Indices to asses biodiversity in Dutch floodplains

Within the project MERLIN, the Dutch aim to restore floodplains through the principle of building with nature. It is important to monitor the measurements so that it is also clear what impact adaptations on floodplains (good and bad) have on biodiversity. In line with the MERLIN project, it is interesting to see what the biodiversity status is in restored floodplains compared to not restored floodplains. It appeared that the Shannon index and species richness are the best indices. It is also very functional to monitor the total amount of species present and the number with which they occur.