Development of biodiversity in Swiss streams and rivers – pilot study with NAWA data

The National Surface Water Quality Monitoring (NAWA) collects data on four species groups: Diatoms, aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates and fish. These data are used to assess the ecological status of the streams and their development. Until yet, NAWA has not focused on documenting the development of aquatic biodiversity.

This pilot project examined whether the biodiversity indicators used in Biodiversity Monitoring Switzerland (BDM) (alpha, beta and gamma diversity as well as trends of individual taxa/specific taxa groups) can be transferred and which aspects need to be taken into account.

The diversity indicators used in the BDM are in principle also suitable for the data collected in the frame of NAWA. A follow-up project was initiated to document the temporal developments even more precisely and to develop a recommendation on how aquatic biodiversity can be investigated using monitoring data.  The report of the project is available in German, with a summary in English