GLOBIO 3.5 technical model description

A global assessment model for terrestrial biodiversity

The GLOBIO model is designed to quantify past, present and future human-induced changes in terrestrial biodiversity at regional to global scales. The model is built on a set of cause-effect relationships that describe six anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity:

• land use
• climate change
• atmospheric nitrogen deposition
• infrastructure
• habitat fragmentation
• human encroachment

Mean species abundance

Biodiversity responses are quantified as the mean species abundance (MSA), which expresses the mean abundance of original species in disturbed conditions relative to their abundance in undisturbed habitat, as an indicator of the degree to which an ecosystem is intact. MSA values are quantified based on a synthesis (meta-analysis) of empirical species monitoring data in disturbed habitat compared to an undisturbed reference situation, reported in comparative studies derived from the literature.

Model application

The GLOBIO model is regularly used in biodiversity assessments, in particular the Global Biodiversity Outlooks (GBO) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the OECD Environmental Outlook, and UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook.