Pei-Fen Lee Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology National Taiwan University 1

Development and Purposes Biodiversity action plan in Taiwan Committee of Sustainable Development Environmental monitoring Specific wildlife groups Mammal (bat), bird, amphibian, and butterfly 2

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

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

Biodiversity Inventory Only 5 year 1999 ～ projects Convenient sampling Data records: 0.8 million Most are vegetation (0.55 million) With location info. Not well designed 5

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

BBS in North America >7100 >3000 routes

BBS in UK >2000/yr >3000 sites

Single Species Monitoring Cattle Egret in North America Short term: Distribution Summer Long term: changes 1966 till now 9

Summer Visitors’ Population Trend in UK 10 50% reduction since 1994 Conservation strategy

Sustainable Development Indicators In UK 11 Ecological monitoring: 50% reduction in farm birds Biodiversity strategy

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

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

Bird societies Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University Endemic Species Research Institute (since 2010) Participants 14

Selecting Sampling Sites Stratified random sampling scheme Representative of the environment –Ecoregion –Elevation (ecosystems) Volunteers –Roads available, but avoiding over- developed areas 15

Point Count 16 Time (min.) Cumulative species (%) 6 min to reach 80% How much time spent in one point: 6 min.

When to conduct survey? 17 Bird detected (%) Hours after sunrise (hr) Noon 0-5 hrs after sunrise Breeding season

Sampling Sites (Routes) and Points Each sites: 6 – 10 points Point spacing > 200m Points should be < 4km in length 18

Identifying the species by sight or sound – avoid double sampling Recording distance –<25m –25–100m –>100m –Passing by Each Point: 6 min survey time 火冠 戴菊鳥 巨嘴鴉 ( 飛行沒有降落 ) 煤山雀 100m 25m 0m 金翼白眉

Which Months? Twice per breeding season Consideration of the elevation difference > 2500 m, May & June m, April & June < 1000 m, March & May

Training Lessens

Field Training in Different Ecosystems

Field Training

Field data recording sheet

Web pages of Taiwan’s BBS

Excel format sheet to record survey data

Survey data submitted via the Internet

Organizations and Volunteers Volunteers: >200 Organization: >20

2009 BBS 160 sites with 1,296 points Cover all major ecosystems 118 volunteers 128 breeding species 202 species, > 90,000 bird records 30

: >240 sites All (500 sites)

148 species >90% of breeding bird species (155) in Taiwan >230 species

2009 BBS data 33 Species richness Density (#/ha)

2009 BBS data 34 Species Richness by Elevation Total Density (#/ha)

36 species Forest type: 26 Grassland type: 10 Species Population Index ( )

Growth? Breeding birds +15% Forest birds: +13% Grassland birds: +22% Grassland type Forest type All species Population Index (2009=100) Population Index

2009 BBS data Ranking by total abundance 37 排名鳥種 平均值 （隻數 /ha ） 物種比例 1 麻雀 % 2 白頭翁 % 3 紅嘴黑鵯 % 4 冠羽畫眉 % 5 綠繡眼 % 6 繡眼畫眉 % 7 烏頭翁 % 8 黃胸藪眉 % 9 紅鳩 % 10 洋燕 % 1

Chinese Bulbul Taiwan Bulbul Black Bulbul Finch-billed Bulbul Density Pattern of Family Pycnonotidae

Protected species Level II Ring-necked pheasant Common species Bamboo Partridge

Exotic species North: Black- throated laughing thrush South: White- rumped Shama

Elevation Species richness No data

Endemic species richness Protected species richness

Rare Species Fairy Pitta Russet Sparrow Black-napped Oriole Maroon Oriole

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

NGO Government & University Volunteers

International cooperation