Nanangroe Plantation Plot Network: Nocturnal Birds Spotlight Survey, Southwest Slopes, NSW, Australia, 2012-2017

Abstract: This nocturnal birds survey data package comprises spotlight surveys conducted every two years, between 2012 and 2017, along 200 metre fixed transects at each site for 20 minutes per site. Animal species and abundance are recorded. Distances along and adjacent to a transect are also recorded. If animals are up on a tree, tree species and animal height (distance from the ground to the animal) are also recorded. Nocturnal birds are also detected by the calls during spotlighting. The principle objective of the Nanangroe study is to directly quantify changes in woodland vertebrate assemblages and their relationships with habitat variables when the surrounding landscape matrix is converted from a semi-cleared grazing landscape to a landscape dominated by an exotic softwood plantation The study area is located in the Southwest Slopes of NSW west of Lake Burrinjuck and includes four exotic Pine Plantations (Nanangroe, Cotway, East Bungongo and Bungongo), as well as private properties adjacent those plantations. Repeated sampling of the vegetation structure and cover and selected vertebrate groups on all sites from 1998 has created a long term dataset. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Nanangroe Plantation Forest Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://doi.org/10.25911/5c3d49dd32d9b. Sampling method: Refer to Lindenmayer, DB, Cunningham, RB, MacGregor, C, Tribolet, C & Donnelly, CF 2001, ‘A prospective longitudinal study of landscape matrix effects on fauna in woodland remnants: experimental design and baseline data’, Biological Conservation, vol 101 no 2, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00061-1 Study extent: No limitations or missing units in temporal coverage outlined. Project funding: Between 2012 and 2017 this project was part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), supported by the Australian Government’s Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (www.tern.org.au) – an Australian research infrastructure facility established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Education Infrastructure Fund–Super Science Initiative through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.
Type
collection
Title
Nanangroe Plantation Plot Network: Nocturnal Birds Spotlight Survey, Southwest Slopes, NSW, Australia, 2012-2017
Alternate Title
Nanangroe Plantation Plot Network: Nocturnal Birds Spotlighting, 2012-2017
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Long Term Ecological Research Network
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/5c442f71edeb3
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Brief Description
This nocturnal birds survey data package comprises spotlight surveys conducted every two years, between 2012 and 2017, along 200 metre fixed transects at each site for 20 minutes per site. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Nanangroe Plantation Forest Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://doi.org/10.25911/5c3d49dd32d9b.
Full Description
Abstract: This nocturnal birds survey data package comprises spotlight surveys conducted every two years, between 2012 and 2017, along 200 metre fixed transects at each site for 20 minutes per site. Animal species and abundance are recorded. Distances along and adjacent to a transect are also recorded. If animals are up on a tree, tree species and animal height (distance from the ground to the animal) are also recorded. Nocturnal birds are also detected by the calls during spotlighting. The principle objective of the Nanangroe study is to directly quantify changes in woodland vertebrate assemblages and their relationships with habitat variables when the surrounding landscape matrix is converted from a semi-cleared grazing landscape to a landscape dominated by an exotic softwood plantation The study area is located in the Southwest Slopes of NSW west of Lake Burrinjuck and includes four exotic Pine Plantations (Nanangroe, Cotway, East Bungongo and Bungongo), as well as private properties adjacent those plantations. Repeated sampling of the vegetation structure and cover and selected vertebrate groups on all sites from 1998 has created a long term dataset. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Nanangroe Plantation Forest Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://doi.org/10.25911/5c3d49dd32d9b. Sampling method: Refer to Lindenmayer, DB, Cunningham, RB, MacGregor, C, Tribolet, C & Donnelly, CF 2001, ‘A prospective longitudinal study of landscape matrix effects on fauna in woodland remnants: experimental design and baseline data’, Biological Conservation, vol 101 no 2, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00061-1 Study extent: No limitations or missing units in temporal coverage outlined. Project funding: Between 2012 and 2017 this project was part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), supported by the Australian Government’s Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (www.tern.org.au) – an Australian research infrastructure facility established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Education Infrastructure Fund–Super Science Initiative through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.
Methods
Plot set-up
1
ArcGIS, GPS, Tape measure, Steel star picket posts, reflective tape, cattle ear tags: a star picket has been placed from 0 m to 200 m along a transect with 50 m intervals.
Initially all patches of remnant native vegetation on areas designated for pine plantation were characterised. Fifty remnants were randomly selected with stratification, such as vegetation type, patch size, established year of surrounding pine trees. Fifty-six remnants on adjacent farmstopine plantations were selected to match those 50 remnants, to make sure that remnants from two groups were as similar as possible. Ten sites in cleared paddocks around the woodland remnants on the grazing properties and 10 sites in areas dominated by newly planted radiate pine trees were established as ‘‘landscape matrix’’ sites. Those sites were established in 1998, but a few sites were scrapped due to non-accessibility or vast invasion of weed. To make up for those abandoned sites, additional sites were established within a few years since the first establishment.
For more details, please refer to Lindenmayer, DB, Cunningham, RB, MacGregor, C, Tribolet, C & Donnelly, CF 2001, ‘A prospective longitudinal study of landscape matrix effects on fauna in woodland remnants: experimental design and baseline data’, Biological Conservation, vol 101 no 2, pp. 157-169.
Spotlighting Surveys
2
Spotlight, binoculars.
Spotlighting is conducted sporadically, but in recent years the aim has been to achieve a survey every two years. These are conducted along 200 m fixed transects at each site for 20 minutes per site. Animals are detected by getting a reflection of the eye shine with the spotlight. Nocturnal birds are also detected by the calls and estimate distances along and adjacent to a transect.
Documentation
3
Datasheet, clipboard and pencil.
Animal species name and abundance are recorded along with time they are found and distances along and adjacent to a transect, are also recorded. If animals are up on a tree, tree species and animal height (distance from the ground to the animal) are also recorded.
File Descriptions
lngr_nocturnal_bird_spotlighting_1999+_p858t1076.csv
along_distance
definitionThe distance (metre) between the start of a transect (0 metre) to where the 'Off Distance' measurement meets the transect.
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitmeter
comments
definitionComments
nominal text definitionCharacter
height
definitionDistance from the ground to the animal in feature
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitmeter
number of records1283
off_distance
definitionShortest distance (metre) between a point (A) directly below where the animal is detected, and any point along a permanent transect which is 90 degrees horizontal to A
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitmeter
site_code
definitionLocation and site number
nominal text definitionCharacter
species
definitionSpecies scientific name
nominal text definitionCharacter
sum_of_abundance
definitionTotal abundance of a given species detected during a 20 minute spotlighting survey, those animals are found within 100 m on either side of a permanent transect
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitnumber
survey_year
date time formatYYYY
definitionCalendar year of survey conducted
tree_species
definitionTree species if animal is up a tree and where tree species could be identified by spotlight
nominal text definitionTree species
visit_code
definitionCombination of survey year-survey season-site code-repeat numbers
nominal text definitionCharacter
lngr_nocturnal_bird_spotlighting_site_infor_1999+_p858t1077.csv
cloud
definitionCloud
ordinal enumeration codes
1Clear
2Scattered
3Broken
4Overcast
comments
definitionComments
nominal text definitionCharacter
night_light
definitionNightlight
ordinal enumeration codes
1Dark
2Dim
3Moderately Bright
4Bright
number of records1276
site_code
definitionLocation and site number
nominal text definitionCharacter
start_time
date time formathh:mm
definitionSurvey start time
survey_date
date time formatYYYY-MM-DD
definitionDate of survey
survey_year
date time formatYYYY
definitionCalendar year of survey conducted
temperature
definitionTemperature
ordinal enumeration codes
1Cold
2Cool
3Mild
4Warm
visit_code
definitionCombination of survey year-survey season-site code-repeat numbers
nominal text definitionCharacter
wind
definitionWind
ordinal enumeration codes
1Calm
2Light
3Moderate
4Windy
lngr_nocturnal_bird_spotlighting_2012+_p858t1118.csv
along_distance
definitionThe distance (metre) between the start of a transect (0 metre) to where the 'Off Distance' measurement meets the transect.
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitmeter
comments
definitionComments
nominal text definitionCharacter
height
definitionDistance from the ground to the animal in feature
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitmeter
number of records532
off_distance
definitionShortest distance (metre) between a point (A) directly below where the animal is detected, and any point along a permanent transect which is 90 degrees horizontal to A
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitmeter
site_code
definitionLocation and site number
nominal text definitionCharacter
species
definitionSpecies scientific name
nominal text definitionCharacter
sum_of_abundance
definitionTotal abundance of a given species detected during a 20 minute spotlighting survey, those animals are found within 100 m on either side of a permanent transect
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitnumber
survey_year
date time formatYYYY
definitionCalendar year of survey conducted
tree_species
definitionTree species if animal is up a tree and where tree species could be identified by spotlight
nominal text definitionTree species
visit_code
definitionCombination of survey year-survey season-site code-repeat numbers
nominal text definitionCharacter
lngr_nocturnal_bird_spotlighting_site_infor_2012+_p858t1119.csv
cloud
definitionCloud
ordinal enumeration codes
1Clear
2Scattered
3Broken
4Overcast
comments
definitionComments
nominal text definitioncomments
night_light
definitionNightlight
ordinal enumeration codes
1Dark
2Dim
3Moderately Bright
4Bright
number of records525
site_code
definitionLocation and site number
nominal text definitionCharacter
start_time
date time formathh:mm
definitionSurvey start time
survey_date
date time formatYYYY-MM-DD
definitionDate of survey
survey_year
date time formatYYYY
definitionCalendar year of survey conducted
temperature
definitionTemperature
ordinal enumeration codes
1Cold
2Cool
3Mild
4Warm
visit_code
definitionCombination of survey year-survey season-site code-repeat numbers
nominal text definitionCharacter
wind
definitionWind
ordinal enumeration codes
1Calm
2Light
3Moderate
4Windy
Contact Email
david.lindenmayer@anu.edu.au
Contact Address
Fenner School of Environment & Society ANU College of Medicine, Biology & Environment Frank Fenner Building 141 Linnaeus Way CANBERRA, ACT, 0200 Australia
Contact Phone Number
+61 2 612 50654; +61 427 770 593
Contact Fax Number
+61 2 6125 0746
Principal Investigator
David Lindenmayer
Supervisors
David Lindenmayer
Fields of Research
0501 - Ecological Applications; 0602 - Ecology; 0608 - Zoology
Keywords
GCMD:Biological Classification > Animals/Vertebrates > Birds; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Birds; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Grazing domestic livestock; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Fragmentation; keyword:Spotlighting; keyword:Nocturnal birds; Nanangroe Plantation; Nocturnal Birds Spotlighting
Type of Research Activity
Strategic basic research
Date Coverage
2017
2012
Geospatial Location
Nanangroe Plantation, Southwest Slopes of NSW west of Lake Burrinjuck and includes four exotic Pine Plantations (Nanangroe, Cotway, East Bungongo and Bungongo), Australia
text
northlimit = -34.912979; southlimit = -35.069528; westlimit = 148.313807; eastLimit = 148.534563
iso19139dcmiBox
Date of data creation
2017-08-07
Year of data publication
2017
Creator(s) for Citation
Lindenmayer
David
Publisher for Citation
Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), ANU Data Commons, The Australian National University
Publications
10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00061-1
Lindenmayer, DB, Cunningham, RB, MacGregor, C, Tribolet, C & Donnelly, CF 2001, ‘A prospective longitudinal study of landscape matrix effects on fauna in woodland remnants: experimental design and baseline data’, Biological Conservation, vol 101 no 2, p. 160, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00061-1.
A prospective longitudinal study of landscape matrix effects on fauna in woodland remnants: experimental design and baseline data.
doi
Related Websites
ANU Open Research. Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) collection.
https://hdl.handle.net/1885/130861
Other Related Identifiers
MorphoId:ltern6.188; PackageId:858
Access Rights
Co-authorship with the data provider (Professor David Lindenmayer) of any publication of research utilising this data is an expected outcome. The data provider also requests consultation, including a summary of the proposed research and intended use, before publication of research, utilising this data is possible. Please note that data collected prior to 2012 is available via mediated access only.
Access Rights Type
Open
Rights held in and over the data
Creative Commons Licence (CC BY) is assigned to this data. Details of the licence can be found at http://creativecommons.org.au/licences.
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution (Version 4)
Licence
LTERN Deed: 48 Date of execution: 2017-07-10<
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Management Plan
No
Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service