Winter bird censuses in pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) monitoring plots
Citation
Hódar Correa J A (2023). Winter bird censuses in pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) monitoring plots. Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory. Andalusian Environmental Center, University of Granada, Regional Government of Andalusia. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15470/yinvps accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-08-25.Description
This dataset contains censuses of winter birds performed in a series of pine forest plots distributed throughout the Granada province (SE Spain). The plots are part of a monitoring network to study the phenology and intensity of defoliation by pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa), a lepidopteran that occasionally causes severe defoliation in Mediterranean pine forests. Although the initial objective is to seek for a relationship between the presence and abundance of pine processionary moth and birds that can potentially feed on it, the data can be useful for other purposes.Sampling Description
Study Extent
The plots are selected in all types of pine woodlands in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. A 500 m long itinerary is established on each plot. Each plot is geolocated with the coordinates and altitude of the midpoint of the itinerary, unless the itinerary is curved, in which case the approximate midpoint of the sampling area is indicated. The censuses are carried out from November 1 to February 28, although in some high mountain plots the census can be carried out until March 15. Whenever possible, six censuses are carried out per plot per winter, uniformly distributed throughout the season.Sampling
The censuses began in 2019, and the aim is to maintain the census scheme for at least six consecutive winters (till 2025). The census method used is the variable-distance line transect (Gibbons et al. 1996). A 500 m itinerary is walked at a speed of about 2 km/h (about 15 minutes per transect), in the first 4 hours of the day, avoiding rain, snow and wind greater than 4 m/s. All contact with birds is recorded (visual or hearing), noting the bird species, the number of birds per contact, and the perpendicular distance (estimated by eye) between the contact and the census track. All censuses are carried out by the same observer (José Antonio Hódar Correa).Quality Control
1. The observer periodically trains its skills in bird recognition, whenever possible some helpers take part during censuses in order to test the skill capacity of the observer. 2. Records are stored in an Excel datasheet which is daily updated during the censusing period. 3. Once per year, data are updated to the main database. 4. Storage: data is stored in Linaria (https://linaria.obsnev.es/), the institutional data repository of the Sierra Nevada Global-Change Observatory. Linaria is a normalised database focused on ecology and biodiversity related-data and it is developed in a PostgreSQL/PostGIS relational database management system (RDBMS). 5. Taxonomic validation: scientific names were reviewed by experts and were checked with the GBIF backbone taxonomy using the species matching tool (https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup). 6. Standardisation: the standardisation to Darwin Core was done according to the practices recommended by the TDWG guidelines (https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/).Method steps
- 1. Field sampling (see Sampling Description section). 2. Data is stored in Linaria (https://linaria.obsnev.es/), the institutional data repository of the Sierra Nevada Global-Change Observatory. 3. The dataset was standardised to the Darwin Core structure (De Pooter et al., 2017) as occurrence data. It contains, specifically: 5,886 occurrences, and 5,518 records of associated measurements of the variable: “Distance of the contact (bird) to transect line”. The Darwin Core elements included in the Occurrence Core are: occurrenceID, eventID, catalogNumber, datasetName, collectionCode, institutionCode, ownerInstitutionCode, modified, language, license, eventDate, year, month, day, basisOfRecord, recordedBy, recordedByID, individualCount, scientificName, taxonRank, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, specificEpithet, scientificNameAuthorship, occurrenceStatus, locality, continent, country, countryCode, minimumElevationInMeters, maximumElevationInMeters, samplingProtocol, decimalLatitude, decimalLongitude, geodeticDatum, coordinateUncertaintyInMeters, habitat. For the Measurement or Fact Extension file, the Darwin Core elements included are: measurementID, occurrenceID, measurementType, measurementValue, measurementUnit, measurementMethod. 4. The resulting dataset was published through the Integrated Publishing Toolkit of the Spanish node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (http://ipt.gbif.es).
Taxonomic Coverages
This dataset includes a total of 5,886 occurrence records (exceeding 8,900 individuals) of the Accipitriformes, Passeriformes, Galliformes, Cuculiformes, Columbiformes, Piciformes, Falconiformes and Falconiformes orders. There are 27 families, 53 genera and 69 species represented in this dataset.
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Accipitriformesrank: order
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Passeriformesrank: order
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Galliformesrank: order
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Cuculiformesrank: order
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Columbiformesrank: order
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Piciformesrank: order
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Falconiformesrank: order
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Bucerotiformesrank: order
Geographic Coverages
All the plots are located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, mostly in the Granada province. There are some preselected plots in the province of Almería, but no censuses carried out so far. The plots were chosen trying to cover as much as possible the diversity of pine woodlands in which the pine processionary moth is present. The altitudinal range covers from sea level to 2500 m altitude, from coastal areas to high mountains and inland depressions, and pine forests can be natural, spontaneous regeneration, or the result of plantations.
Bibliographic Citations
- De Pooter, D., Appeltans, W., Bailly, N., Bristol, S., Deneudt, K., Eliezer, M., Fujioka, E., Giorgetti, A., Goldstein, P., Lewis, M., Lipizer, M., Mackay, K., Marin, M., Moncoiffé, G., Nikolopoulou, S., Provoost, P., Rauch, S., Roubicek, A., Torres, C., van de Putte, A., … Hernandez, F. (2017). Toward a new data standard for combined marine biological and environmental datasets - expanding OBIS beyond species occurrences. Biodiversity data journal, (5), e10989. - https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.5.e10989
- Gibbons DW, Hill D and Sutherland WJ 1996. Birds. Pp. 227-259 in Sutherland WJ (ed.), Ecological census techniques, Cambridge U.P. -
Contacts
José Antonio Hódar Correaoriginator
position: Professor
University of Granada
Avenida de la Fuente Nueva S/N
Granada
18071
Granada
ES
Telephone: +34 958 241000 ext. 20079
email: jhodar@ugr.es
homepage: https://ecologia.ugr.es/informacion/directorio-personal/jose-antonio-hodar-correa/curriculum-vitae
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3475-4997
José Antonio Hódar Correa
metadata author
position: Professor
University of Granada
Avenida de la Fuente Nueva S/N
Granada
18071
Granada
ES
Telephone: +34 958 241000 ext. 20079
email: jhodar@ugr.es
homepage: https://ecologia.ugr.es/informacion/directorio-personal/jose-antonio-hodar-correa/curriculum-vitae
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3475-4997
José Antonio Hódar Correa
administrative point of contact
position: Professor
University of Granada
Avenida de la Fuente Nueva S/N
Granada
18071
Granada
ES
Telephone: +34 958 241000 ext. 20079
email: jhodar@ugr.es
homepage: https://ecologia.ugr.es/informacion/directorio-personal/jose-antonio-hodar-correa/curriculum-vitae
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3475-4997
Andrea Ros Candeira
administrative point of contact
position: Research Assistant
Laboratory of Ecology, Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA-CEAMA), University of Granada
Avenida del Mediterráneo S/N
Granada
18006
Granada
ES
Telephone: +34 958249748
email: andrearos@ugr.es
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9535-6541