Partial migration in Australian landbirds: a review

Chan, Ken

doi:10.1071/mu00034

Cited by 106 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Gauthreaux 1982;Warkentin and Hernandez 1996). The number of migrating individuals within a species can also vary greatly between years, and this is considered to be a response to Australia's variable climatic patterns and associated resource availability (Chan 2001). Of the species analysed in the present study (Table 2), all 'migrant' species (winter and summer) are considered partial migrants (Chan 2001).…”

Section: Changes Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The number of migrating individuals within a species can also vary greatly between years, and this is considered to be a response to Australia's variable climatic patterns and associated resource availability (Chan 2001). Of the species analysed in the present study (Table 2), all 'migrant' species (winter and summer) are considered partial migrants (Chan 2001). In spite of this background complexity, in the present study both winter and summer migrants showed large temporal changes in both collective species richness and the individual abundances of most species.…”

Section: Changes Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seasonal patterns of change in abundance due to migration are greatly complicated in most parts of eastern Australia because many species are partial migrants, in which one part of the population migrates seasonally while the other does not (Nix 1993;Chan 2001). In eastern Australia, partial migrant species may include some individuals that reside permanently in the breeding or summer range, others that reside permanently (and breed) in parts of what is mainly the non-breeding or winter range, and others that migrate regularly (Nix 1993).…”

Section: Changes Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Migration is often seen as a means by which birds increase their chances of survival by leaving areas of severe cold and associated food shortage for more favourable climates and resource availability (Keast 1968;Cox 1985;Ford 1989;Chan 2001). In the Northern Hemisphere, many species make rapid and synchronous long-distance movements (Keast 1980;Griffioen and Clarke 2002), thought to be triggered by endogeneous 'clocks' based on the changes in daylength (Nix 1976;Gwinner 1996).…”

Section: Ecology and Conservation Of Winter Migrantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is followed by a return movement south in spring. Movements of this type span a north-south distance of some 4000 km from Tasmania to New Guinea, although individual birds and species typically move shorter distances (less than 1000 km : Chan 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abundance patterns across months and locations, and their differences between migrant and resident landbirds in lowland subtropical eucalypt forest

Farmer

Catterall

Piper

2004

Emu - Austral Ornithology

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Abstract. Many migrant landbird species are winter visitors to lowland eucalypt forests of the south-east Queensland region within subtropical eastern Australia. However, neither the specific patterns of habitat use by these migrant species, nor the extent to which the temporal and spatial patterns of migration are synchronised among different species, are well understood. This paper examines the pattern and synchrony of monthly change in bird species over a nine-month period (March-November), based on counts at seven survey sites within each of three large (>600 ha) lowland eucalypt forest remnants. These were surrounded by a mostly urban matrix, and widely separated within a total area of ~1000 km 2 . Species were analysed with respect to both their individual abundances and collective patterns within four a priori groups: winter migrants, summer migrants, complex wanderers and residents/local movers. Collectively, the numbers of winter migrants were highest from May to August, but species' broad arrival times varied from April to June, departures from July to October, and times of peak abundance also varied. Seven of eight winter migrant species that were individually analysed (Rose Robin, Yellow-faced and Scarlet Honeyeaters, Striated and Spotted Pardalotes, Grey Fantail and Golden Whistler, but not Rufous Whistler) showed large changes in abundance over the period. The abundance of these seven species did not vary among the three locations, and also showed concordant patterns of temporal change across locations. Some showed partial migration. The resident/local mover species showed little or no change in abundance over time, and eight of the 16 species analysed showed substantial abundance differences among locations. The difference in location effects between migrant and resident species may occur because the winter migrants are non-breeding visitors to the region, whilst the resident species are year-round inhabitants and are hence more selective since they are more likely to occupy long-term home ranges that must provide habitat suitable for nesting.

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Section: Changes Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Changes Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Changes Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecology and Conservation Of Winter Migrantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Abundance patterns across months and locations, and their differences between migrant and resident landbirds in lowland subtropical eucalypt forest

Farmer

Catterall

Piper

2004

Emu - Austral Ornithology

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The power to detect regional declines in common bird populations using continental monitoring data

Baker

Clarke

McGeoch

2019

Ecological Applications

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Anthropogenic environmental change is driving the rapid loss of biodiversity. Large declines in the abundance of historically common species are now emerging as a major concern. Identifying declining populations through long‐term biodiversity monitoring is vital for implementing timely conservation measures. It is, therefore, critical to evaluate the likelihood that persistent long‐term population trends of a given size could be detected using existing monitoring data and methods. Here, we test the power to detect declines in Australia's common landbirds using long‐term citizen science monitoring. We use spatially explicit simulations of occupancy dynamics and virtual sampling, designed to mimic bird monitoring in better‐sampled regions of Australia, to assess likely power in these data to detect trends relevant for conservation. We predict the statistical power for 326 common species that meet minimum requirements for monitoring data across 10 regions of Australia, estimating the number of species for which we would have a high (≥80%) chance of detecting declines of different sizes. The power to detect declines of ≥30% per decade was predicted to be high for at least one‐third of the common species in 7 of 10 regions, with a total of 103 (32% of 326) unique species sufficiently monitored in at least one region. These species spanned 12 taxonomic orders, four orders of magnitude in body mass, and a broad diversity of dietary guilds, suggesting the current species pool will likely serve as robust indicators for a broad range of environmental states and pressures. Power was strongly affected by species' detectability, and power to detect even large declines was negligible when species are detected on ≤50% of visits to an occupied site. Predicted power for many species fell just short of the 80% threshold in one or more regions, which suggests an increase in effort targeting these species could greatly enhance the species and regional representation of these data. Against the backdrop of unprecedented biodiversity losses, this study shows how critical evaluation of existing monitoring schemes is valuable both for assessing the contribution of citizen science schemes to biodiversity monitoring and for designing strategic monitoring to significantly improve the knowledge these schemes provide.

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Reorganization of bird communities along a rainforest elevation gradient during a strong El Niño event in Papua New Guinea

Sam,

Jorge,

Koane

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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The El Niño 2015 event, most extreme since 1997, led to severe droughts in tropical wet Papua New Guinea (PNG), reducing May to October dry season rainfall by 75% in the lowlands and 25% in the highlands. Such droughts are likely to have significant effects on terrestrial ecosystems, but they have been poorly explored in Papua New Guinea. Here, we report changes in bird community composition prior to, during, and after the 2015 El Niño event along the elevational gradient ranging from 200 m to 2700 m a.s.l. at the Mt. Wilhelm rainforest in PNG. The abundance of birds in the lowlands dropped by 60% but increased by 40% at elevations above 1700 m during El Niño year. In the following year, the individual bird species reached mean population sizes similar to pre‐El Niño years but did not fully recover. Species richness roughly followed the pattern of observed abundance and quickly and fully re‐established after the event to the pre‐ El Niño values. Thus, at least some terrestrial birds seem to react quickly to the extreme droughts in lowlands and shift to less affected mountain habitats. We recorded upper elevational range limits to shifts by more than 500 m a.s.l. in 22 bird species (out of 237 recorded in total) during El Niño year, in contrast to their typical ranges. Our study suggests that a strong El Niño event can have strong but reversible effects on bird communities as long as they have an opportunity to move to more favorable sites through undisturbed habitats.

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Partial migration in Australian landbirds: a review

Cited by 106 publications

References 74 publications

Abundance patterns across months and locations, and their differences between migrant and resident landbirds in lowland subtropical eucalypt forest

Abundance patterns across months and locations, and their differences between migrant and resident landbirds in lowland subtropical eucalypt forest

The power to detect regional declines in common bird populations using continental monitoring data

Reorganization of bird communities along a rainforest elevation gradient during a strong El Niño event in Papua New Guinea

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