Evaluating protected area effectiveness using bird lists in the Australian Wet Tropics

Abstract

Aim Protected areas underpin many global conservation efforts. However, it is often unclear whether they are effective in maintaining their biodiversity values, both absolutely, and also relative to other conservation actions or land uses. Longitudinal population data are critical for determining protected area performance robustly, but such data are rare. As such, there is often insufficient information with which to make adequate, informed decisions for policy and management. Conversely, informally collected data, such as species lists, are common, especially for birds, and they are often the only source of historical data. The aim of this study was to use list data to evaluate the contribution of protected areas to the conservation of endemic birds.Location Wet Tropics bioregion of Queensland, Australia.Methods We used a list-length analysis (LLA), a recently developed approach. We estimate trends in species populations with a Bayesian logistic regression to infer bird presence from non-standardized volunteer-collected bird surveys from the New Atlas of Australian Birds that were conducted both inside and outside protected areas.Results Overall, the prevalence of the majority of wet tropics endemics (18 of 21) has been stable since 1998. Sixteen species were more likely to be found within protected areas, two were more likely to be recorded outside, and three showed little difference. However, there was no difference in trends in prevalence between protected and unprotected areas for all but one endemic species.Main conclusions Where formal data collection is too expensive or time consuming, it may still be possible to inform decision-making when citizen-collected species list data are available. In the Wet Tropics, our results suggest that for the majority of the species, protected areas may contain better habitat than unprotected areas, but that birds inside protected areas are not significantly better off through time than birds outside protected areas, as long as forest outside protected areas remains intact.

Exploiting opportunistic observations to estimate changes in seasonal site use: an example with wetland birds

“…The probability of detection during each visit depends on effort allocated to observing species and the willingness to report them if seen. SLL is an established surrogate for the effort of a visit in opportunistic data (Szabo et al 2010;van Strien et al 2013;Barnes et al 2015). Even though detection probability and willingness to report an observation differ largely among species, it is expected that the longer the SLL the lower the chance of deliberately leaving species out of the report (van Strien et al 2013).…”

Bolder science needed now for protected areas

“…), more accurate and clearly demarcated protected area boundaries (IUCN and UNEP‐WCMC ), systematically collated information on species populations and trends inside and outside PAs (Barnes et al. ), and a greater understanding of suitable quantitative counterfactuals for protected areas (Newton et al. ; MacNeil et al.…”

Virtual birding : extending birdwatching to review acoustic recordings

“…There are questions as to whether ecotourism aids or hinders conservation (Barnes et al, 2015;Lawton, 2009). This is mainly due to how birders conduct themselves and whether the interruption of fragile ecosystems is justified by the economic return.…”

“…While detailed research has been done regarding ecotourism and birding in Queensland and Australia (Jones et al, 2001;Lawton, 2009), research is less mature in the area of local engagement in birding for serious leisure (Scott, 2012). The citizen science approach for collecting observations has delved into this space (Barnes et al, 2015;Wilson et al, 2011) Interviews were the method of choice for obtaining very detailed and highly textured qualitative data for a small group of people. This method could reveal birders' engagement with geographic locations they knew well, and provide insights and practicalities for extending established birding practices to include recorded audio.…”

“…For example, participants in a protein folding game created effective folding algorithms that, in some cases, out-performed state-of-the-art computational methods . Regarding avian projects, the Queensland Wader Study Group contributed abundance data to a migratory shorebird variability study (Wilson, Kendall, Fuller, Milton, & Possingham, 2011), and birders' observation lists provided the best source data for evaluating protected habitat areas (Barnes, Szabo, Morris, & Possingham, 2015). This wealth of experience, knowledge, and skill gained through dedication to a pastime is difficult to replicate and can be an essential resource for ecological research.…”