Joo, W. and S. Gage
Presented at the All Scientist and GLBRC Sustainability Meeting (2009-05-05 to 2009-05-07 )
Surveying birds has provided ornithologists and wildlife biologists with a great opportunity to quantify the richness, abundance and spatial distribution of species, to elucidate the avian-habitat relationship, and to monitor changes in avian populations and communities. For example, the North America Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), one of the largest regional biological data sets across North America, has been conducted for several decades to monitor populations and communities of breeding birds at regional and national levels. Recently, it has been suggested that to reduce variability of the BBS data automated sound recordings can be used to enhance the detection accuracy and efficiency of the point-counts method. The objectives of this research are to examine the efficiency of breeding bird surveys using automated acoustic recording technology, and to investigate the spatial and temporal variability in composition and distribution of avian communities.
To compare the detection probability of breeding birds using acoustic recording technology with conventional breeding bird surveys, breeding bird surveys were conducted along the transects where point-counts methods and manual acoustic recordings were conducted simultaneously in Clinton County, Michigan in June 2006. Automated acoustic recording devices were also installed at each point along the transects. The study showed that overall there was no significant difference in estimating species richness, and abundance of the avian community between point count surveys and automated acoustic surveys. Between the two acoustic recording surveys, however, automated acoustic recordings were more effective at identifying bird species than were the manual acoustic recordings. The results provided evidence that acoustic recordings can be used as an alternative means to survey avian communities. Our study shows that automated acoustic recordings facilitate breeding bird surveys at multiple locations with minimal variability and high detectability of bird community measures, leading to correct interpretation of a long term pattern of avian species composition and distribution in regional scale.
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