How much survey effort is required to assess bird assemblages in fire-prone eucalypt forests using acoustic recorders?

Abstract

Abstract ContextForest fire activity is expected to increase in many parts of the globe over the course of the 21st century, with corresponding potential for heightened levels of proximate and ultimate threats to avian diversity. Landscape-scale investigations of the responses of birds in locations where current extreme fire regimes represent those expected in the future provide opportunities to identify potentially vulnerable species in advance. Autonomous acoustic recorders are well suited to survey birds in the typically large and remote natural areas with low accessibility required for these types of studies, because they offer cost-effective and relatively safe options for obtaining reliable data. AimsThe present study aimed to optimise survey using acoustic recorders to achieve a satisfactory assessment of montane dry sclerophyll forest bird assemblages using these devices. Survey completeness, or the number of species detected as a percentage of total species, was used as a metric to gauge survey suitability. MethodsAcoustic recorders were deployed in 10 ridge-top forest sites in the Blue Mountains, south-eastern Australia. Extensive field recordings were processed by an analyst, with species detected by their calls recorded in a series of 20-min samples. A results-based approach, incorporating a stopping rule that established when to conclude sampling at a site, was applied to the data. The results guided the target survey completeness and sampling effort levels assigned to a set of fixed-effort survey methods, which were subsequently evaluated. Key resultsThe optimal survey method involved using recordings from five 20-min sampling periods immediately following dawn for 2 days, achieving an average survey completeness level of 69%. ConclusionsThe optimal survey method can obtain results that are suitable for many types of studies involving assessments of bird assemblages, because the method can detect all common and moderately common species in assemblages, plus a fair proportion of rare species. ImplicationsThe present study has systematically developed an effective method of using autonomous acoustic recorders to research and monitor montane bird assemblages in fire-prone dry sclerophyll forests. This methodological approach may also be applied in systems subject to altered patterns of flood, storm or other extreme weather under climate change.