Waterbird Monitoring Research Articles

Dinámica de la estructura y composición de la comunidad de aves acuáticas de Ensenada del Jato, Cayo Sabinal, Cuba

Los estudios de dinámica de las comunidades de aves permiten conocer la estructura de las comunidades como elemento esencial para su posible preservación. En este estudio analizamos la dinámica anual de la estructura y composición de la comunidad de aves acuáticas de la Ensenada del Jato, Cayo Sabinal, Cuba, entre los años 2008 al 2010. Los conteos los hicimos desde junio de 2008 a mayo de 2010, de dos a cuatro veces por mes, entre las 7:30 y las 8:30 de la mañana. Se realizaron tres transectos de banda fija, de 323 m de longitud y 180 m de ancho. Observamos un total de 42 especies de aves acuáticas durante los dos años de estudio, pertenecientes a 9 órdenes y 15 familias. De estas especies, cuatro fueron nuevos registros para el área. En el área de estudio, los valores de riqueza se mantienen de manera estable durante todo el año, aunque la etapa de mayor abundancia de aves acuáticas fue durante la migración primaveral. Durante esta etapa las condiciones parecen ser más apropiadas para las especies migratorias del gremio de los sondeadores someros. Considerando lo anterior, recomendamos priorizar los monitoreos de las aves acuáticas en el área y el seguimiento de las poblaciones de especies migratorias con alguna categoría de amenaza.

Possibility of applying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and mapping software for the monitoring of waterbirds and their habitats

BackgroundConventional bird observation methods are line survey or point count method by bare eyes or through binoculars or telescopes. But in this study, the possibility of monitoring waterbirds using drones beyond the conventional research methods was explored. It also describes the direction of producing and accumulating images of waterbird habitats as a method to efficiently determine changes in waterbird habitats.ResultsFrom the study, it was concluded that waterbird monitoring using drones was a new monitoring technique which could be applied to the field and 26 kinds of waterbirds were observed. In the case of a drone with a single lens, it was difficult to identify objects because the size of the subject was too small at a certain altitude. In this case, zoom lens can be an alternative. It has also been verified that image analysis software can be used to accumulate images of waterbird habitats.ConclusionsIf various kinds of advanced drones and cameras are used, it would be possible to monitor larger areas including the areas that are difficult for human access and to observe more waterbirds and wider habitats.

Geographic Information System for the definition of the ecological role of coastal wetlands of Friuli-Venezia Giulia for waterbirds

In June 2006 a new coordinated waterbird monitoring programme was developed within the framework of an Interreg project. Census data, gathered on the basis of a kilometric grid, were stored in a database and processed by a GIS, created for integration with all environmental databases. Preliminary maps, describing spatial variation of bird richness and abundance, are presented.

Significance of waterbird monitoring in lake ecosystems

水鸟的多样性及其变化趋势是保护水鸟必需的信息, 也是其柄息湿地环境质量的指示因子之一.本文综述了水鸟与湖泊生态系统关系的研究成果, 认为水鸟的物种多样性与丰富度可以快速反映湖泊的水生植物、鱼类的生物量和湖泊水位、营养状况的变化, 集群繁殖的食鱼水鸟可用于湖泊生态系统中持久性有毒化学污染物的生态监测;同时阐述了水鸟通过取食水生植物、排出粪便对湖泊生态系统产生的主要影响, 并在湖泊生态系统管理中给出相应建议.为了深入理解湖泊生态系统的多稳态转变机制和全面反映受污染湖泊的恢复进程, 建议在我国富营养湖泊的恢复过程中, 应将水鸟与湖泊生态系统其它成分作为一个整体进行监测, 定量化研究水鸟与湖泊水生植物、鱼类和水环境之间的关系。;Statistics on the status and trends in numbers of waterbirds are necessary for the conservation of their wetland habitats.Waterbirds are also considered as one of the indicators of habitat quality of wetlands.We reviewed the studies on the ecological relationships between waterbirds and lake ecosystems, and found that abundance and species richness of waterbirds could respond quickly to the biomass change of macrophytes and fishes, as well as variation of water level, trophic status of lakes, and colonial fish-eating birds could be used to monitor the level of persistent toxic substances in lakes.In turn, waterbirds could impose a significant impact to lakes through grazing on aquatic vegetation, and nutrient load by faecal deposition.In addition, management of lake ecosystems related to waterbirds was suggested accordingly.In order to have a better understanding of the factors that lead to switches between multiple stable states in eutrophic lakes, and on the restoration progress eutrophic lakes, waterbirds should be incorporated into monitoring of eutrophic lakes in the process of lake restoration in China, and additional studies to quantify the relationships between waterbirds and macrophytes, fish and environmental variables of lakes are necessary.

Smoothing and trend detection in waterbird monitoring data using structural time-series analysis and the Kalman filter

Many wildlife-monitoring programmes have long time series of species abundance that cannot be summarized adequately by linear trend lines. To describe long time series better, generalized additive models may be used to obtain a smooth trend line through abundance data. We describe another approach to estimate a smoothed trend line through time series consisting of one observation per time point, such as year or month. This method is based on structural time-series models in combination with the Kalman filter and is computerized in the TrendSpotter software. One of its strengths is the possibility to test changes in smoothed abundances between years, taking into account serial correlation. The trend method is applied in the Dutch Waterbird Monitoring Scheme (DWMS), a monitoring scheme for migrating and overwintering waterbirds. Taking the numbers of overwintering Greater Scaup (Aythia marila) in the Netherlands as an example, we demonstrate three applications of the method: (1) trend calculation and classification for each year in the time series, (2) assessing alerts for alarming population declines and (3) testing yearly abundance against a population threshold. We discuss the situations where TrendSpotter is to be preferred over other methods.

Waterbird monitoring and birdwatcher training in Djibouti, February 2001

Waterbird monitoring and birdwatcher training in Djibouti, February 2001