Common Breeding Birds
Indicator Details
Themes
Population of selected taxa
PSBR model type
State (S)
Corresponding targets
Aichi Biodiversity Targets
Target 19: By 2020, knowledge, the science base and technologies relating to biodiversity, its values, functioning, status and trends, and the consequences of its loss, are improved, widely shared and transferred, and applied.
Biodiversity Action Plan
D12030 Strengthen the research on population changes of indicator animals, plants, and microorganisms. Key performance indicator of the action plan:
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Research projects on the change of indicator species
Background
Birds are a well-known taxon to the public, which has long-term monitoring data and is considered to be an excellent indicator of environmental health. Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a large-scale and long-term survey project for common birds. The project incorporates government agencies and non-governmental organizations, through the participation of citizen scientists, to monitor the populations of common birds in Taiwan with the same standardized survey methods. Through the temporal and spatial changes of common bird populations, the relationship between the environment and bird populations is derived which provides important information for management and decision-making.
Definition and Calculation
Raw data is the survey results on 92 common bird species in Taiwan from different years, which represents the spatial density and temporal frequency of bird monitoring. The Common Breeding Bird indicator uses the population data of common bird species obtained from surveys within a specific year as the baseline and the tally of population data from different locations and years to calculate the number of birds in different habitats. The code of the diagram is listed as the following:
| Codes | Represented habitats |
|---|---|
| A | Forest |
| B | Farmland |
| C | Herbal vegetation |
| D | Freshwater |
| E | Fish farm and salt field |
| F | Coastal areas |
| G | Buildings |
| H | Others |
The data and temporal range
Annual Tally Data of Common Breeding Birds from Monitoring Projects (2009–2017)
Trends
According to the trend diagram, from 2017 to 2019, the overall bird population shows a trend of gradual increase. However, the bird species that prefer farmlands within the range of human activity are increasing(, while bird species that prefer natural habitats away from humans are decreasing). The reason would be the degradation of natural habitats due to the expansion of human activities or the invasion of alien species, which changes the ratios of the two types of birds. The actual reason needs further verification via examing the changes in locations and landscapes together with the changes in populations.
Data Management Authorities
Endemic Species Research Institute, Council of Agriculture