Green Gown Awards 2013 - Technical Innovation for Sustainability - The University of Northampton

Biodiversity Index: Interactive online assessment tool - Highly Commended

The Biodiversity Index is an interactive web-based tool that enables people with little knowledge of ecology to do a rapid but scientific assessment of the level of plant diversity on any UK site.

It can help organisations to assess site biodiversity by providing a simple self-assessment survey, online data repository and results calculator.

A scientific algorithm is applied to the collected data, generating a numerical index score which can be used to compare different sites or monitor changes from one year to another.

The tool produces a highly visual interactive summary and a report for each site, offering tips, signposts and suggestions for enhancing biodiversity; many of which could be cost neutral or actually save the organisation money.

The Biodiversity Index is a first step for anyone to gain an understanding of habitat types, vegetation structures and plant diversity, without the need for specialist ecology knowledge.

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