COUNTS AND MIS IST-NETTING IN IN AFROTEMPERATE FORESTS Study Area - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

BIR IRD SPECIES DETECTION EFFIC ICACY OF POIN INT COUNTS AND MIS IST-NETTING IN IN AFROTEMPERATE FORESTS

Study Area

• 6 Afrotemperate forests in the

Eastern Cape

• Per forest:
• 10 point count stations
• 1700 mist-net hours
• How well can these methods

detect bird species?

Checklist construction

• QDGCs over each forest
• SABAP2 + survey species lists
• Assess for forest-utilization
• Migrants included
• Nocturnal birds + vagrants omitted
• 187 forest-utilising species in EC
• Functional trait categories from Martin et
• al. (2017)
• Functional traits from local literature

Variable Level Number

• f species

% of Total Odds ratio P Intercept

• 0.04

<0.001 Method Point 118 68.6 10.39 <0.001 Net 55 32.0 1.00

• Size

Small 77 70.64 5.11 <0.001 Medium 22 88 4.49 0.004 Large 20 52.63 1.00

• Stratum

Understorey 15 100 18.36 <0.001 Mid-storey 5 100 22.17 0.015 Canopy 48 96.00 13.63 <0.001 Edge 41 48.24 1.94 0.19 Aerial 10 58.82 1.00

• Specialisation

Specialist 31 100 1.17 0.76 Generalist 28 87.50 1.00

• Woodland

40 57.97 0.37 0.03 Open 20 50 0.51 0.19

Bush Blackcap Lioptilus nigricapillus

Best-ranked model predicting species detection

Discussion

• Martin et al. (2017) assessed survey methods in

two global forest:

• Point counts > mist-netting in both forests
• Point counts better in higher canopied forests
• Mist-netting comparatively better in the low-

canopied forests with species-rich understorey

• Species-poor understoreys in EC forests
• Point counts are more reliable in EC forests
• Biases need to be determined for different

habitats + regions

• Survey biases to be understood for accurate

ecological inferences

Acknowledgements

• Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP) of the

National Research Foundation (NRF) for project funding

• Managers of DAFF state forests and ECPTA reserves for permission and

assistance with fieldwork

• Andrew Wannenburgh for assistance in creating the map of surveyed

forests

• Daan Nel for assistance with logistic regression modelling