Grassland butterfly index

Documentation

Indicator: Grassland butterfly index

Tag: SDG_15_61

Definition: The indicator is an index measuring changes in population abundance at EU level of 17 grassland butterfly species, using 1991 as the reference year.

Unit: Index measuring changes in population abundances of bird species compared to the reference year 1990 (Index 1990 = 100).

Spatial coverage: EU (various composition according to year, only continental areas)

Time coverage: 1991-2018

Update frequency: Periodic

DPSIR: State

Other policies:

• Sustainable Development Goals
• 8th Environment Action Programme

Method: 1) Calculation of scheme-level indices per each species; 2) calculation of a collated index for EU27 for each species by fitting a Poisson GLM; 3) calculation of the EU27 indicator by taking the geometric mean of the single-species indices; 4) calculation of a smoothed indicator using a loess smooth with span=0,75 and degree=2. More information can be found in Van Swaay et al., 2020. Assessing Butterflies in Europe - Butterfly Indicators 1990-2018 Technical report. Butterfly Conservation Europe & ABLE/eBMS; and on the website of the European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: https://butterfly-monitoring.net/bms-methods.

Reference: Eurostat, 2020, Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context — 2020 edition (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-statistical-books/-/ks-02-20-202), accessed 19 December 2022. van Swaay, C. A. M., Nowicki, P., Settele, J. and van Strien, A. J., 2008, 'Butterfly monitoring in Europe: methods, applications and perspective', Biodiversity and conservation 17(14), pp. 3455-3469. van Swaay, C. A. M., Dennis, E. B., Schmucki, R., Sevilleja, C. G., Aghababyan, K., Ã…ström, S., Balalaikins, M., Bonelli, S., Botham, M., Bourn, N., Brereton, T., Cancela, J. P., Carlisle, B., Chambers, P., Collins, S., Dopagne, C., Dziekanska, I., Escobés, R., Faltynek Fric, Z. et al., 2020, Assessing Butterflies in Europe - Butterfly Indicators 1990-2018: Technical report, Butterfly Conservation Europe & ABLE/eBMS (www.butterfly-monitoring.net), accessed 19 December 2022.

Producer: European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme partnership

Provider: Eurostat

Validated: True

Peer reviewed: True

Documented: True

Open source: True

Web service

Accessible: True

Spatial scope (Member States): False

Spatial scope (EU27): True

Spatial scope (global): False

Accuracy uncertainties: Not assessed

Comments: None

Storage: None