Schemes of land cover-based indicators rely mostly on remote sensing, aerial and
landscape photographs (EEA 2006; Ode et al. 2010a). Remote sensing derived
indicators allow for the determination of changes at landscape level such as land use
pattern, complexity of landscape patterns, landscape disturbances and naturalness.
At a habitat level, stress responses of main ecosystem compartments such as plant
communities and soils may be measured using indicative parameters, including
biomass production and soil carbon stock, biologically bound nitrogen and phosphorus, organic matter production and decomposition, species number and habitat
composition, habitat extent and habitat structure, changes in biodiversity, dynamics
of selected populations and changes in competitive behaviour of functionally
important species.
Monitoring of changes in biodiversity using indicators based on changes in the
flora and fauna species richness including amphibian populations reflects summary
responses at habitat level. It was found that in wetland ecosystems the indicators
built on metrics such as soil organic matter decomposition, soil CO 2 emission, soil
carbon content, changes in the content of soil nitrogen and its mineral form,
concentration and composition of soil solutions as well as on the presence and
numbers of nitrophytes are strongly assigned to climate change. Collectively, the
above indicators represent a habitat-level assessment which should serve for the
complex bioindication of climate change effects on protected areas.
The complex bioindicatory information resulting from habitat monitoring shall
be processed and visualised in the form of maps and models to render it available to
the end users the site managers. The maps shall be informative as to the vulnerability of protected area and habitats to changing climatic conditions, considering
their basic characteristics and other existing pressures (land use, drainage). The
information processed, simplified and constantly updated constitutes an important
aid to the management decision makers.
Acknowledgements The presented study was funded by the project 2CE168P3 HABITCHANGE – Adaptive management of climate-induced changes of habitat diversity in protected
areas, implemented through the E.U. Central Europe Program, co-financed by the European
Regional Development Fund. Authors wish to acknowledge the reviewers for their thoughtful
comments which greatly helped to improve the manuscript.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
References
Adegoke, J. O., & Carleton, A. M. (2002). Relations between soil moisture and satellite
vegetation indices in the U.S. Corn Belt. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 3, 395–405. doi:http://dx.
doi.org/10.1175/1525-7541(2002)003<0395:RBSMAS>2.0.CO;2, doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2002)
003<0395:RBSMAS>2.0.CO;2
6 Indicators for Monitoring Climate Change-Induced Effects on Habitats. . .
91
landscape photographs (EEA 2006; Ode et al. 2010a). Remote sensing derived
indicators allow for the determination of changes at landscape level such as land use
pattern, complexity of landscape patterns, landscape disturbances and naturalness.
At a habitat level, stress responses of main ecosystem compartments such as plant
communities and soils may be measured using indicative parameters, including
biomass production and soil carbon stock, biologically bound nitrogen and phosphorus, organic matter production and decomposition, species number and habitat
composition, habitat extent and habitat structure, changes in biodiversity, dynamics
of selected populations and changes in competitive behaviour of functionally
important species.
Monitoring of changes in biodiversity using indicators based on changes in the
flora and fauna species richness including amphibian populations reflects summary
responses at habitat level. It was found that in wetland ecosystems the indicators
built on metrics such as soil organic matter decomposition, soil CO 2 emission, soil
carbon content, changes in the content of soil nitrogen and its mineral form,
concentration and composition of soil solutions as well as on the presence and
numbers of nitrophytes are strongly assigned to climate change. Collectively, the
above indicators represent a habitat-level assessment which should serve for the
complex bioindication of climate change effects on protected areas.
The complex bioindicatory information resulting from habitat monitoring shall
be processed and visualised in the form of maps and models to render it available to
the end users the site managers. The maps shall be informative as to the vulnerability of protected area and habitats to changing climatic conditions, considering
their basic characteristics and other existing pressures (land use, drainage). The
information processed, simplified and constantly updated constitutes an important
aid to the management decision makers.
Acknowledgements The presented study was funded by the project 2CE168P3 HABITCHANGE – Adaptive management of climate-induced changes of habitat diversity in protected
areas, implemented through the E.U. Central Europe Program, co-financed by the European
Regional Development Fund. Authors wish to acknowledge the reviewers for their thoughtful
comments which greatly helped to improve the manuscript.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
References
Adegoke, J. O., & Carleton, A. M. (2002). Relations between soil moisture and satellite
vegetation indices in the U.S. Corn Belt. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 3, 395–405. doi:http://dx.
doi.org/10.1175/1525-7541(2002)003<0395:RBSMAS>2.0.CO;2, doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2002)
003<0395:RBSMAS>2.0.CO;2
6 Indicators for Monitoring Climate Change-Induced Effects on Habitats. . .
91