Landbird monitoring protocol for the Arctic Network

Mizel, Jeremy

One of the most visible changes related to a warming climate in Alaska is the rapid expansion of woody vegetation (e.g., erect shrubs) across open landscapes and into higher elevations. Landbird species select breeding and foraging sites in particular habitat types and structures, and by virtue of their high mobility, have the capacity for rapidly adapting to changes in vegetation by modifying their breeding distributions. Thus, monitoring of landbirds may be useful in indicating ecological responses to climate change in the Arctic. Landbirds were selected as a “vital sign” for long-term monitoring in the Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network (ARCN) of the National Park Service. Specific objectives of the ARCN landbird monitoring program include: 1) documenting temporal trends in abundance and occupancy of landbirds; and 2) documenting changes in spatial distribution through time. This protocol details a route-based survey method applied at three reference sites in the Arctic Network. Routes are resurveyed multiple times in a season and the spatial locations of birds are recorded during surveys. Repeat survey designs account for variation in the probability of availability and provide inference to the superpopulation or all individuals with a non-negligible probability of being present within the sample unit during the sampling period. By making minimal assumptions about the availability process, we expect that monitoring of the superpopulation will provide greater sensitivity to the underlying population dynamics. Recording the spatial locations of individuals allows modeling of abundance as an inhomogenous point process. The advantages of this approach are two-fold: 1) accounting for within-sampling unit variation in abundance; and 2) potentially increased sensitivity to detecting changes in distribution through time.

Landbird monitoring protocol for the Arctic Network

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