The project
What is it?
SEMICE is a large-scale, long-term monitoring project of the most common species of small mammals (eulipotyphlas and rodents weighing less than 150 g) supported by a network of stations and collaborators, coordinated by the Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers. The project began in 2008, with twenty monitoring stations located within the Natural Parks of the Barcelona Provincial Council and also in Andorra, and has been growing and spreading throughout the rest of the country where it is currently a reference and consolidated project.
The importance of biodiversity monitoring
Long-term monitoring is a basic tool for good management and conservation of biodiversity. These allow managers, in addition to having a precise diagnosis of the distribution and state of conservation of habitats and species in real time, to predict the evolution of populations and recognize the most important areas and conditions for their future conservation. The continuous updating of knowledge of the status of populations also provides relevant information about the complex dynamics of natural systems and the change factors that affect them.
Why small mammals?
Small mammals fulfill a relevant function in ecosystems, since they are part of a large number of relationships with other groups of organisms (an essential prey for many carnivores, invertebrate predators and pest controllers and large consumers and dispersers of seeds). They also have a rapid demographic response capacity to environmental changes (their populations grow or decline very quickly). However, it makes them good indicators of the state of ecosystems and the evolution of general phenomena such as climate change.
Goals
The main objective is the consolidation of an extensive and persistent network of population monitoring stations that, through an adjusted standard methodology, allows for the reliable and significant detection of population variations in small mammals.
Scientific objectives:
- Understanding the causes of fluctuations.
- Obtaining significant patterns on phenology and demographic cycles.
- Confirming distribution models in space according to altitudinal habitats and homes.
- Providing information for linked lines of research (related species or processes, predation, dissemination, etc.)
- Obtaining information about species, little known or at the limit of their distribution.
Dissemination and participation objectives
- Promote knowledge and citizen appreciation. Take advantage of the project and field work in particular, as a pedagogical opportunity to approach wildlife and naturalism.
- Delve into all those elements that can give meaning and richness to the involvement of the participants in the collective project.
Background and reference projects
International references
In the international field, it is worth mentioning the United Kingdom, which with a deep-rooted naturalistic tradition, is an advanced country in terms of long-term monitoring programs with the support of volunteer networks. There are even studies that evaluate the effectiveness and goodness of these networks for scientific purposes (Chris Newman et al., 2002). Particularly for small mammals, there are contrasting monitoring experiences, which have been an indispensable reference when designing SEMICE.
Aquí desde la administración
It is worth highlighting the pioneering commitment of various natural spaces to implement monitoring programs. In 1987, a birdlife monitoring program was started in Collserola Park, still in force today, and in 1994 the Barcelona Provincial Council launched the ambitious Plan for monitoring ecological parameters in the protected Natural Areas of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, which today is a mandatory reference and whose results are reflected in the new portal dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity, recently launched. The National Parks have also initiated standardized monitoring programs, such as the Sierra Nevada monitoring programs.
From entities or private initiative
For years, different scientific and conservation entities have also promoted ambitious monitoring programs through networks of collaborators. As notable examples we can cite the programs of the Spanish Society of Ornithology or the Catalan Institute of Ornithology, with a special section on ringing (more than 40 years of experience as a scientific activity supported by a volunteer network), or the SOCC, SYLVIA, Orenetes (swallows), or, in another area, the Projecte Rius, and, of course, the programs promoted by the Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers itself such as the Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (CBMS), the Bat Monitoring Programm or the Dormice Project.
Citizen science
In recent years, moreover, accessible mobile technology and social networks have allowed a true flourishing of new monitoring projects with citizen collaboration.
Today the term Citizen Science frames all these projects that link science with “amateur” citizens to advance general knowledge and develop follow-up projects.
Previous experiences tracking small mammals in our country
Some small mammal monitoring projects carried out a few years ago have provided valuable experience in the design of the project and the conception of collaborative dynamics.
From the Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers, a proposal had already been presented in 2001 to establish a monitoring program for small mammal populations with a standardized methodology. Although this project did not prosper, it was able to be resumed a few years later (2008) thanks to aid received from the Ministry of the Environment.
Also mention the summer prospecting experience that was carried out in the context of an activity of learning and work stays for young people in the Aigüestortes National Park between 1991 and 2007.
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