Monitoring and indicators of forest biodiversity

Abstract

The forest brings an original and irreplaceable contribution to the global biodiversity. It is not spared by the global erosion that biodiversity is undergoing. Many public policies aim to reduce or even stop this erosion; they use monitoring and indicators as an evaluation tool. After presenting the challenges of biodiversity in the French metropolitan forest, the authors of this paper examine the existing systems, their strengths and weaknesses, and then propose improvements. In particular, they emphasize the value of direct monitoring of species or populations in order to define biodiversity status indicators. Such monitoring of species and populations is essential to test the validity of pressure indicators and the effectiveness of forest conservation policies and practices.