Biodiversity encompasses the genetic variation within species, the variety and population abundance of species in an ecosystem, and the habitats across a landscape. Monitoring of all these different aspects is imperative as it provides insight into trends in biodiversity and ecosystem health to make informed decisions on resource use and protection. Because biodiversity is so multifaceted, a variety of metrics are necessary; the use of any one in particular would depend upon the biodiversity component of interest and the ultimate use of the information. Contemporary examples of indices now in use include the Living Planet Index (LPI), the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and indicators that show us the state of specific habitats – such as forests – or the state of natural capital (Tittensor et al., 2014).