Patrick N. Halpin, Brian Helmuth, Erin L. Hestir, Andrew Skidmore, Michael J. Abrams, Nancy Aguirre, Mary Blair, Elizabeth Botha, Matthew Colloff, Terry Dawson, Janet Franklin, Ned Horning, Craig James, William Magnusson, Maria J. Santos, Steven R. Schill and Kristen Williams 9 Involving Citizen Scientists in Biodiversity Observation.......... 211 Mark Chandler, Linda See, Christina D. Buesching, Jenny A. Cousins, Chris Gillies, Roland W. Kays, Chris Newman, Henrique