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Avian Research 2020, 11(1): 19 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-020-00205-w
Research | Open Access | Issue | Published: 23 June 2020

Comparing community birdwatching and professional bird monitoring with implications for avian diversity research: a case study of Suzhou, China

Show Author's Information Yan Zhou1,2 ( ),  Anping Chen3( ),  Jenny Q. Ouyang4,  Yanlin Liu5,  Aiyu Zheng6,  Zaixi Yang1,  Yong Zhang1,  Bin Wang7,  Yifei Jia2,  Shengwu Jiao2,8,  Qing Zeng2,  Changhu Lu1
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China/College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Institute of Forest Ecology Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
College of Lifesciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410006, China
Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang 311400, China
Keywords:
Conservation, Avian diversity, Birdwatching, Community science, Formalized bird monitoring
Cite this article:
Zhou Y, Chen A, Ouyang JQ, et al. Comparing community birdwatching and professional bird monitoring with implications for avian diversity research: a case study of Suzhou, China. Avian Research, 2020, 11(1): 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-020-00205-w
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Abstract Full text About this article
Background

In the past decades, birdwatching as a hobby developed rapidly and produced ample scientific records that have aided conservation efforts. Therefore, it is increasingly attractive to promote avian research by providing data from birdwatching.

Methods

We compared records from 16 years of community birdwatching and a 1-year formalized bird monitoring in Suzhou, China to study the similarities and differences between the two monitoring methods.

Results

We showed that within the 325 bird species recorded by the two methods, an annual average of 108 species were documented by community science and 223 bird species were recorded by 1-year formalized monitoring. Measured by the number of bird species recorded per survey trip, the bird monitoring activity of community birdwatchers was significantly lower. Furthermore, the monitoring intensity of community birdwatching measured as the average survey trips per site each survey year was also lower than that of formalized bird monitoring. In addition, community birdwatchers preferred urban landscapes to rural areas.

Conclusions

Community birdwatching could record the majority of local birds and complements the professional surveys in avian research. Well designed and coordinated community science can be used to expand the knowledge about avian distribution and population dynamics. These findings are critical for the development of conservation science with regard to community involvement.


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About this article

Comparing community birdwatching and professional bird monitoring with implications for avian diversity research: a case study of Suzhou, China

Show Author's information Yan Zhou1,2 ( ), Anping Chen3( ), Jenny Q. Ouyang4, Yanlin Liu5, Aiyu Zheng6, Zaixi Yang1, Yong Zhang1, Bin Wang7, Yifei Jia2, Shengwu Jiao2,8, Qing Zeng2, Changhu Lu1
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China/College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Institute of Forest Ecology Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
College of Lifesciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410006, China
Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang 311400, China

Abstract

Background

In the past decades, birdwatching as a hobby developed rapidly and produced ample scientific records that have aided conservation efforts. Therefore, it is increasingly attractive to promote avian research by providing data from birdwatching.

Methods

We compared records from 16 years of community birdwatching and a 1-year formalized bird monitoring in Suzhou, China to study the similarities and differences between the two monitoring methods.

Results

We showed that within the 325 bird species recorded by the two methods, an annual average of 108 species were documented by community science and 223 bird species were recorded by 1-year formalized monitoring. Measured by the number of bird species recorded per survey trip, the bird monitoring activity of community birdwatchers was significantly lower. Furthermore, the monitoring intensity of community birdwatching measured as the average survey trips per site each survey year was also lower than that of formalized bird monitoring. In addition, community birdwatchers preferred urban landscapes to rural areas.

Conclusions

Community birdwatching could record the majority of local birds and complements the professional surveys in avian research. Well designed and coordinated community science can be used to expand the knowledge about avian distribution and population dynamics. These findings are critical for the development of conservation science with regard to community involvement.

Keywords: Conservation, Avian diversity, Birdwatching, Community science, Formalized bird monitoring

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 03 March 2020
Accepted: 19 June 2020
Published: 23 June 2020
Issue date: January 2020

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2020.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We thank Yan Zhang, Fang Zhang, Xiaoran Zhang, Pan Chen, Guohai Wang, Taiyu Chen, Caihong Lu, Peng Xu and Manyu Zhang for their help in field work. We thank the staff of Suzhou Forestry Station for their support in field work.

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