Biodiversity common indicators

The common indicators agreed by OSPAR for assessing the status of biodiversity in the North-East Atlantic cover marine mammals, seabirds, fish communities, seafloor habitats, pelagic habitats, non-indigenous species and food webs.

The biodiversity common indicators contributed assessments of the status biodiversity in the North-East Atlantic to the OSPAR Intermediate Assessment 2017. The assessments are published in the OSPAR Assessment Portal.

The indicators are based on information from monitoring programmes described in the Coordinated Environment Monitoring Programme (CEMP). The programmes are described in the Appendices to the CEMP Agreement. Detailed descriptions, including method descriptions for the indicator calculations, are included in the CEMP Guideline Agreements.

Code

Common indicator name

Common in OSPAR Region

M3

Seal Abundance and Distribution

I, II, III

M4

Abundance and Distribution of marine mammals

II, III, IV

M5

Grey seal pup production

I, II, III

M6

Marine mammal bycatch

II, III, IV

B1

Marine bird abundance

II, III, IV

B3

Marine Bird Breeding Success / Failure

II, III, IV

FC1

Recovery in the population abundance of sensitive fish species

II, III

FC2

Proportion of large fish (Large Fish Index)

II, III

BH1Typical species compositionIV

BH2

Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities

II, III, IV

BH3

Extent of Physical Damage to Predominant and Special Habitats

II, III, IV

PH1/FW5

Changes in plankton functional types (life form) index Ratio

II, III, IV

PH2

Plankton biomass and/or abundance

II, III, IV

PH3

Changes in biodiversity index(s)

III

NIS

Trends in New Records of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Introduced by Human Activities

II, III, IV

FW3

Size composition in fish communities

II, III, IV

FW4

Change in average trophic level of marine predators in the Bay of Biscay

IV