The Role of Landscape Patterns of Habitat Types on Plant Species Diversity of a Tropical Forest in Mexico

The relationships among landscape characteristics and plant diversity in tropical forests may be used to predict biodiversity. To identify and characterize them, the number of species, as well as Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were calculated from 157 sampling quadrats (17,941 individuals sampled) while the vegetation classes were obtained from multi-spectral satellite image classification in four landscapes located in the southeast of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The mean number of species of trees, shrubs and vines as well as the mean value of the total number of species and the other two diversity indices were calculated for four vegetation classes in every one of the four landscapes. In addition, the relationships between landscape patterns metrics of patch types and diversity indices were explored. The multiple statistical analyses revealed significant predictor variables for the three diversity indices. Moreover, the shape, similarity and edge contrast metrics of patch types might serve as useful indicators for the number of species and the other two diversity variables at the landscape scale. Although the association between the three diversity indices and patch types metrics showed similar behavior, some differences were appreciated. The Shannon diversity index, with its greater sensitivity to rare species, should be considered as having a greater importance in interpretation analysis than Simpson index.     

放牧干扰下高寒草甸物种多样性指数评价与选择

在青藏高原东北缘高寒草甸设置6个放牧强度样地,连续4年研究10个多样性指数(Richness和Abundance 2个实测指数,优势度指数、均匀度指数、丰富度指数和综合指数各2个)对放牧强度和年限影响植物群落的解释能力.结果表明: 相对于重要值,利用多度计算的多样性指数对放牧干扰更敏感.优势度指数(Berger-Parker、Dominance)与放牧强度和年限均无关,不能将放牧干扰对群落优势种的影响有效区分.均匀度指数(Equitability、Evenness)均与放牧强度无关,但Evenness指数与放牧年限呈显著负相关,不受偶见种影响且与物种多度的变异系数呈显著正相关,在基于时间尺度的均匀度比较中可以选择Evenness指数.丰富度指数(Menhinick、Margalef)均与放牧年限无关,但Margalef指数与放牧强度呈显著正相关,且不受偶见种影响.综合指数(Shannon、Simpson)均与放牧强度无关,但Shannon指数与物种丰富度和多度呈显著正相关,且随放牧年限增加而显著升高,不受偶见种影响,Shannon指数可用于在长时间尺度下比较物种多样性变化.在所有多样性指数中,只有实测物种丰富度和多度均与放牧强度呈显著负相关,与放牧年限呈显著正相关,且不受偶见种影响,故实测物种丰富度和多度相结合可作为放牧干扰下多样性比较的首选指标.此外,多样性指数选择须考虑放牧干扰的强度与时间特征、多样性组分和研究目的.     

How to choose a biodiversity indicator – Redundancy and complementarity of biodiversity metrics in a freshwater ecosystem

A range of biodiversity metrics are available to assess the ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems. However, performance varies considerably among different types of metrics and provides different information regarding ecosystem conditions, thus making difficult the selection of appropriate metrics for biomonitoring. The present study evaluated the robustness of six biodiversity metrics to assess environmental change and determine their utility as relevant indicators of ecosystem biodiversity and functionality. Traditional metrics such as species richness and Shannon diversity were considered along with alternative metrics such as functional diversity, size diversity and taxonomic distinctness. To that end, invertebrate assemblages in a river floodplain were used as a case study to evaluate the performance of metrics using Generalized Additive Models (GAM). GAM explained between eight and 49% of the variability in biodiversity. The regression models exhibited differences in the response of biodiversity indicators to environmental factors, suggesting that intermediate levels of turbidity and low salinity are conditions favouring increased biodiversity in the study area. Based on correlations among metrics and responses to primary environmental factors, it is concluded that Shannon and functional diversity, and rarefied species richness generated similar information regarding ecosystem conditions (i.e., the metrics were redundant); while size diversity and distinctness provided useful additional data characterizing ecosystem quality (i.e., the metrics were complementary). Functional diversity indicated not only number and dominance of species, but also each species functional role in the community, and was therefore the most informative biodiversity metric. Nevertheless, the use of a combination of metrics, for example functional and size diversity, and variation in taxonomic distinctness, provides complementary data that will serve to achieve a more thorough understanding of ecosystem structure and function, and response to primary environmental influences.     

A conceptual guide to measuring species diversity

Three metrics of species diversity – species richness, the Shannon index and the Simpson index – are still widely used in ecology, despite decades of valid critiques leveled against them. Developing a robust diversity metric has been challenging because, unlike many variables ecologists measure, the diversity of a community often cannot be estimated in an unbiased way based on a random sample from that community. Over the past decade, ecologists have begun to incorporate two important tools for estimating diversity: coverage and Hill diversity. Coverage is a method for equalizing samples that is, on theoretical grounds, preferable to other commonly used methods such as equal-effort sampling, or rarefying datasets to equal sample size. Hill diversity comprises a spectrum of diversity metrics and is based on three key insights. First, species richness and variants of the Shannon and Simpson indices are all special cases of one general equation. Second, richness, Shannon and Simpson can be expressed on the same scale and in units of species. Third, there is no way to eliminate the effect of relative abundance from estimates of any of these diversity metrics, including species richness. Rather, a researcher must choose the relative sensitivity of the metric towards rare and common species, a concept which we describe as ‘leverage.' In this paper we explain coverage and Hill diversity, provide guidelines for how to use them together to measure species diversity, and demonstrate their use with examples from our own data. We show why researchers will obtain more robust results when they estimate the Hill diversity of equal-coverage samples, rather than using other methods such as equal-effort sampling or traditional sample rarefaction.     

Evaluation of an Integrated Framework for Biodiversity with a New Metric for Functional Dispersion

Growing interest in understanding ecological patterns from phylogenetic and functional perspectives has driven the development of metrics that capture variation in evolutionary histories or ecological functions of species. Recently, an integrated framework based on Hill numbers was developed that measures three dimensions of biodiversity based on abundance, phylogeny and function of species. This framework is highly flexible, allowing comparison of those diversity dimensions, including different aspects of a single dimension and their integration into a single measure. The behavior of those metrics with regard to variation in data structure has not been explored in detail, yet is critical for ensuring an appropriate match between the concept and its measurement. We evaluated how each metric responds to particular data structures and developed a new metric for functional biodiversity. The phylogenetic metric is sensitive to variation in the topology of phylogenetic trees, including variation in the relative lengths of basal, internal and terminal branches. In contrast, the functional metric exhibited multiple shortcomings: (1) species that are functionally redundant contribute nothing to functional diversity and (2) a single highly distinct species causes functional diversity to approach the minimum possible value. We introduced an alternative, improved metric based on functional dispersion that solves both of these problems. In addition, the new metric exhibited more desirable behavior when based on multiple traits.     

A metric of biodiversity that integrates abundance,phylogeny, and function

A metric of biodiversity is proposed that combines three of its key components: abundance, phylogeny, and ecological function. This metric is an expansion of the current abundance‐based metric that uses Hill numbers, the effective number of types in a sample if all types had the same mean proportional abundance. I define analogous proportional measures of phylogenetic divergence and functional distinctiveness. Phylogenetic divergence is measured as the sum of the proportional share of each species of a given branch of a phylogeny. Functional distinctiveness can be measured in two ways, as the proportional share of each species of a specified ecological function, or as the relative distance of each species based on functional trait values. Because all three aspects of biodiversity are measured in the same fashion (relative proportions) in similar units (effective numbers of species), an integrated metric can be defined. The combined metric provides understanding of covariation among the components and how management for one component may trade off against others. The metric can be partitioned into components of richness and evenness, and into subsets and variation among subsets, all of which can be related through a simple multiplicative framework. This metric is a complement to, rather than a replacement of, current metrics of phylogenetic and functional diversity. More work is needed to link this new metric to ecological theory, determine its error structure, and devise methods for its effective assessment.     

Monitoring change in biodiversity through composite indices

The need to monitor trends in biodiversity raises many technical issues. What are the features of a good biodiversity index? How should trends in abundance of individual species be estimated? How should composite indices, possibly spanning very diverse taxa, be formed? At what spatial scale should composite indices be applied? How might change-points--points at which the underlying trend changes--be identified? We address some of the technical issues underlying composite indices, including survey design, weighting of the constituent indices, identification of change-points and estimation of spatially varying time trends. We suggest some criteria that biodiversity measures for use in monitoring surveys should satisfy, and we discuss the problems of implementing rigorous methods. We illustrate the properties of different composite indices using UK farmland bird data. We conclude that no single index can capture all aspects of biodiversity change, but that a modified Shannon index and the geometric mean of relative abundance have useful properties.     

Development of an estuarine multi-metric fish index and its application to Irish transitional waters

An estuarine multi-metric fish index (EMFI) was developed and applied to Irish transitional waters. The index comprised a balanced and complimentary set of 14 metrics that represent four fish community attributes: species diversity and composition, species abundance, estuarine utilisation, and trophic composition. Reference conditions and metric scoring thresholds were developed using a combination of historical records, best available data, and expert judgement. The index was applied using representative and robust fish monitoring data collected using a suite of methods designed to cover a range of habitats and conditions. To ensure consistency and comparability, all systems were considered at the whole estuary level. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the response of the EMFI under various scenarios of metric change; five metrics were consistently among the most influential on the EMFI in all scenarios of metric manipulation. The overall EMFI was significantly correlated with environmental condition as measured by two separate indicators of ecological state. Ecological status classes were also established based on the relationship between the EMFI and an index of human pressure. The EMFI provides a robust, sensitive, and integrated measure of the ecological status of fishes in transitional waters and meets the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive.     

Bird based Index of Biotic Integrity: Assessing the ecological condition of Atlantic Forest patches in human-modified landscape

Wooded biomes converted to human-modified landscapes (HML) are common throughout the tropics, yielding small and isolated forest patches surrounded by an agricultural matrix. Diverse anthropogenic interventions in HMLs influence patches in complex ways, altering natural dynamics. Assessing current condition or ecological integrity in these patches is a challenging task for ecologists. Taking the Brazilian Atlantic Forest as a case study, we used the conceptual framework of the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), a multimetric approach, to assess the ecological integrity of eight small forest patches in a highly disturbed HML with different configurations and histories. The IBI was developed using bird assemblages found in these patches, and its performance was compared with analytical approaches commonly used in environmental assessment, such as general richness and Shannon’s diversity index. As a first step, the IBI procedure identifies an existing gradient of human disturbance in the study region and checks which biotic characteristics (candidate metrics) vary systematically across the gradient. A metric is considered valid when its’ relationship with the gradient provides an ecological interpretation of the environment. Then, the final IBI is elaborated using each valid metric, obtaining a score for each site. Over one year of sampling, 168 bird species were observed, providing 74 different bird candidate metrics to be tested against the disturbance gradient. Seven of them were considered valid:richness of threatened species; richness of species that use both “forest and non-forest” habitats; abundance of endemics, abundance of small understory-midstory insectivores, abundance of exclusively forest species; abundance of non-forest species, and abundance of species that forage exclusively in the midstory stratum. Each metric provided complementary information about the patch’s ecological integrity. The resulting IBI showed a significant linear relationship with the gradient of human disturbance, while total species richness and Shannońs diversity index did not. Application of numerical approaches, such as total species richness and Shannon’s diversity, did not distinguish ecological traits among species. The IBI proved better for assessing and interpreting ecological and environmental condition of small patches in highly disturbed HML. The IBI framework, its multimetric character, and the ease with which it can be adapted to diverse situations, make it an effective approach for assessing environmental conditions in the Atlantic Forest region, and also for many other small forest patches in the tropics.     

Indices for monitoring biodiversity change: Are some more effective than others?

Statistically rigorous methods for summarizing and reporting trends in the intactness of biodiversity are a key element of effective biodiversity monitoring programs. There are four major approaches for translating complex monitoring data into easily communicated summary statistics: (1) traditional diversity indices such as species richness and Simpson's diversity, (2) species intactness indices based on occurrence, (3) species intactness indices based on abundance, and (4) multivariate community indices. We use simulated data to evaluate the effectiveness of 13 indices from these four categories based on statistical robustness, sensitivity to errors and noise in the data, ecological relevance, and ease of communication. We show that indices that calculate species intactness using equations like Buckland's arithmetic mean index are the most effective for use in large-scale biodiversity intactness monitoring programs. Traditional diversity indices are unsuitable for monitoring of biodiversity intactness, and multivariate indices can be highly sensitive to errors and noise in the data. Finally, we provide guidelines for the application of these indices in biodiversity intactness monitoring.     

A pragmatic approach for improving invertebrate biodiversity assessment in the agricultural landscape

Assessments of invertebrate biodiversity in the agricultural landscape have been inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. There is a requirement to improve assessments, especially when quantifying the beneficial effects of low input and organic farming on biodiversity. To generate an improved understanding, data from four crops (organic leek, cabbage and broccoli, conventional calabrese), sampled in eastern England with both pitfall and pan traps, was used. Eight Orders, 55 ground beetle (Carabidae) species, 12 Coleoptera families and 66 Higher taxa (tribes, subfamilies and families) were used to calculate four diversity-related metrics and two fidelity metrics, using data from pitfall traps and from pitfall and pan traps combined. Diversity metrics were taxa richness, Shannon diversity index and Quantitative totals and indexes based on the number of each taxa recorded. Fidelity totals and indexes were used to assess deviations from the basic vegetable field habitat. Order was the least consistent taxa and the Shannon index was a poor diversity indicator. Taxa richness and Quantitative totals were more accurate and the use of quantifications based on the number of appropriate taxa recorded improved metric quality and Fidelity index was an improvement on the Fidelity total. In general, the highest metric values were in broccoli and cabbage, the crops with most weeds, and there were positive correlations between most metrics and weed cover. Metrics using combined epigeal and aerial invertebrate data, utilising the most taxa and the number recorded, were most appropriate for comparisons between crop types.     

Development of a multimetric plant-based index of biotic integrity for assessing the ecological state of forested,urban and agricultural natural wetlands of Jimma Highlands,Ethiopia

Wetlands are vital natural resources thereby providing ecological and socio-economic benefits to the people. However, anthropogenic activities have seriously changed the ecological conditions of wetlands worldwide, especially in developing nations like Ethiopia. Predominantly, the absence of biomonitoring tool greatly hampers the protection and management of wetlands. Therefore, the objective of this research is to develop a plant-based index of biological integrity for facilitating the management of wetlands. Accordingly, 122 plant species belonging to 37 families were collected and identified from forested, urban and agricultural wetland types and included in the analysis of the plant metrics. Initially, we reviewed and screened 35 potential metrics. Then, we selected four core metrics (% cover of native species, sensitive plant species richness, tolerant plant species richness and% of shrub species richness) using the decrease or increase responses to human disturbances, Mann-Whitney U test and redundant metric test. A trisect-quartile range system using box plots of the reference or impaired sites of wetlands was established to provide values for each core metrics. Then after, we combined the core metrics to develop the plant-based index of biological integrity. Finally, we validated the index by comparing the index response to different wetland types. Additionally, the index was validated based on the measured environmental variables that characterize the human disturbance gradient of wetlands. We found that the plant-based index is robust to discriminate the reference wetlands from impaired wetlands and can also be used as an effective tool for evaluating the long term natural wetland conditions of the Eastern African wetlands in the future.     

高原鼢鼠干扰下高寒草甸大型土壤动物多样性对环境因子的响应

为研究高寒草甸大型土壤动物群落组成和分布对环境因子的响应,选取祁连山东段的甘肃省天祝县高原鼢鼠典型分布区域,以鼠丘密度代表干扰强度设置4个干扰区。调查各干扰区植被群落特征、土壤理化性质、大型土壤动物类群组成及其数量,采用约束性排序方法分析环境因子对大型土壤动物类群组成和分布的影响。结果表明：高原鼢鼠干扰下高寒草甸大型土壤动物优势类群为瓦娄蜗牛科、象甲科和短角亚目幼虫;极重度干扰区大型土壤动物类群的丰度、丰富度、Shannon指数显著高于重度干扰区（P<0.05）;多元回归分析表明大型土壤动物类群丰度、丰富度和Shannon指数与土壤温度呈显著负相关（P<0.05）,丰富度与土壤含水量呈显著负相关（P<0.05）,丰度与土壤紧实度呈显著负相关（P<0.05）,丰富度和Shannon指数与植物Shannon指数呈显著负相关（P<0.05）;冗余分析和偏冗余分析表明,土壤温度、紧实度和含水量是影响高寒草甸大型土壤动物类群组成和分布的主要环境因子。     

景观指数之间的相关分析

应用辽宁省1997~1998年的TM 5影像数据,编制了景观类型图,以78个县市区为单位,分割成78个景观,共计算39个景观格局指数,对它们进行了相关分析。总面积是最基本的景观指数,它决定景观总边界长度、斑块数、类型密度等基本指数,同时与多个指数有显著的相关关系(相关系数绝对值大于0.75)。形状指数的独立性强,极少数指数与其它指数有显著的相关关系;多样性指数和蔓延度指数之间信息重复量最多,都表示景观的异质性,但多样性指数以面积百分比表示景观异质性,而蔓延度指数以类型之间相邻边界的百分比表示景观异质性。研究发现,如果两个指数之间存在显著的相关关系,而由它们两个构成的指数与它们之间没有显著的相关关系。如果指数平均值之间存在显著的相关关系,则它们的变异系数之间不存在显著的相关关系。景观指数间的相关系数不仅与景观格局本身有关,还与空间尺度,分类系统、计算公式及其参数、计算单元和生态学意义关系密切。指数之间影响因子的相同之处越多,它们之间存在显著相关关系的概率越大。     

Intermediate disturbance promotes diversity and the conservation of dung beetles (Scarabaeoidea: Scarabaeidae and Aphodiidae) in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

Environmental fluctuations, such as changes in climate, agricultural management and anthropogenic land-use patterns can affect the diversity of organisms inhabiting an area. Losses of biodiversity alter ecosystems processes, eroding their capacity to deliver ecosystem services. Dung beetles are critical ecosystem service providers, making them an ideal ecological indicator to explore the effects of land-use change on biodiversity. Dung beetles were sampled across three land-use types, in the summers of 2015 and 2016 in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Game ranching is regarded as a relatively low-intensity land use type. It was compared with cattle ranching (medium intensity) and dairy farming (high intensity) to examine their effect on dung beetle assemblage metrics (abundance, species richness and true Shannon diversity index), guild diversity (as nesting guilds) and spatial turnover. The intermediate grazing intensity of cattle ranching supported a higher abundance and diversity of both whole dung beetle assemblage and the nesting guilds, followed by the game ranches and then dairy farms. Differences between the sampling years were dependent on the beetle nesting guild, and largely correlated with rainfall and temperature. Cattle and game ranches shared a higher number of species than either shared with dairy farms. Whittaker's Beta-diversity index showed the highest species turnover between game ranches and dairy farms. A mix of game and cattle ranching, minimising dairy farming or restricting it to already ecological degraded sites, appears the best alternative for maintenance of dung beetle diversity and their ecosystem services. The year-to-year trends of the data were in general consistent, confirming that dung beetles are reliable ecological indicators; but also suggest that climate change that affects rainfall will result in the reduction of the abundance and diversity of this key ecological group.     

Stressor prioritisation in riverine ecosystems: Which environmental factors shape benthic invertebrate assemblage metrics?

Aquatic ecosystems are amongst the most heavily altered ecosystems and exhibit a disproportional loss of biodiversity. Numerous stressors, such as nutrient enrichment, contaminant pollution, sedimentation and alterations in stream hydrology and habitat structure, account for these losses. Understanding these forces is of utmost importance to prevent riverine ecosystems from further deterioration and to provide helpful insights for restoration practices. In the present study, we analyse the response of biological indicators to a large number of environmental factors. For this, benthic invertebrate assemblages from 83 sites in Germany were described based on 25 metrics from four different metric types. The condition of the sites was described using 27 environmental factors: 13 for water quality, 4 for land use in the catchment and 10 for local scale habitat structure. The relative importance of single environmental predictors or predictor combinations for benthic invertebrate assemblages was analysed with single and multiple linear regression models. The results for the latter models were statistically supported via a bootstrap approach. The models revealed the importance of water quality and catchment-scale land use in explaining benthic invertebrate assemblages; in particular, chloride, oxygen, total organic carbon and the amounts of artificial surfaces and arable land were the most important predictors. Models including solely structural variables such as plan form, bank structures and substrate diversity had lower goodness of fit values than those for other variables. Regarding the four different assemblage metric types, functional metrics had on average lower goodness of fit values than composition/abundance, richness/diversity and sensitivity/tolerance metrics. Among the richness/diversity metrics, however, the model results for the Shannon–Wiener and Simpson diversity indices and evenness were poor. Our results show that catchment-related factors and water quality were of overriding importance in shaping biodiversity patterns and causing species loss. In contrast, structural degradation at a local scale was not the most significant stressor. This finding might explain why structural restoration at a reach scale often yields a low benefit–cost ratio and may be considered to represent inappropriate investment prioritisation.     

A multi‐metric fish index to assess the environmental condition of estuaries

The development of a multi‐metric fish index, the Estuarine Fish Community Index (EFCI), for assessing estuarine environments is described. The index comprises 14 metrics or measures that represent four broad fish community attributes: species diversity and composition, species abundance, nursery function and trophic integrity. The individual metrics were evaluated using data that were collected on a South African estuary that was degraded and in which rehabilitation measures were implemented. The evaluation suggested that the selected metrics adequately measure the condition of separate but related components of estuarine fish communities and that these reflect environmental condition. Reference conditions and metric thresholds were derived from fish community data collected during an extensive national study. The final multi‐metric index was then constructed and evaluated. The EFCI combines both structural and functional attributes of estuarine fish communities and integrates these to provide both a robust and sensitive method for assessing the ecological condition of estuarine systems. It is also an effective communication tool for converting ecological information into an easily understood format for managers, policy makers and the general public.     

A comparison of species diversity estimators

Although having been much criticized, diversity indices are still widely used in animal and plant ecology to evaluate, survey, and conserve ecosystems. It is possible to quantify biodiversity by using estimators for which statistical characteristics and performance are, as yet, poorly defined. In the present study, four of the most frequently used diversity indices were compared: the Shannon index, the Simpson index, the Camargo eveness index, and the Pielou regularity index. Comparisons were performed by simulating the Zipf–Mandelbrot parametric model and estimating three statistics of these indices, i.e., the relative bias, the coefficient of variation, and the relative root-mean-squared error. Analysis of variance was used to determine which of the factors contributed most to the observed variation in the four diversity estimators: abundance distribution model or sample size. The results have revealed that the Camargo eveness index tends to demonstrate a high bias and a large relative root-mean-squared error whereas the Simpson index is least biased and the Shannon index shows a smaller relative root-mean-squared error, regardless of the abundance distribution model used and even when sample size is small. Shannon and Pielou estimators are sensitive to changes in species abundance pattern and present a nonnegligible bias for small sample sizes (<1000 individuals). Received: May 8, 1998 / Accepted: May 6, 1999     

The NSW Environmental Services Scheme: Results for the biodiversity benefits index, lessons learned, and the way forward

Summary   In 2002 the Environmental Services Scheme (ESS) was launched in New South Wales, Australia. Its aim was to pilot a process to provide financial incentives to landholders to undertake changes in land use or land management that improved the status of environmental services (e.g. provision of clean water, healthy soils, biodiversity conservation). To guide the direction of incentive funds, metrics were developed for use by departmental staff to score the benefits of land use or land management changes to a range of environmental services. The purpose of this paper is to (i) report on the development of one of these metrics – the biodiversity benefits index; (ii) present the data generated by field application of the metric to 20 properties contracted to the ESS; and (iii) discuss the lessons learned and recent developments of the metric that aim to make it accessible to a wider range of end-users and applications.     

A national approach for mapping and quantifying habitat-based biodiversity metrics across multiple spatial scales

Ecosystem services, i.e., services provided to humans from ecological systems have become a key issue of this century in resource management, conservation planning, and environmental decision analysis. Mapping and quantifying ecosystem services have become strategic national interests for integrating ecology with economics to help understand the effects of human policies and actions and their subsequent impacts on both ecosystem function and human well-being. Some aspects of biodiversity are valued by humans in varied ways, and thus are important to include in any assessment that seeks to identify and quantify the benefits of ecosystems to humans. Some biodiversity metrics clearly reflect ecosystem services (e.g., abundance and diversity of harvestable species), whereas others may reflect indirect and difficult to quantify relationships to services (e.g., relevance of species diversity to ecosystem resilience, cultural value of native species). Wildlife habitat has been modeled at broad spatial scales and can be used to map a number of biodiversity metrics. In the present study, we present an approach that (1) identifies mappable biodiversity metrics that are related to ecosystem services or other stakeholder concerns, (2) maps these metrics throughout a large multi-state region, and (3) compares the metric values obtained for selected watersheds within the regional context. The broader focus is to design a flexible approach for mapping metrics to produce a national-scale product. We map 20 biodiversity metrics reflecting ecosystem services or other aspects of biodiversity for all vertebrate species except fish. Metrics include species richness for all vertebrates, specific taxon groups, harvestable species (i.e., upland game, waterfowl, furbearers, small game, and big game), threatened and endangered species, and state-designated species of greatest conservation need, and also a metric for ecosystem (i.e., land cover) diversity. The project is being conducted at multiple scales in a phased approach, starting with place-based studies, then multi-state regional areas, culminating into a national-level atlas. As an example of this incremental approach, we provide results for the southwestern United States (i.e., states of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado) and portions of two watersheds within this region: the San Pedro River (Arizona) and Rio Grande River (New Mexico). Geographic patterns differed considerably among metrics across the southwestern study area, but metric values for the two watershed study areas were generally greater than those for the southwestern region as a whole.