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Home » Objectives (Project 1)
Objectives
The UKBMS will be focusing on two linked objectives until 2008:
- integration and expansion of the existing network of butterfly transects which effectively sample habitat specialist butterflies on semi-natural sites,
- development of a new monitoring scheme for common species in the wider countryside, based upon random sampling to be representative of the UK landscape as a whole.
See details of Project 1 or Project 2
Project 1. Integrating and expanding the existing network of butterfly transects.
Maintain, support and extend the Butterfly Conservation (BC) transect monitoring scheme
- Maintain BC transect scheme in England from June 2005 - April 2008
- Extend transect development to the rest of the UK from 2005 until 2008
- Hold dedicated workshop/training courses in each country in each year
Integrate CEH and BC monitoring schemes
- Combine the BMS and BC transect schemes
- Development of a joint CEH-BC-JNCC UK BMS web site
- Launch combined scheme in Spring 2006
- Merge data into a single database of butterfly abundance data (transect and timed count data)
- Data collated annually from 2005-2007 and fed into the single database, to produce national trends from all the available data
Develop a long-term plan for continuation of a combined Transect Scheme
- Develop a costed proposal for the long-term running of a single transect-based butterfly monitoring scheme (UKBMS)
Develop and test a range of butterfly biodiversity indicators using the following approaches:
- Measure the coverage of the combined transect schemes for UK butterfly populations
- Assess the statistical power of the combined transect scheme for detecting trends
- Derive indices of abundance and report trends by:
- The UK-wide trend for individual species, including all BAP species that can be monitored by transects
- The trends in individual species within countries and regions
- Trends in individual species for performance on sites with different habitats
- Performance of species on protected land (SSSIs etc) vs non-protected land
- Performance on sites under agri-environment schemes vs sites not entered into such schemes
- Develop composite abundance indices based on groups of species such as Biodiversity Action Plan species, habitat specialist species etc.
Developing butterfly indicator(s)
- Develop a UK Populations of Habitat Specialist Butterflies Headline Indicator
- Develop indicators by country where data are sufficient and in some cases by Defra Governmental Region
- Develop additional indicators such as a Populations of BAP Priority Butterflies Index and by BAP habitat type
