Bird Sighting Records 'Could Save Species'

People could help to prevent species of birds from becoming extinct by recording sightings of all kinds of birds online, including common species, according to a new study published today in PLoS Biology.

The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London, are urging the public to become 'citizen scientists' to help prevent today's common bird species from becoming threatened tomorrow.

To establish whether a certain species of bird is at risk of becoming endangered, so that they can act to protect it, scientists need to be able to compare present-day data on the species with a 'biodiversity baseline', describing when and where birds were found in the past.

The new research explores what information is available across Europe and Asia about current populations of gamebirds. It reveals that far less data is currently being collected on common species than in the past, meaning that there is no up-to-date biodiversity baseline for scientists to refer to.

Over the past 30 years, the scientific literature has increasingly concentrated on recording data about species that are endangered and those that live in protected areas of high biodiversity, according to the study.

It shows that whereas early museum records dating back two centuries covered all species, including common birds, today scientists collect very little data on common species.

Dr Elizabeth Boakes, lead author of the study from the Division of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, said: "The lack of recent data on common species and areas of low biodiversity is extremely concerning - we need people's help to record the birds they see, however commonplace, on bird-watching websites. We think this kind of citizen science will be key to future conservation research.

"People may not think that they are helping much by recording the date they saw a pigeon in central London, say, but actually it could make a big difference as we do not know what threats species might encounter in the future. We also urge websites to standardise data entries, for example asking that sightings are directly plotted onto an online map - it takes a long time to read through people's personal blogs! In this way we can all help to create an accessible, comprehensive and permanent record of biodiversity."

In the new study, researchers from Imperial, The World Pheasant Association at Newcastle University, The University of Queensland and Beijing Forestry University collected over 170,000 records from the last two centuries on 127 species of gamebirds or 'Galliformes', a group that includes pheasants, partridges, chickens and quails, almost a third of which are threatened.

The researchers obtained the data from museums, scientific literature, bird ringing records, bird atlases and website reports from birdwatchers.

(GK/BMcC)