Birds as indicators of changes in water quality

Ormerod, Stephen James; Tyler, Stephanie

doi:10.1007/978-94-015-1322-7_5

Cited by 50 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Thus, we expected waterthrushes to have a weaker association with macroinvertebrate biomass when compared with dippers, especially following leaf emergence. In fact, occupancy and abundance of European dippers were clearly lower along acidified streams with correspondingly low macroinvertebrate biomass (Ormerod & Tyler, 1993). Along streams in western Wyoming, American dipper occupancy increased with density of their preferred prey, but not with total macroinvertebrate density (Feck & Hall, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, 1980). Finally, songbirds associated with streams have been shown to decline with increasing acidification in the headwaters (Ormerod & Tyler, 1993; Mulvihill, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While several studies have documented relationships among water quality, stream biotic integrity and dipper occupancy (Ormerod & Tyler, 1993; Sorace et al. , 2002; Feck & Hall, 2004), few have investigated how stream biotic integrity relates to habitat assessments and waterthrush occupancy (Mulvihill, 1999; Stucker, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Louisiana waterthrushes (Seiurus motacilla) and habitat assessments as cost‐effective indicators of instream biotic integrity

Mattsson

Cooper

2006

Freshwater Biology

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1. Benthic stream animals, in particular macroinvertebrates, are good indicators of water quality, but sampling can be laborious to obtain accurate indices of biotic integrity. Thus, tools for bioassessment that include measurements other than macroinvertebrates would be valuable additions to volunteer monitoring protocols. 2. We evaluated the usefulness of a stream-dependent songbird, the Louisiana waterthrush (waterthrush, Seiurus motacilla) and the Environmental Protection Agency Visual Habitat Assessment (EPA VHA) as indicators of the macrobenthos community in headwater streams of the Georgia Piedmont, U.S.A. We sampled macrobenthos, surveyed waterthrushes and measured habitat characteristics along 39 headwater reaches across 17 catchments ranging from forested to heavily urbanised or grazed by cattle. 3. Of the indicators considered, waterthrush occupancy was best for predicting relative abundances of macrobenthic taxa, while the EPA VHA was best for predicting Ephemeroptera-Plecoptera-Trichoptera (EPT) richness. Individual components of EPA VHA scores were much less useful as indicators of EPT richness and % EPT when compared with the total score. Waterthrushes were found along streams with higher % EPT, a lower Family Biotic Index (FBI) values and greater macrobenthos biomass. 4. While macroinvertebrates remain one of the most direct indicators of stream water quality, stream bird surveys and reach-scale habitat assessments can serve as cost-effective indicators of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Using stream-dependent birds as an early warning signal for degradation of stream biotic integrity could improve the efficacy of catchment monitoring programmes in detecting and identifying perturbations within the catchment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, 1980). Finally, songbirds associated with streams have been shown to decline with increasing acidification in the headwaters (Ormerod & Tyler, 1993; Mulvihill, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Louisiana waterthrushes (Seiurus motacilla) and habitat assessments as cost‐effective indicators of instream biotic integrity

Mattsson

Cooper

2006

Freshwater Biology

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“…Specialist river birds are highly conspicuous indicators of habitat quality and thus are very suitable subjects for biological monitoring (Ormerod & Tyler 1993). Among them, the White‐throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus (hereafter: Dipper) is one of the most widely studied, especially in Europe (Spitznagel 1985, Tyler & Ormerod 1994).…”

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confidence: 99%

Calculating census efficiency for river birds: a case study with the White‐throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus in the Pyrénées

D’Amico

Hemery²

2002

Ibis

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Using the binomial law we modelled field data to estimate the probability (p̂) of detecting pairs of breeding White‐throated Dippers, and the population size (N̂± confidence limits). The model was divided into two parts according to whether the actual size of the population under study was known or not; in the latter case the truncated binomial model was used. Dipper abundance data were collected from three 4‐km‐long river tracts in the Pyrénées (France) during the breeding seasons of different years. Goodness‐of‐fit tests indicated that the binomial model fitted the data well. For a given visit during the survey, the estimated probability of detecting any pair of Dippers if they were present was always high (0.63–0.94) and constant from year to year but not between sites. Estimations (N̂) of the size of the population provided by the binomial model were very close to that derived from mapping techniques. This study provides the first ever quantification of the number of visits required to detect birds on linear territories: three visits were necessary to detect the whole breeding population.

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“…[1][2][3] The value of birds in indicating such changes is now widely recognized 4 and birds have figured prominently in evidence to governments about pesticides and acid deposition. Of equal conservation importance, there is an increasingly urgent need to understand how river birds are affected by human-induced changes: for example in flow regimes, chemistry, and river habitat quality.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of a new standardized habitat survey for assessing the habitat preferences and distribution of upland river birds

Buckton¹,

Ormerod²

1997

Bird Study

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Birds as indicators of changes in water quality

Cited by 50 publications

References 60 publications

Louisiana waterthrushes (Seiurus motacilla) and habitat assessments as cost‐effective indicators of instream biotic integrity

Louisiana waterthrushes (Seiurus motacilla) and habitat assessments as cost‐effective indicators of instream biotic integrity

Calculating census efficiency for river birds: a case study with the White‐throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus in the Pyrénées

Use of a new standardized habitat survey for assessing the habitat preferences and distribution of upland river birds

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