Hi Im working with an ecological impact assessment on several bird species coupled to a high quality wetland habitat, threatened by significant exposure to traffic noise in the future. Regulatory framework will not allow a significant threat to "local favourable conservation status". Most birds in the area are migrating. challenge one is to define local populations. Many migrating birds keep returning to the same spot. We also have the development of subspecies. But how to define a specific geographical area for a species with no dispersal limit is, well, tricky.. challenge two is to define a minimum viable (local) population. I have population estimates for regions and country (with ranges). I also have spontaneously reported breeding data for last year and this year so far. I can list threats but not quantify any (maybe one threat).. Any ideas? I belive my task at hand is worthy of a research application, but I have couple of weeks...=) any help is appreciated (and the birds say thanks too..)
In my experience as EA practitioner and researcher, regular noise from roads is not the first concern for most birds, migratory or sedentary. In terms of build infrastructure, power lines on migrations routes to and from the wetland could be, but these are possibly situated outside the wetland. Next, I would look at the hydrology of the wetland. Any trend in draining the site dry, or flood? Any source of polluted ground or surface water from the wider wetland area? And so on, working down an expert checklist. Maybe you concentrate to much on the birds and too little on their environment?
And yes, EA and academic research are very different activities, with contrasting mind sets.
Ok
well, it was worth a shot. noise is the threat that will bring this highway to the trials. The wetland will be 99% intact. The EA process is fine, but the fact that these questions always are left with a “best guess” bothers me, especially while there are so many models out there in the research community. Noise I perhaps a debated topic, but if you ask me, there is no question about whether Or not it has a sigonificant effect on avian communities.
i guess I’ll tackle it from a habitat availability approach then. the % habitat (maybe quality weighted) contribution of the wetland in question To the total availability in an area.
As you are aware most of the migratory birds visit wetlands seasonally for foraging/ breeding purpose. further, the wetlands are not directly affected by the visit of migratory birds. Because there is a natural recycling mechanism. One has to quantify the migrants using spot count/ total count method . EA authorities may study the impact of noise in the highway/ pollution load in the natural habitats and compare with the survival rate of migrating bird species .
What do you mean with total count? Is spot count is the no of birds at the wetlands, would total count be all the arriving birds in the area? If so, how would you define the area for which to calculate the total count?
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