Strategies for the conservation monitoring of resident landbirds and wintering neotropical migrants in the Americas

Abstract

Many international, regional, and local partner organizations have agreed in the need to establish long-term bird monitoring and research programs in the Americas. However, the challenge of developing national or international monitoring programs is difficult often because of the lack of qualified biologists or other resources in key regions. More fundamentally, locally-based organizations that may have personnel and resources that could be involved in monitoring programs often have their own goals and locally defined monitoring objectives. These objectives may vary among regions and countries, but must be supported when designing and funding monitoring programs. Here we present a monitoring strategy that allows locally-based organizations to generate results that will have relevance to their local management efforts, while enabling them to participate in wider, regional and international monitoring efforts that will help to determine population trends and habitat relationships of both migratory and permanent resident birds, at a scale far greater than any single monitoring effort. It also allows to address basic research questions of the ecology and natural history of migratory and resident bird species. Through a cooperative effort such as outlined here, and with the use of protocols that incorporate standardized monitoring methods, we can evaluate the efficacy of conservation and management actions throughout the Americas, while also fulfilling locally-defined conservation and monitoring objectives.

Citation

C. Latta, Steven; Ralph, C. John; Geupel, Geoffrey R. 2005. Strategies for the conservation monitoring of resident landbirds and wintering neotropical migrants in the Americas. Ornitologia Neotropical 16:163-174