The diversity of animal and plant species in agricultural landscapes is closely linked to diversity of habitats and landscapes. Intensification of agricultural land use is considered one of the main factors driving biodiversity loss. A reliable, comprehensive and spatially differentiated data basis on the use of agricultural landscapes is a prerequisite for developing concepts and assessing the effectiveness of policy frameworks to promote biodiversity in agriculture.

The indicators for habitat diversity in agricultural landscapes create such a data basis. They allow to record the status of land use and landscape features in Germany comprehensively and precisely, as well as trends and changes in land use based on annual surveys. Monitoring habitat diversity provides an essential part for monitoring biodiversity in Germany's agricultural landscapes. The selection of indicators ranges from the landscape level down to the level of fields and landscape elements.

It takes into account the diverse interactions between habitat diversity, land-use intensity and biodiversity. The indicators, depending on the data source:

• remote sensing,
• official surveying data,
• agricultural statistics,
• agricultural financial support

are reportet at different spatial aggregation levels:

• regular hexagonal lattice,
• community,
• county

as well as regional specific:

• agricultural areas,
• soil climate areas

Depending on the data source and sub-indicator, the area includes either

• farmland,
• agricultural area,
• agricultural used area or
• the entire open landscape of Germany including uncultivated areas.