Miljöanalys / Öppna miljödata / Databeskrivning:

Semi-natural grasslands: Butterflies and bumblebees

May 2025

Metadata

Publisher
Division of Landscape Analysis at the Department of Forest Resource Management
Funding agency
Swedish Board of Agriculture
Keywords
butterflies, bumblebees, semi-natural grasslands, insects, pollinators, grazing, mowing, land use, large old trees, transects
Language
Swedish
Start date
04/01/2006
Frequency of update
Annually
Limitations with regard to usage

No coordinates included at this time

Data access service
API
Technical contact
Subject area
  • Biology
Habitat type
  • Agricultural landscapes
Species group
  • Invertebrates
  • Lichens
Swedish environmental objectives
  • A varied agricultural landscape
  • Ett rikt växt - och djurliv

The monitoring programme started in 2006 and includes 700 semi-natural grasslands across the country. Each year, approximately one-fifth of these sites are visited. Within each site, several transects are surveyed, where the surveyor records the species and abundance of butterflies and bumblebees present. To characterise the ecological conditions of the sites, the height of the vegetation and the number of flowers along each transect are assessed, along with land use.

In addition to records of butterflies and bumblebees, large old trees and lichens on these trees were inventoried from 2006 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015.

The results of these inventories are used to analyse the condition and quality changes of semi-natural grasslands within the Swedish agricultural landscape, contributing to the environmental objective A varied agricultural landscape.

The butterfly and bumblebee inventory is part of the environmental monitoring programme Uppföljning av kvalitetsförändringar i ängs- och betesmarker (Monitoring of quality changes in semi-natural grasslands). Until 2020, plant and vegetation inventories were also conducted within the same programme and at the same sites.

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