Pei-Fen Lee Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
National Taiwan University 1
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Development and Purposes Biodiversity action plan in Taiwan
Committee of Sustainable Development Environmental monitoring
Specific wildlife groups Mammal (bat), bird, amphibian, and
butterfly 2
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Bird Monitoring What? Breeding or migratory species? Where?
Spatial coverage When? Efficient and representative How? Standard
protocol A comprehensive survey covering entire Taiwan using
volunteers on 155 breeding bird species 3
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Previous Work or Development Sustainable indicators initiated
by EPA Only in design phase, no further survey Biodiversity
inventory by Council of Agriculture Only in northern Taiwan 5 years
Local sustainable indicators Taipei city (2007- ) 4
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Biodiversity Inventory Only 5 year 1999 2003 200 projects
Convenient sampling Data records: 0.8 million Most are vegetation
(0.55 million) With location info. Not well designed 5
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Previous Work or Development Forest bird survey Only last for 2
years New year bird count Only last for 2 years Not well organized
Bird inventory by bird societies Comprehensive in spatial scale,
but no clear geo-records and no standard sampling protocol 6
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BBS in North America 7 1966 >7100 >3000 routes
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BBS in UK 8 1994 >2000/yr >3000 sites
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Single Species Monitoring Cattle Egret in North America Short
term: Distribution Summer Long term: changes 1966 till now 9
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Summer Visitors Population Trend in UK 10 50% reduction since
1994 Conservation strategy
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Sustainable Development Indicators In UK 11 Ecological
monitoring: 50% reduction in farm birds Biodiversity strategy
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Indicators for Long-term Monitoring Same location Fixed survey
time Long-term survey Proper design to adapt to budget, time and
human resources constraints 12
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Taiwan Breeding Bird Survey Long-term survey on breeding birds
Large spatial scale Standard protocol Aims: ecological monitoring
info, sustainable development indicators, distribution change under
climate change impact, Data will open to the public 13
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Bird societies Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
National Taiwan University Endemic Species Research Institute
(since 2010) Participants 14
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Selecting Sampling Sites Stratified random sampling scheme
Representative of the environment Ecoregion Elevation (ecosystems)
Volunteers Roads available, but avoiding over- developed areas
15
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Point Count 16 Time (min.) Cumulative species (%) 6 min to
reach 80% How much time spent in one point: 6 min.
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When to conduct survey? 17 Bird detected (%) Hours after
sunrise (hr) Noon 0-5 hrs after sunrise Breeding season
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Sampling Sites (Routes) and Points Each sites: 6 10 points
Point spacing > 200m Points should be < 4km in length 18
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Identifying the species by sight or sound avoid double sampling
Recording distance 100m Passing by Each Point: 6 min survey time (
) 100m 25m 0m
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Which Months? Twice per breeding season Consideration of the
elevation difference > 2500 m, May & June 1000-2500 m, April
& June < 1000 m, March & May
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Training Lessens
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Field Training in Different Ecosystems
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Field Training
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Field data recording sheet
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Web pages of Taiwans BBS
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Excel format sheet to record survey data
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Survey data submitted via the Internet
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Organizations and Volunteers Volunteers: >200 Organization:
>20
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2009 BBS 160 sites with 1,296 points Cover all major ecosystems
118 volunteers 128 breeding species 202 species, > 90,000 bird
records 30
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2009-2011: >240 sites 2009 - 2010 All (500 sites)
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148 species >90% of breeding bird species (155) in Taiwan
>230 species
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2009 BBS data 33 Species richness Density (#/ha)
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2009 BBS data 34 Species Richness by Elevation Total Density
(#/ha)
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36 species Forest type: 26 Grassland type: 10 Species
Population Index (2009-2010)
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Growth? Breeding birds +15% Forest birds: +13% Grassland birds:
+22% Grassland type Forest type All species 20092010 50 75 100 125
150 Population Index (2009=100) Population Index
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2009 BBS data Ranking by total abundance 37 /ha 1 1.7210.83% 2
1.358.51% 3 0.955.97% 4 0.825.21% 5 0.744.67% 6 0.644.05% 7
0.513.25% 8 0.483.04% 9 0.452.84% 10 0.372.32% 1
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Chinese Bulbul Taiwan Bulbul Black Bulbul Finch-billed Bulbul
Density Pattern of Family Pycnonotidae
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Protected species Level II Ring-necked pheasant Common species
Bamboo Partridge
Endemic species richness Protected species richness
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Rare Species Fairy Pitta Russet Sparrow Black-napped Oriole
Maroon Oriole
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Future of Taiwan BBS A monitoring database Environmental
monitoring network Professional researchers Promoting sustainable
development under climate change by supplying suitable information
for decision-making 44