1 Introduction
Recording point counts can enhance avian monitoring in Canada, providing valuable data on population trends and distribution. Integrating recordings with traditional point count surveys can improve data quality and accessibility for researchers, decision-makers and citizen scientists. Recording point counts can also help to ensure high-quality data and species identification confirmation and accuracy.
The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, WildTrax and the University of Alberta aim to maintain a standard infrastructure for collecting, storing and processing data from digital point counts.
1.1 Overview and Scope
Large-scale monitoring programs are an effective way to detect changes and trends in animal populations, to foster collaborative initiatives and to improve monitoring and evaluation (Stern et al. 2005). There are several approaches that can be effective for monitoring birds in Canada. One approach is to conduct regular surveys at specific locations over time. These surveys can be carried out by trained volunteers or professional biologists, and can involve visual observations and auditory counts to census individuals.
An increasingly used approach is to integrate citizen science programs, where members of the public can report their observations of birds to a central database [NatureCounts, eBird]. This can provide valuable information on the distribution and abundance of different bird species. Additionally, conservation organizations and government agencies often have programs in place to monitor birds and their habitats, and can provide valuable resources for those interested in monitoring birds in Canada. For example, the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a long-term, road-based survey designed to collect quantitative data on avian population trends across the continent (Hudson et al. 2017). Provincial atlases, such as the Ontario Breding Bird Atlasaim to collect data from volunteers, researchers, consultants, NGOs and the provincial and federal government in partnerships to assess the current status of breeding birds and to map their distribution and relative abundance at the provincial scale (Cadman et al. 1987) and through time as atlases are repeated. Results from both of these sources drive decision-making, conservation policy and planning and provide indicators for environmental and climate change in Canada.
Augmentation of avian data collection with recording units along traditional survey routes has the potential to increase detection rates, reduce false positives by human observers, as well as more easily increase sampling in remote locations (Pankratz et al. 2017). Since acoustic technology is becoming increasingly affordable (Shonfield et al. 2017), allowing anyone to actively collect high quality acoustic information about the environment, the accessible of simulatenously recording point counts with a recording device is becoming more realistic.
The differences between humans and ARUs for avian surveys is well-studied (Rempel et al. 2012, Pankratz et al. 2017, Shonfield and Bayne 2017, Van Wilgenburg et al. 2017, Venier et al. 2017, Turgeon et al. 2017, Darras et al. 2018, Yip et al. 2019), but how to most effectively use both in a large-scale, long-term monitoring program is less understood. In any case, establishing a standardized method to actively record the environment while simultaneously conducting point counts could significantly augment the data quality and integrity of breeding bird survey data where needed. Where possible, integrating the most accurate point count and acoustic species processing with point count survey data could synthesise an improved protocol towards avian monitoring in Canada making it more accessible to citizen scientists to collect avian data without having to be an expert. Data quality augmentation can occur by aligning metadata such as location accuracy, anthropogenic and geophonic events with observed species detections from point counts.
1.2 Single-visits versus multi-day deployments
Effective species conservation requires consistent monitoring over time to understand population trends, identify threats, and develop appropriate management strategies. However, the frequency and duration of monitoring efforts can vary depending on various factors such as accessibility, funding availability, and conservation goals. One approach to monitoring populations is to conduct surveys over multiple years at many places, but only once per season. This can be a more efficient and cost-effective approach, particularly in remote or inaccessible locations where conducting surveys every year may be challenging. By conducting surveys in a consistent and standardized manner over multiple years, researchers can develop a baseline understanding of population trends and track changes over time. This can be useful in identifying long-term trends and understanding the impact of conservation efforts. The effectiveness of this approach depends on the conservation goals and the specific needs of the species being monitored. For example, if the species in question has a short lifespan or experiences rapid population fluctuations, more frequent monitoring may be necessary to capture these changes accurately.
Supplementing multi-day seasonal deployments with digital point counts has the potential to contribute to effective species conservation and to promote a diverse monitoring strategy.