Promoting a nature-positive future: how to measure biodiversity to assess habitat restoration success

生物多样性对生态系统服务和应对全球变化的能力至关重要，但在全球范围内正在下降。最近要求生物多样性报告、补偿和自然积极成果的监管转变正在为保护的私人融资创造一个市场，但是缺乏广泛适用的机制：NERC通过最近的“生物多样性经济学”呼吁认识到了这一点。监督小组与广泛的利益相关者合作，已获得NERC资助，以开发“生物多样性信用项目”。制定生物多样性信用标准，允许购买信用以确保生物多样性的增加，将为生物多样性保护开辟大规模投资。投资者对此非常感兴趣，目前已经售出了420万个生物多样性信用额度。我们的BCP团队正在努力确保它带来真正的好处（从碳信用额中吸取教训）。为了确保对生物多样性改善的可靠评估，我们的项目正在开发广泛适用的快速生物多样性调查技术，并在一系列栖息地进行测试。在我的博士项目中，我将在2024年和2025年期间进行额外的数据收集，这些数据是在2023年春夏在苏塞克斯郡的Knepp Estate Rewilding项目和诺丁汉郡的Attenborough自然保护区收集的基线BCP数据基础上收集的。具体来说，目标是：1；扩大生物多样性指标的考虑范围，包括地球化学和稳定同位素分析2。测试生物多样性指标如何随时间变化而变化测试关键分类群对恢复管理的反应。开发从录音中（半）自动化识别鸟类物种的方法-这是我们CASE合作伙伴的优先事项，Operation Wallacea Research将集中于收集和后续实验室分析来自苏塞克斯郡Knepp Estate rewildlife项目和诺丁汉郡Attenborough Reserve的实地数据。BCP调查包括一系列快速措施（植被结构；植被形态和颜色；蝙蝠、鸟类、昆虫和青蛙的声学监测；淡水无脊椎动物和脊椎动物的eDNA调查；淡水无脊椎动物和陆生无脊椎动物的快速抽样），与更详细的调查（蝙蝠、鸟类和昆虫样带；植被调查；栖息地调查）进行比较，并测试可重复性。通过我的博士学位，我将在2024年和2025年期间对这些指标的一个子集进行重复调查，加上额外的土壤，植物，无脊椎动物和脊椎动物稳定同位素样本的收集和实验室分析（基于英国地质调查局，BGS），以及昆虫标本的鉴定（基于诺丁汉大学）。英国广播公司（BCP）将在2023年的录音基础上，增加2024-25年的定制录音。这些数据将使用一系列适当的统计建模方法进行分析，以实现目标并产生新的结果，如下所示：评估稳定同位素方法在确定生物多样性差异方面的价值，从而评估其被纳入生物多样性信用体系的潜力。2. 比较2023-2025年的数据，以评估指标随时间的变化3。评估与恢复/再野生阶段、管理措施和环境扰动有关的分类群和食物网的差异。4. 使用鸟类鸣叫的录音，通过专家物种识别验证，为我们的研究地点开发特定的算法，并为其他地方创建算法的工作流程。测试完全自动化和半自动化，其中录音片段被标记为专家注意（避免专家听数千小时）。

Biodiversity is essential for ecosystem services and resilience to global change but is declining globally. Recent regulatory shifts requiring biodiversity reporting, offsetting and nature positive outcomes are creating a market for private finance of conservation, but broadly applicable mechanisms for this are lacking: something recognised by NERC through its recent 'Economics of Biodiversity' calls.The supervisory team, collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders, has been awarded NERC funding to develop the "Biodiversity Credits Project (BCP)". Development of a biodiversity credit standard, allowing credits to be bought to ensure increases in biodiversity, will open up large-scale investment in biodiversity conservation. There is tremendous investor interest, with 4.2 million biodiversity credits already sold. Our BCP team is working to ensure it delivers real benefits (learning lessons from carbon credits). To ensure reliable assessment of biodiversity improvement, our project is developing widely applicable and rapid biodiversity survey techniques and testing them across a range of habitats. In my PhD project I will conduct additional data collection during 2024 and 2025 that builds on baseline BCP data being collected spring/summer 2023 at the Knepp Estate Rewilding Project, Sussex, and the Attenborough Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire. Specifically, aiming to:1. Extend the range of biodiversity metrics considered to include geochemical and stable isotope analyses2. Test how biodiversity metrics respond to changes over time 3. Test how key taxa respond to restoration management 4. Develop methodology for (semi-)automated recognition of bird species from audio recordings - a priority for our CASE partner, Operation Wallacea Research will be centred around collection and subsequent lab-analysis of field data from The Knepp Estate rewilding project, Sussex, and the Attenborough Reserve, Nottinghamshire. BCP surveys have included a series of rapid measures (vegetation structure; vegetation form and colour; acoustic monitoring for bats, birds, insects and frogs; eDNA surveys of freshwater invertebrates and vertebrates; rapid-sampling of freshwater invertebrates and terrestrial invertebrates), to be compared against more detailed surveys (bat, bird and insect transects; vegetation surveys; habitat surveys), and tested for repeatability. Through my PhD, I will conduct repeat surveys of a subset of these metrics during 2024 and 2025, plus additional collection and lab-analysis of soil, plant, invertebrate and vertebrate stable isotope samples (based at the British Geological Survey, BGS), and identification of insect specimens (based at the University of Nottingham). Bespoke audio recordings in 2024-25 will be added to those made in 2023 by BCP. These data will be analysed using a range of appropriate statistical modelling approaches to address aims and generate novel outcomes, as follows:1. Assess the value of stable isotope approaches for determining biodiversity differences and therefore potential for inclusion in a biodiversity credit system. 2. Compare 2023-2025 data to assess change in the metrics through time3. Assess differences in taxa and food webs in relation to restoration/rewilding stage, management practices and environmental perturbations. 4. Use audio recordings of bird song, validated against expert species identification, to develop specific algorithms for our study sites and a workflow for creating algorithms elsewhere. Testing both full automation and semi-automation, where fragments of recordings are flagged for expert attention (to avoid experts listening to thousands of hours).