Monitoring Breeding Landbirds in National Parks of the Gulf Coast Network: Data Quality Standards

Granger, Whitney; Carlson, Jane

As part of the nationwide Inventory and Monitoring Program of the National Park Service, the Gulf Coast Network monitors breeding landbirds in six National Park Service units in the Gulf Coast region. The network’s monitoring objectives are to document species richness and composition during annual visits to the parks and assess long-term trends in the relative abundance or density for the most commonly detected species. Monitoring these birds not only provides crucial information on the birds themselves, but can also be indicative of habitat changes. These data will also contribute to regional or national databases that further our understanding of continental bird population trends. This document presents the data quality standards (DQS) used by the Gulf Coast Network for their breeding landbird monitoring project, as described in their protocol titled Monitoring Breeding Landbirds in Gulf Coast Network Parks: Protocol Narrative (Segura et al. 2018), and the seven associated standard operating procedures (SOPs). This DQS report and the associated quality assurance plan (QAP; forthcoming) serve as formal documentation of the standards of accuracy required by the Gulf Coast Network throughout the different stages of data collection, data processing, data storage, data analysis, and publication. By following and documenting high standards of quality, the Gulf Coast Network ensures that useful data sets are created and that future users can analyze and report on them correctly.

Monitoring Breeding Landbirds in National Parks of the Gulf Coast Network: Data Quality Standards

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