Bird Ecology and Conservation A Handbook of Techniques
, by Sutherland, William J.; Newton, Ian; Green, Rhys E.- ISBN: 9780198520863 | 0198520867
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 8/26/2004
List of Contributors | p. xvii |
Bird diversity survey methods | p. 1 |
Introduction | p. 1 |
Designing the fieldwork | p. 3 |
Finding the birds | p. 4 |
Standardizing the effort by time and space | p. 6 |
Standardizing the effort by McKinnon's list method | p. 7 |
Atlas studies | p. 8 |
Estimating species richness | p. 10 |
Conclusion | p. 11 |
Bird census and survey techniques | p. 17 |
Introduction | p. 17 |
What are bird surveys and why do we need them? | p. 17 |
What is monitoring and why do we need it? | p. 18 |
Useful sources of information | p. 19 |
Begin at the beginning | p. 20 |
Population size or index? | p. 21 |
Survey boundaries | p. 21 |
Census or sample? | p. 22 |
Sampling strategy | p. 23 |
Sampling unit | p. 23 |
Field methods | p. 23 |
Accuracy, precision, and bias | p. 23 |
Sampling strategies | p. 27 |
How many sampling units? | p. 27 |
Which sampling units to count? | p. 27 |
Using stratification | p. 29 |
Field methods | p. 35 |
Mapping | p. 36 |
Transects | p. 38 |
Line transects | p. 39 |
Point transects | p. 40 |
Rules for recording birds in the field | p. 41 |
Choosing between line and point transects | p. 41 |
Detection probabilities | p. 42 |
Colonial birds | p. 44 |
Counting roosts and flocks | p. 45 |
Counting leks | p. 46 |
Counting migrants | p. 46 |
Capture techniques | p. 47 |
Tape playback | p. 50 |
Vocal individuality | p. 51 |
Conclusions | p. 52 |
Breeding biology | p. 57 |
Introduction | p. 57 |
Choosing study areas | p. 58 |
Measuring the success of individual breeding attempts | p. 58 |
Finding and selecting nests | p. 58 |
Recording the stage of a breeding attempt when it is located | p. 60 |
Precautions to take so that nests can be relocated for checking | p. 61 |
Nest checking | p. 62 |
Determination of chick survival for species with precocial young | p. 64 |
Estimation of nest success from nest check data | p. 66 |
Determination of the proximate causes of breeding failure | p. 67 |
Signs left at the nest | p. 67 |
Wax or plasticine eggs in the nests of wild birds | p. 68 |
Cameras | p. 69 |
Temperature loggers | p. 70 |
Using artificial nests to measure nest success and causes of failure | p. 71 |
Measuring annual productivity | p. 72 |
Why measure annual productivity? | p. 72 |
Productivity from counts after the breeding season | p. 74 |
Productivity from captures after the breeding season | p. 74 |
Intensive studies of breeding | p. 75 |
Indices of productivity from surveys during the breeding season | p. 76 |
Use of simulation models | p. 76 |
Timing of breeding | p. 76 |
Measurements of eggs and chicks | p. 78 |
Proximate and ultimate causes of breeding failure | p. 79 |
Value of experiments to disentangle ultimate and proximate causes of breeding failure | p. 79 |
Birds in the hand | p. 85 |
Introduction | p. 85 |
Welfare, ethical, and legislative issues | p. 86 |
Catching the birds | p. 87 |
The breeding season | p. 89 |
Cage traps | p. 90 |
Spring traps | p. 90 |
A couple of nestbox traps | p. 91 |
Noose-carpet traps | p. 91 |
Mist-nets | p. 92 |
Clap-nets and whoosh-nets | p. 94 |
Canon-nets | p. 94 |
Capture by hand | p. 94 |
Individual marking | p. 95 |
Notes on bird handling | p. 99 |
The bird at close quarters | p. 100 |
Age and molt | p. 100 |
Sex | p. 102 |
Weight | p. 103 |
Color, for example, UV reflectance | p. 103 |
Size | p. 104 |
Body size | p. 104 |
Wing | p. 104 |
Tail | p. 106 |
Tarsus | p. 106 |
Tarsus-and-toe | p. 108 |
Bill | p. 108 |
Total-head | p. 110 |
Claw, eye-ring, and other measures | p. 110 |
Condition | p. 110 |
Asymmetry | p. 110 |
Relative mass | p. 111 |
Fat reserves | p. 111 |
Muscle protein | p. 113 |
Physiological measures | p. 113 |
Molt and plumage | p. 113 |
Parasites | p. 114 |
Biopsy | p. 115 |
Estimating survival and movement | p. 119 |
Introduction | p. 119 |
Tag type and subsequent encounters | p. 120 |
Survival rates | p. 120 |
Radio-telemetry | p. 120 |
Capture-recapture/resighting | p. 124 |
Band recovery | p. 127 |
Movement | p. 129 |
Radio-telemetry | p. 129 |
Capture-recapture/resighting | p. 131 |
Band recovery | p. 133 |
Summary and general recommendations | p. 134 |
Radio-tagging | p. 141 |
Introduction | p. 141 |
Choice of techniques | p. 142 |
Constraints on radio tagging | p. 142 |
Applications and advantages | p. 143 |
Considerations for tag attachment | p. 145 |
Forward planning | p. 148 |
Equipment | p. 148 |
Mobile tracking | p. 150 |
Software | p. 150 |
Approaches | p. 151 |
Pilot studies | p. 151 |
Recording locations | p. 152 |
Using location data | p. 154 |
Demography | p. 155 |
The future | p. 156 |
Migration | p. 161 |
Introduction | p. 161 |
Migration systems | p. 161 |
Mark-recapture | p. 162 |
Morphology | p. 162 |
Genetic markers | p. 163 |
Stable isotopes | p. 163 |
Migration behavior and strategies | p. 165 |
Counting and observing migrants | p. 165 |
Tracking migrants | p. 166 |
Remote sensing: infrared device | p. 167 |
Remote sensing: radar | p. 167 |
Stopover | p. 169 |
Physiology of migration | p. 169 |
Body composition | p. 169 |
Energetics | p. 170 |
Endocrinology | p. 171 |
Flight in wind tunnels | p. 171 |
Orientation and navigation | p. 172 |
Emlen funnels | p. 172 |
Manipulating sensory input | p. 172 |
Displacement experiments | p. 173 |
Selection experiments | p. 174 |
Circular statistics | p. 174 |
Modeling migration | p. 175 |
Concluding remarks | p. 176 |
Information from dead and dying birds | p. 179 |
Introduction | p. 179 |
Terminology-definitions and explanation | p. 181 |
Methodology-an overview of techniques | p. 181 |
The postmortem examination | p. 183 |
Health and safety | p. 185 |
Postmortem examinations (necropsies) | p. 187 |
Laboratory investigations | p. 194 |
Interpretation of findings | p. 199 |
Legal aspects | p. 201 |
Conclusions | p. 203 |
Techniques in physiology and genetics | p. 211 |
Introduction | p. 211 |
Sampling techniques | p. 211 |
Ethical considerations | p. 211 |
Legal considerations-catching wild birds for research | p. 212 |
Legal considerations-scientific experiments on birds | p. 213 |
Housing and husbandry | p. 216 |
Blood sampling | p. 217 |
Administration of substances | p. 218 |
Anesthesia | p. 219 |
Implants | p. 219 |
Laparotomy | p. 220 |
Ecotoxicology | p. 221 |
Endocrinology | p. 222 |
Energetics | p. 224 |
Molecular genetics | p. 225 |
Diet and foraging behavior | p. 233 |
Introduction | p. 233 |
Diet composition | p. 233 |
Direct observation | p. 233 |
Nest observations | p. 235 |
Remains and signs | p. 235 |
Dropping analysis | p. 236 |
Pellet analysis | p. 239 |
Stomach analysis | p. 239 |
Direct observations of crop | p. 240 |
Regurgitates | p. 240 |
Cafeteria experiments | p. 240 |
Morphology | p. 240 |
Neck ligatures | p. 241 |
Emetics and flushing | p. 241 |
Isotope differences between habitats | p. 241 |
Determining prey size | p. 242 |
Direct observation fo prey size | p. 242 |
Determining size from prey remains | p. 242 |
Determining prey size from regurgitates | p. 242 |
Measuring fragments in pellets, droppings, or stomach | p. 242 |
Prey quality | p. 243 |
Energy content | p. 243 |
Prey digestibility | p. 244 |
Foraging behavior | p. 244 |
Time budgets | p. 244 |
Time spent feeding per day | p. 245 |
Night observations | p. 245 |
Handling time | p. 246 |
Intake rate and the functional response | p. 246 |
Interference | p. 247 |
Depletion | p. 247 |
Prey availability | p. 248 |
Exclosures | p. 248 |
Mate provisioning and brood provisioning rates | p. 249 |
Habitat assessment | p. 251 |
Introduction | p. 251 |
Habitat associations | p. 251 |
Documenting changes over time | p. 252 |
Protocols | p. 252 |
Physical environment | p. 254 |
Temperature and thermoregulation | p. 254 |
Rainfall and soil wetness | p. 255 |
Slope, aspect, elevation, and topography | p. 255 |
Type, chemistry, and penetrability of soils | p. 255 |
Water chemistry | p. 256 |
Vegetation | p. 257 |
Mapping of broad habitat types | p. 257 |
Species composition of vegetation | p. 258 |
Vegetation architecture | p. 258 |
Quantifying habitat selection | p. 260 |
Comparing the relative abundance of birds or records of tracked birds in each of several habitats with the relative areas of the habitats available | p. 260 |
Relating numbers or densities of individuals or records of tracked birds in spatial units to the habitat composition of those units | p. 262 |
Comparison of habitat at places used by birds with that at places that are representative of the study area or known to be unused | p. 262 |
Food abundance and availability | p. 263 |
Predator abundance | p. 265 |
Disturbance | p. 266 |
Conservation management of endangered birds | p. 269 |
Introduction | p. 269 |
Process in the restoration of endangered species | p. 269 |
Step one: know your species | p. 270 |
Step two: diagnose causes of population decline and test remedial action | p. 270 |
Stage three: intensive management | p. 271 |
Stage four: population management | p. 271 |
Stage five: monitoring | p. 271 |
Broad population management approaches | p. 272 |
Supplemental feeding | p. 273 |
Enhancing nest-sites and the provision of nest-boxes | p. 274 |
Disease control | p. 277 |
Predator control | p. 278 |
Intensive management of focal pairs | p. 280 |
Close guarding and monitoring of nests | p. 280 |
Clutch and brood manipulations | p. 281 |
Reintroduction and translocations | p. 288 |
Reintroduction | p. 288 |
Translocations | p. 290 |
Supportive management for bird restoration projects | p. 291 |
Role of captive facilities | p. 291 |
Model or surrogate species | p. 292 |
Artificial incubation and hand-rearing | p. 292 |
Integrated management | p. 293 |
Discussion | p. 293 |
Exploitation | p. 303 |
Introduction: assessment of exploitation | p. 303 |
Taking a conservative approach | p. 303 |
Minimum estimates of population size | p. 303 |
Estimates of harvest levels | p. 304 |
Population models and associated parameters | p. 304 |
The use of trends | p. 304 |
Theoretical basis for sustainable exploitation | p. 305 |
Logistic growth model with perfect information | p. 305 |
Incorporating uncertainty: potential biological removal | p. 307 |
A note about other methods of assessing sustainability | p. 309 |
Harvest control and management objectives | p. 310 |
Harvest management strategies | p. 310 |
Harvest management objectives | p. 311 |
Assessing harvest levels | p. 312 |
Total harvest (H) versus harvest rate (h) | p. 312 |
Harvest estimation when harvest is legal and observable | p. 312 |
Harvest estimation when harvest is illegal | p. 314 |
Measuring harvest rate | p. 315 |
Assessing population size | p. 316 |
Overview | p. 316 |
Coping with uncertainty | p. 316 |
Assessing population dynamics | p. 317 |
Maximum growth rate (r[subscript max]) | p. 317 |
Other aspects of density dependence | p. 318 |
Other driving forces | p. 320 |
Model structure | p. 320 |
Addressing uncertainty | p. 322 |
Motivation | p. 322 |
Management experiments | p. 322 |
Adaptive management | p. 323 |
Habitat management | p. 329 |
Introduction | p. 329 |
Deciding what to do | p. 330 |
Monitoring | p. 333 |
General principles of managing habitats for birds | p. 334 |
Factors influencing habitat use by birds | p. 334 |
Taking account of the requirements of non-bird species | p. 335 |
Controlling unwanted plants | p. 336 |
Taking account of predicted climate change | p. 337 |
Managing grasslands | p. 337 |
Introduction | p. 337 |
Effects of cutting and burning on sward condition | p. 338 |
Effects of grazing on sward condition | p. 339 |
Minimizing nest and chick loss during management | p. 341 |
Using fertilizer | p. 342 |
Hydrology of wet grasslands | p. 343 |
Managing dwarf shrub habitats | p. 344 |
Managing forests and scrub | p. 345 |
Introduction | p. 345 |
Grazing and browsing | p. 347 |
Burning | p. 348 |
Planting and harvesting regimes | p. 349 |
Thinning and creating gaps | p. 350 |
Increasing the quantity of dead wood | p. 351 |
Managing deep water | p. 351 |
Managing wetlands | p. 352 |
Manipulating the proportions of open water, ruderal vegetation, and swamp | p. 352 |
Increasing food abundance for birds in shallow freshwater | p. 353 |
Increasing food abundance for birds in shallow brackish and saline water | p. 355 |
Increasing accessibility of food for birds in shallow water | p. 356 |
Providing islands and rafts | p. 357 |
Managing reedbeds | p. 357 |
Scrub | p. 360 |
Wet woodlands | p. 360 |
Managing intertidal habitats | p. 360 |
Managing arable land and hedgerows | p. 361 |
Conclusions | p. 362 |
Index | p. 371 |
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