WORK PACKAGE 3: Linking Land and Sea Biodiversity Observation

Work Package 3 is focused on advancing understanding of direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss along a land-to-sea continuum and their interrelations in freshwater, transitional, coastal and marine ecosystems across Europe.

Work Package Objectives

01
01

Perform a meta-analysis of land and sea biodiversity monitoring variables, methods, and tools and compare them against science and policy requirements in biodiversity hotspot areas.

02
02

Synthesise and generalise our results for use at the European scale and beyond.


03
03

Using four model land-river-sea systems (Danube, Elbe, Guadalquivir, Po) to test and validate workflows of existing biodiversity and environmental monitoring programmes (e.g., WFD, MSFD, H&B Directives, RIs), to identify chains of effects and connectivity points between land and sea observation and evaluate effects of existing terrestrial and freshwater conservation areas on coastal and marine biodiversity.

Progress highlights

2024

2025

  • Freshwater biodiversity lacks representation, which makes biodiversity open-access data hard to gather in this sector.
  • WP3 partners from the University of Bucharest (UB) have developed a model (storyline) for biodiversity and environmental workflows in the Danube-Black Sea case study.  This is part of a plan to test four European land-river-sea systems, assess data availability, and improve monitoring to improve biodiversity tracking.
  • WP3 partners from the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) evaluated the current state of biodiversity monitoring across marine, coastal, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems in Europe. The diversity in monitoring methods, observed variables and tools across countries and ecosystems poses challenges for direct comparisons, highlighting the need for standardised protocols (see Deliverable D3.1).
  • The storyline of the first case study model will be promoted and accessible from the MARCO-BOLO website.
  • All WP3 partners continue their efforts to gather, standardise, and analyse the collected data to ensure clarity and usability.

Lead partner:
SGN

Contact:
Peter Haase (SGN) | peter.haase@senckenberg.de
Tina Sanders (HEREON) | tina.sanders@hereon.de

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