| | Accession Number | 5003288 |
| | Title | A comprehensive monitoring program for colonial waterbirds |
| | Project Description | Colonial waterbirds are biological indicators of the health and diversity of coastal and wetland |
| | ecosystems. Throughout the world, the destruction of freshwater wetlands, destruction and |
| | degradation of coastal ecosystems, depletion of the forage base in freshwater, coastal, and |
| | marine ecosystems, contaminants, sea level rise, and human disturbance threaten colonial |
| | waterbirds (Parnell et al. 1988). A coordinated monitoring program with standardized monitoring |
| | protocol and broad geographic coverage will lead to the collection of critical information for |
| | long-term conservation planning. One part of this monitoring effort, a centralized database |
| | incorporated into the National Bird Population Data Center, will integrate information on the status, |
| | trends, and biogeography of waterbirds across regions, provinces, and states, and will facilitate a |
| | coordinated response to conserve these birds throughout their ranges. Furthermore, a centralized |
| | database will support analyses of long-term trends of waterbirds and document population status |
| | and shifts in distribution and habitat use; this information will help (1) document the present and |
| | future problems facing colonial waterbirds and, (2) better define the management actions |
| | necessary to support their long-term conservation. |
| | Keywords | colonial waterbirds, detectability, monitoring, population, population estimation, population trends, |
| | seabirds, waterbirds, |
| | Principal | Melanie J Steinkamp, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: melanie_steinkamp@usgs.gov; |
| | Investigators |
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