Question 4.4

Which criteria are used to include a particular species in an indicator or not? E.g. why is Picoides tridactylus not included in the forest bird indicator?

Answer

Whether species are included in PECBMS indicators depends on

  • species classification (i.e. whether a species has been selected for a given type of indicator,
  • species data quality, and
  • species data availability.

As a consequence, some suitable species are excluded because they are not properly monitored. There is, however, an ongoing effort to increase data availability, using, for example, data from species-specific monitoring schemes in European countries next to generic breeding bird monitoring schemes.

See more in Methods, chapter 3, Box Species selection and classification, or chapter 4. Quality control.