Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands
Oceanic islands are globally recognised for their exceptional levels of biodiversity and endemism, often resulting from unique evolutionary processes in isolated environments. However, this biodiversity is also disproportionately threatened by anthropogenic pressures including habitat loss, invasive...
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Pensoft Publishers
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Biodiversity Data Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/158423/download/pdf/ |
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| author | Paulo Borges Leila Morgado Rosalina Gabriel Rui Elias Mirana Gauche Claudine Ah-Peng Rüdiger Otto Lea de Nascimento Dominique Strasberg Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez Holger Kreft José María Fernández-Palacios |
| author_facet | Paulo Borges Leila Morgado Rosalina Gabriel Rui Elias Mirana Gauche Claudine Ah-Peng Rüdiger Otto Lea de Nascimento Dominique Strasberg Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez Holger Kreft José María Fernández-Palacios |
| author_sort | Paulo Borges |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Oceanic islands are globally recognised for their exceptional levels of biodiversity and endemism, often resulting from unique evolutionary processes in isolated environments. However, this biodiversity is also disproportionately threatened by anthropogenic pressures including habitat loss, invasive species and climate change. Targeted, long-term biodiversity monitoring is essential for detecting changes in these vulnerable ecosystems and providing information for conservation strategies.The EU BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI aims at building a global long-term monitoring network specifically tailored to the pressing needs of biodiversity conservation and monitoring on islands. In BioMonI, we use a novel approach that considers mapping previous and current monitoring schemes on islands, developing a harmonised monitoring scheme for island biodiversity and mobilising existing monitoring data. We are assembling data from BioMonI-Plot, a long-term vegetation plot network to understand biodiversity and ecosystem change. It will use baseline data from three focal archipelagos (Azores, Canary Islands and Mascarenes), but we aim to mobilise data from archipelagos worldwide.Plot-based data are a cornerstone of effective biodiversity monitoring on islands. These standardised data collections within permanent plots allow for consistent, replicable observations across temporal and spatial scales. Initiatives like the Global Island Monitoring Scheme (GIMS) highlight the value of permanent plots in capturing ecological gradients and anthropogenic disturbance patterns. Such data underpin the detection of subtle shifts in community composition, functional diversity and species distributions, which are critical for assessing the effectiveness of conservation actions and predicting future ecological scenarios.In summary, plot-based data are indispensable for targeted and effective biodiversity monitoring on islands. They provide the empirical backbone necessary to provide information for adaptive management strategies and contribute to global biodiversity targets.The BioMonI-Plot baseline data consist of 10 plots in each of the following islands: Terceira (Azores), Tenerife (Canaries) and Réunion Island (Mascarenes). As a first step, we describe the diversity and abundance of all woody species shoots with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 1 cm in each of the 10 plots of each Island. The majority of taxa belonged to the phylum Magnoliophyta, which accounted for 96.66% of the total species and subspecies, followed by Pteridophyta (2.22%) and Pinophyta (1.11%). Réunion Island exhibited the highest species richness, with 66 identified taxa, followed by Tenerife (16 taxa) and Terceira (11 taxa). Only one species, Morella faya, was shared between the islands, occurring in both Terceira and Tenerife. Most of the recorded species were classified as endemic according to their colonisation status. Specifically, 32 species were endemic to the Mascarene Islands, 22 to Réunion, nine to the Azores, eleven to Macaronesia and four to the Canary Islands.The data presented in this Data Paper provide a valuable proxy for evaluating the ecological integrity and overall habitat quality of native montane forests across three oceanic archipelagos: the Azores, Canary Islands and Mascarene Islands. By focusing on tree species as primary ecological indicators, the dataset offers insights into essential structural and compositional attributes of these ecosystems, including species richness, relative abundance and patterns of dominance.The comprehensive species-level information contained in this dataset allows for comparisons of forest composition across islands and biogeographic regions, contributing to our understanding of insular forest dynamics, endemism patterns and conservation priorities in tropical and subtropical montane environments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8b5bf374cc9d457792002cb32e854527 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1314-2828 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biodiversity Data Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-8b5bf374cc9d457792002cb32e8545272025-08-20T02:50:49ZengPensoft PublishersBiodiversity Data Journal1314-28282025-06-011312610.3897/BDJ.13.e158423158423Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion IslandsPaulo Borges0Leila Morgado1Rosalina Gabriel2Rui Elias3Mirana Gauche4Claudine Ah-Peng5Rüdiger Otto6Lea de Nascimento7Dominique Strasberg8Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez9Holger Kreft10José María Fernández-Palacios11IUCN SSC Monitoring Specialist GroupUniversity of Azores, CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE —Global Change and Sustainability Institute, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, Pico da Urze, 9700-042University of Azores, CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE —Global Change and Sustainability Institute, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, Pico da Urze, 9700-042University of Azores, CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE —Global Change and Sustainability Institute, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, Pico da Urze, 9700-042Miharisoa Gauche, UMR PVBMT, Université de la Réunion, 7 chemin de l’IRAT, 97410OSU-R, Université de la Réunion, CNRS, IRD, Météo France, 15 Avenue René Cassin, CS92003, 97744Island Ecology and Biogeography Group, Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública, Universidad de La LagunaIsland Ecology and Biogeography Group, Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública, Universidad de La LagunaUMR PVBMT, Université de la Réunion, 15 Avenue René Cassin, CS92003, 97744Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use, University of GöttingenBiodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of GöttingenEcology Department, Biology Faculty La Laguna University, 38206Oceanic islands are globally recognised for their exceptional levels of biodiversity and endemism, often resulting from unique evolutionary processes in isolated environments. However, this biodiversity is also disproportionately threatened by anthropogenic pressures including habitat loss, invasive species and climate change. Targeted, long-term biodiversity monitoring is essential for detecting changes in these vulnerable ecosystems and providing information for conservation strategies.The EU BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI aims at building a global long-term monitoring network specifically tailored to the pressing needs of biodiversity conservation and monitoring on islands. In BioMonI, we use a novel approach that considers mapping previous and current monitoring schemes on islands, developing a harmonised monitoring scheme for island biodiversity and mobilising existing monitoring data. We are assembling data from BioMonI-Plot, a long-term vegetation plot network to understand biodiversity and ecosystem change. It will use baseline data from three focal archipelagos (Azores, Canary Islands and Mascarenes), but we aim to mobilise data from archipelagos worldwide.Plot-based data are a cornerstone of effective biodiversity monitoring on islands. These standardised data collections within permanent plots allow for consistent, replicable observations across temporal and spatial scales. Initiatives like the Global Island Monitoring Scheme (GIMS) highlight the value of permanent plots in capturing ecological gradients and anthropogenic disturbance patterns. Such data underpin the detection of subtle shifts in community composition, functional diversity and species distributions, which are critical for assessing the effectiveness of conservation actions and predicting future ecological scenarios.In summary, plot-based data are indispensable for targeted and effective biodiversity monitoring on islands. They provide the empirical backbone necessary to provide information for adaptive management strategies and contribute to global biodiversity targets.The BioMonI-Plot baseline data consist of 10 plots in each of the following islands: Terceira (Azores), Tenerife (Canaries) and Réunion Island (Mascarenes). As a first step, we describe the diversity and abundance of all woody species shoots with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 1 cm in each of the 10 plots of each Island. The majority of taxa belonged to the phylum Magnoliophyta, which accounted for 96.66% of the total species and subspecies, followed by Pteridophyta (2.22%) and Pinophyta (1.11%). Réunion Island exhibited the highest species richness, with 66 identified taxa, followed by Tenerife (16 taxa) and Terceira (11 taxa). Only one species, Morella faya, was shared between the islands, occurring in both Terceira and Tenerife. Most of the recorded species were classified as endemic according to their colonisation status. Specifically, 32 species were endemic to the Mascarene Islands, 22 to Réunion, nine to the Azores, eleven to Macaronesia and four to the Canary Islands.The data presented in this Data Paper provide a valuable proxy for evaluating the ecological integrity and overall habitat quality of native montane forests across three oceanic archipelagos: the Azores, Canary Islands and Mascarene Islands. By focusing on tree species as primary ecological indicators, the dataset offers insights into essential structural and compositional attributes of these ecosystems, including species richness, relative abundance and patterns of dominance.The comprehensive species-level information contained in this dataset allows for comparisons of forest composition across islands and biogeographic regions, contributing to our understanding of insular forest dynamics, endemism patterns and conservation priorities in tropical and subtropical montane environments.https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/158423/download/pdf/local plot-based monitoringnative forestoccurr |
| spellingShingle | Paulo Borges Leila Morgado Rosalina Gabriel Rui Elias Mirana Gauche Claudine Ah-Peng Rüdiger Otto Lea de Nascimento Dominique Strasberg Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez Holger Kreft José María Fernández-Palacios Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands Biodiversity Data Journal local plot-based monitoring native forest occurr |
| title | Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands |
| title_full | Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands |
| title_fullStr | Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands |
| title_short | Integrating plot-based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of BIODIVERSA + project BioMonI: Tree monitoring in Terceira, Tenerife and Réunion Islands |
| title_sort | integrating plot based methods for monitoring biodiversity in island habitats under the scope of biodiversa project biomoni tree monitoring in terceira tenerife and reunion islands |
| topic | local plot-based monitoring native forest occurr |
| url | https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/158423/download/pdf/ |
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