A Four-Year Study of a Bird Community in a Woodland Remnant Near Moyston, Western Victoria (original) (raw)
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Addressing Conservation Needs of Birds During the Migratory Period: Problems and Approaches1
The conservation of declining intercontinental landbird and shorebird migrants is complicated by the migratory nature of these organisms. Although debate over the causes of declines in most species will no doubt continue for some time, continued attention has focused largely on events associated with the breeding and wintering phases of the migrant's annual cycle. What has been largely overlooked in our developing conservation strategy is the importance of the migratory period and the issues associated with conserving these diverse and often sporadically used stopover habitats throughout the hemisphere (e.g., Woodrey 1993, Moore 2000). Although we have learned much recently, we still lack fundamental data regarding issues such as species-specific migration routes, which habitats are most important at various locations along the migratory route, where these critical habitats occur, and how their distribution and abundance are changing as a result of development and land conversion. The importance of these data gaps in our knowledge, and thus our ability to develop comprehensive bird conservation plans, are highlighted in two recent North American bird plans: the United States Shorebird Conservation Plan and the North American Landbird Conservation Plan (Rich et al. 2004). Although we currently know little about migrant-habitat relations for many of these species, increased attention in both the research and conservation communities are focused on gathering these types of data.
Addressing Conservation Needs of Birds During the Migratory Period: Problems and Approaches
fs.fed.us
The conservation of declining intercontinental landbird and shorebird migrants is complicated by the migratory nature of these organisms. Although debate over the causes of declines in most species will no doubt continue for some time, continued attention has focused largely on events associated with the breeding and wintering phases of the migrant's annual cycle. What has been largely overlooked in our developing conservation strategy is the importance of the migratory period and the issues associated with conserving these diverse and often sporadically used stopover habitats throughout the hemisphere (e.g., Woodrey 1993, Moore 2000). Although we have learned much recently, we still lack fundamental data regarding issues such as species-specific migration routes, which habitats are most important at various locations along the migratory route, where these critical habitats occur, and how their distribution and abundance are changing as a result of development and land conversion. The importance of these data gaps in our knowledge, and thus our ability to develop comprehensive bird conservation plans, are highlighted in two recent North American bird plans: the United States Shorebird Conservation Plan and the North American Landbird Conservation Plan (Rich et al. 2004). Although we currently know little about migrant-habitat relations for many of these species, increased attention in both the research and conservation communities are focused on gathering these types of data.
Conserving migratory land birds in the New World: Do we know enough
Ecological Applications, 2010
Migratory bird needs must be met during four phases of the year: breeding season, fall migration, wintering, and spring migration; thus, management may be needed during all four phases. The bulk of research and management has focused on the breeding season, although several issues remain unsettled, including the spatial extent of habitat influences on fitness and the importance of habitat on the breeding grounds used after breeding. Although detailed investigations have shed light on the ecology and population dynamics of a few avian species, knowledge is sketchy for most species. Replication of comprehensive studies is needed for multiple species across a range of areas.
Ring, 2009
Any change in the Methodology of field studies on bird Migration? A comparison of methods used in 1994-2003 and a Quarter Century earlier The holistic approach to the study of bird migration observed in the past decades and the huge advancement in technology should be seen in the numbers and types of methods used in field studies for this phenomenon. To check this assumption, we compared field methods used in the studies on bird migration published in international journals in 1994-2003 (N = 570 papers) and in 1967-1976 (N = 394 papers). We noted an increase in the mean number of methods per a single paper (from 1.49 in the former of these decades to 1.98 in the latter) and a change in the frequency of each method. In recent years, methods such as satellite telemetry, DNA or isotope proportions analyses have been developed. An increase in the mean number of methods as well as changes of the most frequently used methods were more apparent in journals indexed on the ISI Master Journal...
Ibis, 2014
Uncovering the mechanisms involved in the decline of long-distance migrants remains one of the most pressing issues in European conservation. Since the 1980s, the British breeding population of Garden Warbler Sylvia borin has declined by more than 25%. Here we use data from repeated bird surveys of woodland sites in the 1980s and in 2003-2004 to show that, although the overall population declined between the two periods, the probability of occupancy for this species increased at high latitudes and decreased at low latitudes. Range shifts such as this arise from a change in the ratio of colonizations to extinctions at the range margins, and we therefore related colonization and local extinction at the patch level to concurrent changes in temperature and habitat. The probability of patch colonization by this species was significantly lower where the percentage cover of vegetation in the understorey had declined, reducing habitat quality for this species. The probability of local extinction was significantly correlated with increasing mean May temperature, which may reflect a change in phenology, making breeding conditions less suitable. Changed regimes of grazing and woodland management could be used to increase habitat suitability and thereby increase colonization probability at the local scale, which may in turn increase the probability of patch occupancy despite future climatic unsuitability.
Emu - Austral Ornithology
Many migrant landbird species are winter visitors to lowland eucalypt forests of the southeast Queensland region within subtropical eastern Australia. However, neither the specific patterns of habitat use by these migrant species, nor the extent to which the temporal and spatial patterns of migration are synchronised among different species, are well understood. This paper examines the pattern and synchrony of monthly change in bird species over a nine-month period (March-November), based on counts at seven survey sites within each of three large (>600 ha) lowland eucalypt forest remnants. These were surrounded by a mostly urban matrix, and widely separated within a total area of ~1000 km 2. Species were analysed with respect to both their individual abundances and collective patterns within four a priori groups: winter migrants, summer migrants, complex wanderers and residents/local movers. Collectively, the numbers of winter migrants were highest from May to August, but species' broad arrival times varied from April to June, departures from July to October, and times of peak abundance also varied. Seven of eight winter migrant species that were individually analysed (Rose Robin, Yellow-faced and Scarlet Honeyeaters, Striated and Spotted Pardalotes, Grey Fantail and Golden Whistler, but not Rufous Whistler) showed large changes in abundance over the period. The abundance of these seven species did not vary among the three locations, and also showed concordant patterns of temporal change across locations. Some showed partial migration. The resident/local mover species showed little or no change in abundance over time, and eight of the 16 species analysed showed substantial abundance differences among locations. The difference in location effects between migrant and resident species may occur because the winter migrants are non-breeding visitors to the region, whilst the resident species are year-round inhabitants and are hence more selective since they are more likely to occupy long-term home ranges that must provide habitat suitable for nesting.
Composition and Dynamics of Migratory and Resident Avian Population
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Twelve wetlands occurring in four different ecozones in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, were selected for studying the winter composition and dynamics of avian populations. Wetland information was collected from office records of the UP Forest department. Bird populations were estimated by transect method and block-in-flock-in-sector method for woodland and aquatic birds, respectively. Across the twelve selected wetlands a total of 486,182 individuals belonging to 161 species of birds on 15,592 ha were recorded during the winter of 2010-11. The data were analyzed to assess the relationship between wetland characteristics and avian populations. Aquatic vegetation, surrounding vegetation, water availability and climate were found as important factors related to avian populations. January was found to be the peak of bird assemblage, while winter times before and after January were the waxing and waning period, respectively. Species richness and species diversity of aquatic birds varied betw...