No abstract

Large monitoring programs exist in many countries and are necessary to assess present and past biodiversity status and to evaluate the consequences of habitat degradation or destruction. Using such an extensive data set of the floristic richness in the Paris Ile-deFrance region (France), we compared different sampling efforts and protocols in different habitat units to highlight the best methods for assessing the actual plant biodiversity. Our results indicate that existing data can be used for a general understanding of site differences, but analysts should be aware of the limitations of the data due to non-random selection of sites, inconsistent observer knowledge, and inconsistent sampling period. The average species diversity recorded in a specific habitat does not necessarily reflect its actual diversity, unless the monitoring effort was very strong. Overall, increasing the sampling effort in a given region allows improvement of the (1) number of habitats visited, (2) the total sampled area for a given habitat type, (3) the number of seasons investigated. Our results indicate that the sampling effort should be planned with respect to these functional, spatial and temporal heterogeneities, and to the question examined. While the effort should be applied to as many habitats as possible for the purpose of capturing a large proportion of regional diversity, or comparing different regions, inventories should be conducted in different seasons for the purpose of comparing species richness in different habitats.

Il n’existe pas à l’heure actuelle d’outil d’évaluation standardisé de la qualité écologique de sites lourdement aménagés ou destinés à l’être. Un indicateur composite, l’Indicateur de Qualité Écologique (IQE), a été élaboré et renseigne sur trois aspects-clés de la biodiversité, à l’échelle des espèces et des écosystèmes : I) la diversité, mesurée pour les habitats naturels et l’avifaune, II) la patrimonialité, fondée sur les listes de statuts des taxons et des habitats présents, et III) la fonctionnalité écologique du site. Pour chaque variable élémentaire, des seuils empiriques ont été établis en fonction de la littérature et des valeurs observées sur le terrain. L’ajustement des paramètres identifiés ainsi que du système de notation s’est fait non seulement sur la base des résultats des inventaires menés sur 29 sites durant quatre années, mais également en se référant aux données bibliographiques disponibles. La mise en oeuvre de cet indicateur sur un site nécessite 6 jours de relevés de données sur le terrain. Une version allégée de cet indicateur, basée sur un seul jour d’inventaire, l’Indicateur de Potentialité Écologique (IPE) a été construite sur la même architecture.

Research processes in biodiversity are evolving at a rapid pace, particularly regarding data-related steps from collection to analysis. This evolution, mainly due to technological advances, offers equipment that is more powerful and generalizes the digitalization of research data and associated products. It is now urgent to accelerate good practices in scientific data management and analysis in order to offer products and services corresponding to the new context, presenting more and more openness, requiring more and more FAIRness (Wilkinson, M.D. et al. 2016). Using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as international standards and software (Ecological Metadata Language and associated solutions for metadata management, Galaxy web platform for data analysis), we propose, through the national research e-infrastructure called "Pôle national de données de biodiversité" (or PNDB, formerly ECOSCOPE), to build a new type of Biodiversity Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for French communities. Although deployment of this kind of environment is challenging, it represents an opportunity to pave the way towards better research processes through enhanced collaboration, data management, analysis practices and resources optimization.

An All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) is a comprehensive inventory of all species in a given territory. In 2007 the French Parc national du Mercantour and the Italian Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime started the first and most ambitious ATBI in Europe with more than 350 specialists and dozens of technicians and data managers involved. The ATBI datasets from the Parc national du Mercantour in France are now publicly available. Between 2007 and 2020, 247 674 occurrences were recorded, checked and published in the INPN information system. All this information is available in open access in the GBIF web site. With 12 640 species registered, the ATBI is the most important inventory in France. This data paper provides an overview of main results and its contribution to the french National Inventory of Natural Heritage. It includes a list of 52 taxa new to science and 53 species new to France discovered thanks to the ATBI.