Understanding whether nature is recovering requires evidence collected at multiple scales. National biodiversity monitoring schemes provide robust information on long-term trends across the UK and help us understand how species and habitats are changing over time. However, national monitoring cannot always detect changes occurring within specific places, projects or communities.
Local monitoring helps fill this gap by providing evidence of change where conservation actions, habitat management and nature recovery initiatives are being delivered. It can help assess whether actions are achieving their intended outcomes, identify emerging changes, and support local decision-making.
Used together, local and national monitoring provide complementary insights. Local monitoring helps explain how and why change is occurring in particular places, while national monitoring provides the wider context needed to understand how those changes relate to broader environmental trends. When established survey methods and recording systems are used, local monitoring can also contribute to regional and national evidence bases.
No single survey method or species group can provide a complete picture of biodiversity change. The most effective monitoring programmes are guided by clear objectives and often combine information on habitats, plants and different species groups to build a broader understanding of ecological condition and recovery.
Planning a monitoring programme
Before selecting survey methods, it is important to consider:
- what you want to understand or measure;
- the habitats or species you are interested in;
- the scale at which change is expected to occur;
- the resources, skills and equipment available; and
- how often monitoring can be repeated.
Different methods provide different types of information. Some are most suitable for detecting changes in species abundance, while others focus on distribution, habitat condition or species presence. The most appropriate approach will depend on your objectives.
Guidance on setting monitoring objectives and selecting appropriate survey methods is provided throughout this resource.
Why use standardised methods?
Many local monitoring initiatives develop their own approaches. However, using established survey methods offers several advantages.
Standardised methods can:
- improve consistency through time;
- support robust analysis and interpretation;
- make results easier to compare between locations;
- enable data to be shared and reused by others; and
- help local data contribute to wider evidence programmes.
Many of the methods featured within this resource are based on approaches used or recommended by established UK monitoring schemes and recording networks. These methods have been tested, refined and widely applied by both professionals and volunteers.
Standardised methods, FAIR data principles and established recording systems can help ensure data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. For more information on what good data looks like, please see this report from the National Biodiversity Network.
Citizen science and participatory monitoring
Citizen science and participatory approaches make an important contribution to biodiversity monitoring. Volunteers collect millions of biological records each year and play a critical role in helping us understand how nature is changing.
This resource is intended to support anyone interested in biodiversity monitoring, including community groups, nature recovery partnerships, local authorities, land managers, environmental NGOs, professional ecologists and volunteer recorders.
Some methods require specialist knowledge, while others are suitable for people with little or no prior survey experience. Where available, we signpost relevant training materials, identification resources, survey guidance and recording tools.
If you are considering developing a new citizen science project, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) guide Choosing and Using Citizen Science provides useful advice on selecting appropriate approaches. The UK Environmental Observation Framework (UKEOF) Guide to Citizen Science also provides information on planning and managing citizen science projects.
About this resource
This resource has been developed through a collaborative partnership between JNCC and monitoring scheme partner organisations (Terrestrial Monitoring Schemes). It was developed and funded by the UK Government through Defra’s Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme (NCEA).
The resource brings together practical guidance on biodiversity survey methods, recording tools and training resources for local and landscape-scale monitoring. It is not intended to be a comprehensive catalogue of methods; instead, it focuses on established approaches supported by expert organisations, monitoring schemes and recording networks. By using recognised methods and data pathways (where they exist), users can collect reliable biodiversity data for local needs while also contributing to broader environmental evidence, as part of our collective commitment to Building Better Evidence for Nature.
The resource is organised around two key questions:
- What do I want to monitor?
Guidance on setting monitoring objectives and selecting species groups or habitats is available within the Objective setting and multi-scale monitoring section.
- Which monitoring methods should I use?
For each survey method we provide information on:
- what the method can tell you;
- how the method works;
- the knowledge and skills required;
- training and guidance resources; and
- recording, and data management and submission options.
See Survey protocols and training resources
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