Assessment of Trends in Breeding Bird Communities in Four Midwestern National Park Service Units

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Assessment of Trends in Breeding Bird Communities
in Four Midwestern National Park Service Units
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• Bird Sampling Method Point Transect
• Time interval (0 3 min., 3 5 min., gt 5 min.)
• Record species
• Record distance
• Record detection type
• Record sex / age
• Record flock size
• Record if the bird was a flyover

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Bird Data Analysis

• Identify species with gt 60 observations
• Calculate Densities using DISTANCE software
• Calculate Richness, Evenness, Diversity
• Graph metrics for parks with gt two years of data
• Compared metrics on breeding males with all
  individuals

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Common Species

• Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
• n 243 plots sampled
• n 60 bird species
• Individuals / plot Plots occupied
• Red-wing-blackbird Western meadowlark
• Western meadowlark Red-winged blackbird
• Grasshopper sparrow Grasshopper sparrow
• Lark sparrow Lark sparrow
• Lark bunting Mourning dove
• 7 PIF Species of Continental Importance

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Trends in Bird Richness at AGFO
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Trends in Bird Diversity at AGFO
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Trends in Bird Evenness at AGFO
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Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
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Common Species

• Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
• n 18 plots sampled
• n 21 bird species
• Individuals / plot Plots occupied
• Red-winged blackbird Red-winged blackbird
• Common yellowthroat Common yellowthroat
• Dickcissel Dickcissel
• American goldfinch American goldfinch
• Common grackle American robin
• 3 PIF Species of Continental Importance

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Population Trends

• All individuals 2005 2006
• Richness 4.11 (1.45) 4.33 (1.73)
• Evenness 0.92 (0.12) 0.86 (0.16)
• Diversity 1.23 (0.40) 1.24 (0.49)
• Males
• Richness 3.78 (1.56) 4.22 (1.86)
• Evenness 0.82 (0.32) 0.93 (0.08)
• Diversity 1.13 (0.53) 1.26 (0.48)

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Common Species

• Hopewell Cultural National Historical Park
• n 54 plots sampled
• n 54 bird species
• Individuals / plot Plots occupied
• Red-winged blackbird Red-winged blackbird
• Dickcissel Eastern meadowlark
• Grasshopper sparrow Field sparrow
• Tree swallow Grasshopper sparrow
• Field sparrow AMRO, NOCA, YBCH
• 11 PIF Species of Continental Importance

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Population Trends

• All individuals 2005 2006
• Richness 4.96 (1.60) 4.52 (1.70)
• Evenness 0.84 (0.13) 0.85 (0.22)
• Diversity 1.31 (0.35) 1.29 (0.49)
• Males
• Richness 2.37 (2.04) 4.15 (1.66)
• Evenness 0.50 (0.46) 0.86 (0.26)
• Diversity 0.67 (0.65) 1.24 (0.51)

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Common Species

• Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
• n 729 plots sampled
• n 94 bird species
• Individuals / plot Plots occupied
• Western meadowlark Western meadowlark
• Grasshopper sparrow Grasshopper sparrow
• Dickcissel Upland sandpiper
• Brown-headed cowbird Brown-headed cowbird
• Upland sandpiper Dickcissel
• 14 PIF Species of Continental Importance

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Trends in Bird Richness at TAPR
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Trends in Bird Diversity at TAPR
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Trends in Bird Evenness at TAPR
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Conclusions

• Distance sampling and analysis is of limited
  value to us when monitoring trends in breeding
  bird communities.
• Distance sampling and analysis real value is in
  monitoring trends in the numbers and density of
  targeted species population.
• Also, based on Student T-test, males and all
  individuals combined produced similar results
  when measuring trends.
• However, all individuals combined have a slightly
  better measure of variance around their means
  than males alone making them the better choice
  for monitoring population trends.