Summary
Why measuring agricultural biodiversity is essential for the agroecological transition
Biodiversity is an essential pillar of our agro-ecosystems. The Convention on Biological Diversity, signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, defines it as:
“the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”
In the agricultural world, this biodiversity provides countless ecosystem services: pollination, soil fertility, pest control, local water and climate regulation, and the maintenance of landscape structure.
For example, animal pollination is essential for approximately one-third of the world’s crop production intended directly for human consumption. It also contributes significantly to the quality and resilience of agricultural yields (INRAE).
Agricultural sectors are therefore highly dependent on this biodiversity. Without wild pollinators, active microbial life in soils, or favorable habitats for crop auxiliaries, yields, quality, and production sustainability are weakened.
However, biodiversity is eroding at an unprecedented rate. According to IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), nearly 75% of the Earth’s land surface is now moderately or highly altered by land-use changes, pollution, invasive species, or climate change. This degradation directly threatens the ecosystem services on which global agriculture depends.
In light of these observations, public policies and voluntary initiatives are multiplying to preserve and restore biodiversity. In France as in Europe, biodiversity strategies, frameworks for recognizing ecosystem services, and their progressive integration into the Common Agricultural Policy mark a major evolution towards more sustainable agriculture.
To transform these ambitions into concrete actions, it is not enough to merely recognize the importance of biodiversity: it is also necessary to know how to measure and monitor it rigorously, continuously, and at a relevant scale. This is the essential condition for guiding agricultural practices, evaluating progress made, and valuing the services provided by nature.
How to Measure and Monitor Agricultural Biodiversity?
Traditional Methods for Biodiversity Monitoring: Foundations and Limitations
Historically, agricultural biodiversity monitoring has relied on direct and standardized field observations. These methods provide a robust scientific foundation for understanding the state and evolution of agricultural ecosystems.
Among the most common approaches are:
- Species inventories (fauna, flora, soil microfauna) conducted on agricultural plots.
- Transects and field surveys, allowing the measurement of species diversity and abundance along a defined route.
- Traps and nets (Malaise traps, yellow pan traps, Barber traps, sweep nets) for collecting insects and assessing the presence of beneficial insects or pests.
- Human observations and participatory protocols (e.g., Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, Vigie-Nature of the National Museum of Natural History).
- Laboratory analyses.
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This is why new approaches, based on indicators and automated monitoring technologies, are now complementing these traditional methods.
Agricultural Biodiversity Indicators: Definition, Uses, and Interpretation
To adapt agricultural practices and guide preservation policies, it is necessary to translate the complexity of living organisms into quantifiable information. This is the entire role of biodiversity indicators.
An indicator is a synthetic measure that reflects the state, trend, or pressures exerted on biodiversity. It can be direct, when it measures the diversity or abundance of species (number of pollinators, floristic diversity, earthworm population), or indirect (or proxy), when it evaluates a parameter related to biodiversity, such as crop rotation diversity, hedge length, or the proportion of non-productive areas on a farm.
The CASDAR APPRIVOISE project (led by ARVALIS, with the support of our sister subsidiaries Agrosolutions and Smag) is specifically working to select and test robust and reproducible indicators, adapted to major French crops. These indicators enable the integration of biodiversity into advisory and agroecological assessment processes.
The CASDAR COCOBEES project, led by Fermes Leader, also focuses on monitoring pollinators and building an indicator of agricultural practice quality based on field data from beehives and melliferous habitats.
CocoBees Project
Learn more about the project
Indicators thus form a bridge between ecological observations and agronomic decision-making. They allow for monitoring developments, comparing practices, and informing agroecological transition policies.
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AgriTech and Biodiversity: Emerging Technologies for Automated Monitoring
The emergence of AgTech profoundly transforms monitoring methods. These technological innovations make it possible to extend spatial and temporal coverage, automate data collection, and diversify the types of data gathered.
Among these innovations, several main categories can be distinguished:
- Acoustic Sensors
They record sounds produced by wildlife (birds, bats, insects) and, via artificial intelligence algorithms, allow for the identification of present species and the derivation of specific richness indicators. Research programs by INRAE and CNRS already use these approaches for monitoring wild pollinators and agricultural bird communities.
- Chemical Sensors (Environmental DNA – eDNA)
This technique relies on collecting DNA traces from the environment (water, air, soil) to identify present species without direct observation. eDNA enables discreet and non-invasive monitoring.
- Optical Sensors, LiDAR, and Remote Sensing
Remote sensing (satellite images, drones, hyperspectral sensors, LiDAR) provides an overall view of agricultural habitats: hedge continuity, crop diversity, vegetation cover, landscape structure. ADEME and CNES support several programs exploring these approaches to link landscape structure and functional biodiversity.
- Connected Data and Integration Platforms
The combination of connected sensors, drones, and cloud platforms allows for the real-time collection, cross-referencing, and visualization of field data. These systems facilitate spatial and temporal analysis and pave the way for near-continuous monitoring of agricultural biodiversity.
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Comparison of Agricultural Biodiversity Monitoring Methods
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Perspectives: Towards Automated and Large-Scale Monitoring of Agricultural Biodiversity
Agricultural biodiversity monitoring is currently at a turning point. One of the major objectives is to achieve full automation of monitoring, capable of continuously observing the essential components of biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide on a large scale. However, several challenges remain. It is necessary to have massive, reliable, and properly annotated datasets to train algorithms. Environmental complexity, marked by the variability of species, habitats, and their interactions, also makes fine-grained ecosystem modeling difficult. Added to this are the issues of sensor and network maintenance and cost, as well as the mobilization of multidisciplinary skills combining ecology, agronomy, data science, and engineering.
The use of deep learning to analyze and interpret data from images, sounds, or environmental DNA (eDNA) is rapidly developing. Recent work, for example, demonstrates the potential of computer vision for automated insect monitoring in agricultural environments, paving the way for more precise and reactive monitoring approaches.
Beyond technology, another major challenge lies in establishing shared and interoperable databases, as well as training stakeholders in research and the agricultural sector. Leveraging data from both field observations, using traditional methods, and AgTech innovation improves decision-making, farmer support, and practice adaptation in the face of global changes.
Ultimately, field observation methods, innovative AgTech technologies, and incentive-based economic mechanisms are now combining to accelerate the ecological transition of agriculture.
Valuing Biodiversity Through Scientific Monitoring: A Lever for Financing Agricultural Transition
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework reminds us that there is currently a deficit of $700 billion per year to effectively protect and restore nature globally. Measuring and monitoring biodiversity at the farm and agricultural landscape scales is a crucial step to attract public and private funding.
The Horizon Europe project BIO-CAPITAL explores innovative financial mechanisms capable of mobilizing public and private investments in favor of biodiversity. It notably relies on satellite imagery to monitor and evaluate actions carried out in the field. Payments for environmental services, biodiversity certificates, insurance mechanisms, and green bonds are among the instruments that can compensate farmers for farmers for their conservation efforts. Learn more about these approaches.
These mechanisms create a direct link between scientific biodiversity monitoring and economic incentives: farmers can be compensated for the ecosystem services provided — pollination, biological regulation, natural fertility — provided they supply reliable and verifiable indicators.
In summary, the challenge is to transform agriculture vulnerable to biodiversity erosion into a model capable of leveraging it. By adopting adapted practices, relying on rigorous monitoring and technological innovations, it becomes possible to make biodiversity a lever for resilience, sustainability, and economic performance.
