To what extent do measures of biodiversity correlate? A systematic synthesis to improve the assessment of biodiversity

Biodiversity is lost at an alarming rate and to halt this loss, high-quality biodiversity measures must be used to assess the state and temporal trends in biodiversity.

However, it is unclear if commonly used measures of biodiversity, e.g. different biodiversity metrics and species richness of different taxa, reflect actual biodiversity patterns. Previous studies reveal few general conclusions on correlations between biodiversity metrics or taxa. Thus, syntheses on this is needed.

The aim of this project is to assess the correlation between different biodiversity metrics or different taxa used to assess the state of and temporal change in biodiversity, and how this varies across scales and in response to different processes such as climate change.Systematic review methods will be used to assess the evidence from previous studies investigating if different biodiversity metrics or taxa reflect the state and temporal trends in biodiversity.

In addition, data from monitoring programs and long-term experiments will be used to further assess temporal trends for the correlation between different biodiversity metrics or taxa.

To synthesize the practical implications of this project, input from Swedish stakeholders will be used to summarize the conclusions from the project.

The conclusions will be useful for policy makers and conservation practitioners involved in the prioritization and planning of biodiversity conservation, both in Sweden and globally.