Bird survey data from the Victorian Central Highlands 2004 to 2019. Associated with paper 'Rapid bird species recovery following high-severity wildfire but in the absence of early successional specialists' for Diversity and Distributions

We established 85 one-hectare permanent bird-monitoring sites. These sites were at least 750 m apart, although there was often 5-10 km between sites. We assembled data gathered from surveys completed between 2004 and 2019. We determined the severity of the 2009 fire at each site by on-ground vegetation surveys completed within four weeks of the fire. We assigned each site to one of three categories: (1) no fire in 2009, (2) moderate severity fire in 2009 where the ground and understorey layers had the majority of their above-ground biomass scorched or consumed but the overstorey remained green, and (3) high fire severity in 2009 in which plants in the ground, shrub, understorey and eucalypt tree layers had the majority of their above-ground biomass scorched or consumed. Sixteen of our sites burned at high severity, 28 at moderate severity, and 41 did not experience fire in 2009. Notably, vegetation monitoring over the post-fire period (2009-2019) indicates there has been rapid vegetation growth in burnt areas, with the canopy height of regenerating eucalypts often approaching 15 metres (Bowd et al., 2021a). We completed bird surveys in late November and early December in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019.
Type
collection
Title
Bird survey data from the Victorian Central Highlands 2004 to 2019. Associated with paper 'Rapid bird species recovery following high-severity wildfire but in the absence of early successional specialists' for Diversity and Distributions
Brief Title
Bird survey data from the Victorian Central Highlands 2004 to 2019
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Fenner School of Environment & Society
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/sswy-3t61
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Significance Statement
Results of bird surveys in Victoria, before and after the Black Saturday fires of 2009
Full Description
We established 85 one-hectare permanent bird-monitoring sites. These sites were at least 750 m apart, although there was often 5-10 km between sites. We assembled data gathered from surveys completed between 2004 and 2019. We determined the severity of the 2009 fire at each site by on-ground vegetation surveys completed within four weeks of the fire. We assigned each site to one of three categories: (1) no fire in 2009, (2) moderate severity fire in 2009 where the ground and understorey layers had the majority of their above-ground biomass scorched or consumed but the overstorey remained green, and (3) high fire severity in 2009 in which plants in the ground, shrub, understorey and eucalypt tree layers had the majority of their above-ground biomass scorched or consumed. Sixteen of our sites burned at high severity, 28 at moderate severity, and 41 did not experience fire in 2009. Notably, vegetation monitoring over the post-fire period (2009-2019) indicates there has been rapid vegetation growth in burnt areas, with the canopy height of regenerating eucalypts often approaching 15 metres (Bowd et al., 2021a). We completed bird surveys in late November and early December in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019.
Contact Email
fses-cle-admin@anu.edu.au
Contact Address
Fenner School of Environment & Society Australian National University
Contact Phone Number
0261257800
Principal Investigator
David B. Lindenmayer
Fields of Research
310308 - Terrestrial ecology
Socio-Economic Objective
180601 - Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems; 190401 - Climatological hazards (e.g. extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires)
Keywords
Birds; Survey data; Black Saturday; Fire; Bird response to fire
Type of Research Activity
Applied Research
Date Coverage
2019
2004
Geospatial Location
Victorian Central Highlands of Australia
Year of data publication
2022
Creator(s) for Citation
Lindenmayer
David
Publisher for Citation
The Australian National University Data Commons
Access Rights
Restricted but can be accessed by emailing for permission (it will be made open once paper has been accepted for publication).
Access Rights Type
Restricted
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution
Embargo Date
2022-10-31
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Size
382KB
Data Management Plan
No

Download data files

Number of files: 2

Size: 389 KB

Identifier: anudc:6153

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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