BioMonitor4CAP: Agrobiodiversity comes into focus

Biomonitor4CAP

The 4-year EC-funded Horizons 2020 project BioMonitor4CAP aims to help farmers measure biodiversity and advise policymakers on how to subsidise best-practices for conservation in agroecosystems.

What does agriculture have to do with biodiversity conservation? Actually, quite a lot! CUAS takes a big role in an upcoming Horizons 2020 project. Research will take place across the European Union, including many farms and natural areas in Austria. There are three main monitoring objectives for BioMonitor4CAP: 1) above-ground biodiversity; 2) below-ground biodiversity; 3) differences in carbon-rich vs. mineral soils. CUAS and collaborators will demonstrate how farmers can monitor the agroecosystem continuously and in real-time. This will be through using new monitoring technologies in combination with traditional measurements. Remote sensing, automated acoustic monitors, camera traps, and environmental DNA collection are four modern techniques that we will use.

In conservation, a monitoring programme is effective only if a suitable indicator is observed. Early in the project we will review existing approaches and key indicators such as birds, pollinators, and soil-dwelling animals. Spatial and temporal trends will be modelled using advanced statistics. Our findings will suggest which species or habitats in the agroecosystem are the most important for conservation. The next step will be to verify our findings in agricultural sites and conservation areas. Which tools are realistic for farmers to use? Which ones are the most reliable? Can all sites across Europe use the same technologies? Which areas need the most improvement? These are some of the questions that we will answer, bringing advisory services, private companies, and policymakers into the fold.

Through a consortium of more than 20 institutions across Europe, BioMonitor4CAP will create knowledge and tools that will maximise the contribution of agriculture to address today’s challenges. Some of these challenges are biodiversity preservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, rural development, and human health. The need is urgent, and the time to act is now.

Project duration: December 2022 – November 2026.

Financed by: Horizon 2020, EU programme for research and innovation