Speaker
Dr
Primož Kmecl
(DOPPS BirdLife Slovenia)
Description
The monitoring of common farmland birds in Slovenia has been going on in the period from year 2008 and every year since (7 years). Altogether 109 sqares were censused by counting pairs of indicator bird species on 2 kilometer transects. The transects have two belts which enables the calculation of breeding density. The monitoring scheme produces the "Slovene index of farmland birds - SIPKK" which is one of the indicators of national Rural development programme. For each species counted, a species index and trend are calculated by means of Poisson regression (TRIM); separate indices are then combined into composite index. The results show a clear decline of some specialist species, especially meadow birds and a much smaller decline of generalist species. The overall index of 29 farmland indicator species is for the period 2008-2014 78.1 (index 100 would mean no change) and the index of meadow birds is 62.8 for the same period. The index of generalist species is 90.1. The most dramatic decline is observed for Linnet (Carduelis cannabina) with the index 26.4 +/- 7.9 and with the trend classified as steep decline (P<0.01). Altogether 14 out of 29 indicator species are in moderate or steep decline, three have stable trend and three are in increase. The period for trend calculation is still very short and the strength of biologically relevant trend description will increase with each year added. Birds can serve as good umbrella species for the measurement of biodiversity change. Moreover, they are well liked in public and such montoring schemes (and indices produced) can be used as link between science and politics. It is also an example of citizen science; this work and its large extent would not be possible without skilled volunteers. The Slovene farmland bird monitoring scheme is part of PECBMS (Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme).
Primary author
Dr
Primož Kmecl
(DOPPS BirdLife Slovenia)
Co-author
Mr
Jernej Figelj
(DOPPS BirdLife Slovenia)
