WP leader: Cemagref Philip Roche
In WP6 the monitoring system is being validated and the cost aspects in time and budget will be monitored in representative test sites that are determined on the basis of the sampling strategy developed in WP3. Use will be made of the protocols developed in WP4. The testing will be prepared in 2009 and carried out in 2010. 
In the phase before field testing extant data are being used supplemented where needed with field observations. The results and procedures are communicated with identified users, and will be disseminated to the scientific users as well as the general public. In this WP trials of habitat and species monitoring will be carried out and analysis on terrestrial and aquatic habitats in the Mediterranean, Central Europe, Northern Europe and Western Europe. Through WP9 also sites outside Europe through WP9 are being coordinated.
Field trials of habitat and species monitoring as well as analysis and assessment of the results require the following:
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Selection of regions for data collection on habitats in the LTER sites and possibly new sites identified through WP3 and WP5;
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Field computers will be used for data collection;
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Field work, data collection using field computers where possible;
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Data analysis.
The sample sites in the project will be dispersed in strata defined by the European Environmental Stratification (EnS, Metzger 2005, Jongman et al 2006). The number of randomly selected sites in these strata will be explored according to weightings related to floristic richness in national floras and diversity in environmental zones. For example Spain has over 7000 plant species whereas Norway and Sweden have about 1100. Whilst these numbers are arbitrary they at least give an objective measure of the likely biodiversity and correlate well with the widely accepted view that diversity increases in both species and habitats from north to south.
Because the EnS strata are strictly statistical and the sites are determined using a random procedure, they can be re-aggregated into any higher level stratification, in whatever way this stratification has been derived. Site selection will be matched with the Natura 2000 network. All EU countries have Natura 2000 sites available in a database and GIS format which is available to the project team.
A two-tier sampling will be carried out in order to use the classical statistical procedure of covering the range of variation objectively before identifying intensive case study areas. The field testing will be based on LTER sites and sites in the wider countryside.
We estimate that there are about 145 European strata including substrata. The minimum number of km-squares in the wider countryside has been estimated to be 15 per stratum and an additional 8 for LTER and Natura 2000 (Jongman et al. 2005). Experience from the BioHab project shows that 1.5 days are needed for field preparation and field work per square. As 400 working days are available it is estimated that about 270 km-squares can be sampled (the rest of the time is needed for training and data processing). These will be strategically selected within in selected Environmental Strata representing all 12 Environmental Zones.
