A database of Defra statutory biodiversity metric unit values for terrestrial habitat samples across England, with plant, butterfly and bird species data

Policies requiring biodiversity no net loss or net gain as an outcome of environmental planning have become more prominent worldwide, catalysing interest in biodiversity offsetting as a mechanism to compensate for development impacts on nature. Offsets rely on credible and evidence-based methods to quantify biodiversity losses and gains. Following the introduction of the United Kingdom’s Environment Act in November 2021, all new developments requiring planning permission in England are expected to demonstrate a 10% biodiversity net gain from 2024, calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric framework (Defra, 2023). The metric is used to calculate both baseline and proposed post-development biodiversity units, and is set to play an increasingly prominent role in nature conservation nationwide. The metric has so far received limited scientific scrutiny.
This dataset comprises a database of statutory biodiversity metric unit values for terrestrial habitat samples across England. For..., Study sites
We studied 24 sites across the Environmental Change Network (ECN), Long Term Monitoring Network (LTMN) and Ecological Continuity Trust (ECT). Biodiversity units were calculated following field visits by the authors, whilst species data (response variables) were derived from long-term ecological change monitoring datasets collected by the sites and mostly held in the public domain (Table S1).
We used all seven ECN sites in England. We selected a complementary 13 LTMN sites to give good geographic and habitat representation across England. We included four datasets from sites supported by the ECT where 2 x 2m vascular plant quadrat data were available for reuse. The 24 sites included samples from all terrestrial broad habitats (sensu Defra 2023) in England, except urban and individual trees: grassland (8), wetland (6), woodland and forest (5), sparsely vegetated land (2), cropland (2), heathland and shrub (1). Non-terrestrial broad habitats (rivers and lakes, marine inlets and..., Microsoft Excel/Open Office, # A database of Defra statutory biodiversity metric unit values for terrestrial habitat samples across England, with plant, butterfly and bird species data

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Policies requiring biodiversity no net loss or net gain as an outcome of environmental planning have become more prominent worldwide, catalysing interest in biodiversity offsetting as a mechanism to compensate for development impacts on nature. Offsets rely on credible and evidence-based methods to quantify biodiversity losses and gains. Following the introduction of the United Kingdom’s Environment Act in November 2021, all new developments requiring planning permission in England are expected to  demonstrate a 10% biodiversity net gain from 2024, calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric framework (Defra, 2023). The metric is used to calculate both baseline and proposed post-development biodiversity units, and is set to play an increasingly prominent role in nature conservation nationwide. The metric has so far recei...

以生物多样性无净损失或净增益作为环境规划成果的相关政策在全球范围内愈发受到重视，这推动了学界对生物多样性抵消（biodiversity offsetting）这一用于补偿开发活动对自然造成影响的机制的关注。生物多样性抵消依赖于可信且循证的方法来量化生物多样性的损失与增益。2021年11月英国《环境法案》（Environment Act）正式实施后，英格兰地区所有需规划许可的新开发项目自2024年起，需证明可实现10%的生物多样性净增益，该增益需通过法定生物多样性度量框架（statutory biodiversity metric framework，Defra, 2023）计算得出。该框架用于计算基线及拟议开发后的生物多样性单元（biodiversity units），并将在全国范围内的自然保护工作中发挥愈发重要的作用。迄今为止，该框架受到的科学审视较为有限。
本数据集包含英格兰陆地生境样本的法定生物多样性度量单元值数据库。……研究样地：
我们对环境变化网络（Environmental Change Network, ECN）、长期监测网络（Long Term Monitoring Network, LTMN）以及生态连续性信托基金（Ecological Continuity Trust, ECT）旗下的24个站点开展了研究。生物多样性单元由作者通过野外考察计算得出，而物种数据（响应变量）则来源于各站点收集的长期生态变化监测数据集，且大多已公开（附表S1）。
我们选用了英格兰境内全部7个ECN站点。我们额外选取了13个LTMN站点，以覆盖英格兰境内具有良好地理与生境代表性的区域。我们纳入了4个由ECT支持的站点的数据集，这些站点拥有可复用的2×2米维管植物样方数据。24个样地涵盖了英格兰境内除城市生境与单株树木外的所有陆地宽泛生境类群（依照Defra 2023的定义），其中草地（8个）、湿地（6个）、林地与森林（5个）、稀疏植被地（2个）、农田（2个）、灌丛与石楠荒原（1个）。非陆地宽泛生境（河流与湖泊、海洋入海口及……）、Microsoft Excel/Open Office、# 英格兰陆地生境样本的Defra法定生物多样性度量单元值数据库，附带植物、蝶类与鸟类物种数据